It's Possible I Need A New Hobby
[I get the feeling I'm going to be sorry I posted this, but I'm feeling a mix of shame and pride over why this is going up in the first place...]
I am, by and large, a visual learner. If I see something done it sticks far better than if I hear it; likewise, if I see something in print it sticks better than if I'm told. Generally I refer to my memory as "names-faces-phone-numbers" friendly. (I also call it a great stalker memory.) This is part of the reason I'm terrible with band names and songs (unless I can associate them with an album cover, I'm doomed). However, I'm pretty darn good with movie titles and actors' names, as long as I've seen the movie or at least a preview of it.
Now, a few years back two great guys out at Storm introduced me to the movie game. It's easy enough -- you go actor-movie-actor-movie for as long as possible without repeating. (If it's a drinking game, whoever gets stuck ends up having to drink, which is really, really frustrating if you're playing with theater majors. Thankfully, I learned it as a pass-the-time game, so if someone got stuck we jumped in and filled in the blank to keep it moving.)
It's become a game I occasionally play in my head, both as a memory test and to pass the time when I'm stuck in line somewhere or waiting for a plane. I can get a little obsessive about it, particularly if I get stuck.
Now that you know that slightly unfortunate habit of mine, you may be able to understand the origin of this next part.
I was running through a list earlier today and realized how often I was intentionally taking a circuitous route to get to a particular actor -- as in, I didn't want to make the jump straight from Keira Knightly to Johnny Depp via "Pirates of the Caribbean," so instead I routed through "Love Actually" to see what happened. Suddenly, I realized how convoluted my mental "star map" had become.
I am, by and large, a visual learner. If I see something done it sticks far better than if I hear it; likewise, if I see something in print it sticks better than if I'm told. Generally I refer to my memory as "names-faces-phone-numbers" friendly. (I also call it a great stalker memory.) This is part of the reason I'm terrible with band names and songs (unless I can associate them with an album cover, I'm doomed). However, I'm pretty darn good with movie titles and actors' names, as long as I've seen the movie or at least a preview of it.
Now, a few years back two great guys out at Storm introduced me to the movie game. It's easy enough -- you go actor-movie-actor-movie for as long as possible without repeating. (If it's a drinking game, whoever gets stuck ends up having to drink, which is really, really frustrating if you're playing with theater majors. Thankfully, I learned it as a pass-the-time game, so if someone got stuck we jumped in and filled in the blank to keep it moving.)
It's become a game I occasionally play in my head, both as a memory test and to pass the time when I'm stuck in line somewhere or waiting for a plane. I can get a little obsessive about it, particularly if I get stuck.
Now that you know that slightly unfortunate habit of mine, you may be able to understand the origin of this next part.
I was running through a list earlier today and realized how often I was intentionally taking a circuitous route to get to a particular actor -- as in, I didn't want to make the jump straight from Keira Knightly to Johnny Depp via "Pirates of the Caribbean," so instead I routed through "Love Actually" to see what happened. Suddenly, I realized how convoluted my mental "star map" had become.
Since I am, in fact, a total nerd, this meant I really wanted to graph it. I wish I was joking.
In about fifteen minutes' time, this had emerged.
I started with Heath Ledger because, well, that's what I do. And it went a little nuts.
I'm not sure how many links I'm missing with what's already there. I am a little curious about some things. For instance, why did I end up with "Ocean's Eleven" in a corner when it's clearly going to need so much more room? How about "Lord of the Rings"? And should I break the Harry Potter movies down or just let it be a conglomerate list of English actors?
Ashley, my dear ... I think you need to get out more.
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