Letterboxd
Late last summer a friend told me about Letterboxd, a social network that connects you with other movie lovers. The site is mainly for logging films you've seen. Some users only log films currently watched (or re-watched). As it is quite a handy database, I went back and charted every film I could recall seeing. This formidable task was assisted by using the browse by release date feature, and the hard copy laundry listing I began in the late 1990s. At that time, I carefully went through Leonard Maltin's annual almanac and checked off what I had seen in my lifetime. Then I wrote them all down. Then I started listing my first time views. It comprises several front and back 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper.
I'm still working through that task. I'd estimated that I've watched around 3,000 films. As I compose this entry my Letterboxd film list is at 2,741, far less than that of some of the folks I track (one has seen over 16,000 titles?!). There's something relaxing about this activity, so if ever feel like I'm wasting precious time I can always justify it as hypertension management. Or an anxiety crusher.
Letterboxd ("Your Life in Film") allows you to rate films, write reviews, create specialized lists (and "want to watch" lists), and follow other fanatics who do likewise. I've already learned much, and discovered several obscurities. The data for Letterboxd comes from TMDb, a crowd sourced database. IMDb was reportedly too expensive. There are some missing titles. Short films are included.
It's great fun for those of you who share my madness. It's free, unless you become a "Pro" ($19 a year) or a "Patron" ($49 a year), which allows personalized statistics and other perks for you. You can follow me: redeyespy. I'd love to follow you too.
letterboxd.com
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