Movie Experiment Prelude

Last April I put together a top 10 movie list. They weren't the movies that I thought were the best, nor were they movies that I thought others thought were the best... the list is comprised of movies that I really enjoy and/or have a lot of nostalgia watching.

When Facebook made a change to allow users to "Like" non-Facebook elements of the Web, I took the time to "Like" each of my top 10 movies on IMDB. Very geeky, of course, but... it's me. C'mon.

As a result of my actions, I sort of spammed my friends news feeds with movies that, as it turns out, most of them had never seen. This, coupled with something else I'd been pondering, led to the Movie Experiment.

The other thing I'd been pondering (above and beyond Iran's race to get the Bomb and whether Greg Oden will be able to ever get in a complete NBA season, of course) has to do with social circles and friendships.

When I started my "new life" about four years ago, I had essentially left my previous friends behind. A clean slate not because I didn't enjoy many of the relationships and the people involved but because of complications related to the termination of my marriage... to be honest, I didn't want to make people choose between me and her, so I didn't give them the choice. Honorable? Cowardly? Other? I dunno. But it's what I did.

Over time, I met new people and people who knew people and built up a new circle of friends and acquaintances. Actually, several circles, with varying levels of overlap.

I think that, for most people, there is a saturation point involving people. Not involving an individual person (although perhaps that, too) but involving the number of people one can know and care about. Our monkey sphere can only be so large.

When I hit that saturation point--or at least approached it--my friend and acquaintance acquisition rate slowed. I spent more time with the same people, and that had the positive effect of allowing me richer relationships. It also had the effect of intermingling my social circles.

I don't really consider myself a social hub (or a "connector", as Gladwell calls them) but, I suppose, over time it's natural that like-minded people hang out together more, and I helped in a few people to the central (current) social circle.

(There is danger, of course, in putting all of your eggs in one basket, whether that's actual eggs or relationships. I did that in my previous life and it resulted in an extended period of emotional isolation (even worse than standard life-drive ennui). I see, unfortunately, similar possibilities now as a single apple can spoil a whole bunch.

(Wow. Metaphors galore!))

Back to the Movie Experiment: in spite of my non-self-identification as a social hub, and in spite of my fears about homogenizing my social circles, I came up with the idea of having movie nights. One of my top 10 movies each week, with three people who are my Facebook friends and, I'd like to think, friends IRL. The thought was to share some of the movies that I think are really good with people who might not even know one another...

I plan on blogging about each of the nights (and, yes, I know that the observer effect might come into play), but depending on the excitement level of any given night I reserve the right to lump multiple nights into single entries.