Random update, minimalism, life and balance.

It's been a while, i met a girl in February who is absolutely wonderful, i feel like i've been carried on a tidal wave this year and as a result have neglected this blog. This year has gone so quickly, i can't believe it is near the end of the year already.

I initially set up this blog in order to get thoughts down about things that interest me, more of a personal blog for therapeutic reasons. I think it's about time i started writing here again, i'm not fussed if anyone reads this as it's more for personal reasons. I've also decided to start a personal journal, which i've heard is good for personal development and mental health.

Something i did a while back was meditation, this is something i'm also thinking of doing in the very near future. Personal journaling and meditation are some subjects i may touch on in greater detail in future blog posts.

Sorry if this post is a bit scattershot, it's been ages and there are quite a few things i'd like to catch up with here.

Below is an update on some things that have happened this year which could evolve into future blog posts in greater detail.

• Meeting my girlfriend - Has been the highlight obviously, she's amazing and so understanding.
• Bluray collection - I've continued to strip away this collection, i'll update this list in the near future, i've made one or two additions but it's definitely getting smaller.
• Balance - meeting my girlfriend has been amazing but it has highlighted some areas in my life that need adjusting in order to rebalance my life so i'm not so reliant on her for happiness - which is not healthy, for either of us, returning to this blog is part of that process.
• Le Creuset - Came across this brand recently and absolutely love their range, we bought a couple of lovely mugs in a sale in John Lewis, sometimes expensive things can be worth it.
• Holiday in Sipan, Croatia... the best holiday i've ever had.
• 4 day working weeks - we are currently trialing this at work - i will definitely document my thoughts on this soon.
• Budgeting apps - I am currently using Money Dashboard - finding this really useful and motivating, i'll definitely do a post soon on saving in general and budgeting.
• Dune - This is more for next year but i'm sure i will update with thoughts on the upcoming Denis Villeneuve's movie based on the Frank Herbert novel, probably my favourite book and is now my most anticipated movie ever with the talent behind it.
• Tennis - Kim Clijsters return next year - i cannot wait.
• Books - This year i finished the Three Body Problem Trilogy by Cixin Liu which was absolutely incredible, up there with Dune. Highly recommend.

I'll leave you once again with a Tarkovsky movie image from Mirror. I can't wait to take time out this week to watch this. It's my go to movie for thoughtful moments.

Film collections as a minimalist.

So, my once large bluray/4K collection has been whittled down to just one shelf. I've had to be quite ruthless to get to this point, even selling some valuable steelbooks from my collection but it has been worth it to save room, reclaim some money and it's a nice feeling to only own the films and editions i absolutely love.

It's been a fairly painless process, first of all i got rid of all the films i hadn't watched for a while and weren't likely to watch again. That in itself gets rid of a sizable chunk of the collection, then it's a case of setting a high standard for the films you want to keep, for me it was quite simple, keep only the films i love... anything less can go. This is also the standard i set for films i purchase in the future, i've had some missteps recently (Commando hasn't held up well) but i'm learning from them. I am also starting to rent films digitally which will help keep the collection down to my absolute favourites.

I ended up with the following films left in my collection.

Black Sunday
Mario Bava's masterpiece of horror cinema starting Barbara Steel, neither bettered this work.

Hard to be a God
It took 14 years to bring this to the screen, nothing else like it.

Mandy
My favourite film of 2018.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

This improves with each viewing, the best Star Wars film since the original trilogy, by far.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

The Terminator

A childhood classic, holds up incredibly well and i rate this above T2.

Mirror

One of Tarkovsky's masterpieces. Includes some of the most incredible sequences put to film.

Mirror

Solaris

Another of Tarkovsky's masterpieces.

Stalker
Yet another of Tarkovsky's masterpieces.

Dragon Inn
The second best wuxai film.

A Touch of Zen
The best wuxai film.

A Touch of Zen

Possession
The best film ever made with the best female performance of all time by Isabelle Adjani.
Beautiful Mondo Vision box, one of my most treasured possessions.

Possession

Nosferatu the Vampyre
Herzog, Isabelle Adjani and Klaus Kinski, need i say more?

The Thing
Incredible sci-fi horror film with an outstanding brooding Morricone soundtrack.

Blade Runner
Ridley Scott's masterpiece, hasn't dated one bit and looks absolutely stunning on 4K HDR. Some of the interiors are almost 3D with the incredible lighting in this film.

Blade Runner 2049
One of the best films in recent years, stunning cinematography from Roger Deakins.

Favourite films of 2018

This isn't a top ten list as i'm a fussy bugger, there aren't 10 films i consider favourites of the year and i haven't seen every contender.

1. Mandy

For pure enjoyment and this was my favourite film of the year, a couple of films in this list have been boosted by where i viewed them, this was a the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, the oldest working cinema in the UK. This is one of those films you really need to see on the big screen with the volume turned up to max to make the most of the visuals and brilliant soundtrack from Jóhann Jóhannsson. 

2. Cold War

Another film enhanced by the cinema viewed in, this time by chance during a short trip to Edinburgh at the Cameo Cinema, one of the oldest cinemas in Scotland and one of Tarantino's favourite cinemas. Probably the best looking black and white film i've ever seen.

3. Leave No Trace

Beautiful looking film, very naturalistic with some of the strongest performances of the year, the first hour had me putting this nearer the top of my films of the year however i don't think it ends as strongly as it started.

Why and how i began my journey into minimalism

The first thing I did was buy myself a plant... just kidding, this came later.

The why.

To make lifestyle changes there is sometimes a trigger, for me it was the shock of coming across my ebay seller account total for the last 15 years on ebay and this amount being more than I have. How is this possible i asked myself. This hit me hard because I am currently saving for a deposit for my first home... there was the money right there, only it wasn't.

So where was it? I looked around me and the answer was right there in front of me, literally, for everything i sold I replaced with another.... or two. There and then i decided i needed to make some changes, i remembered the minimalism documentary i had watched recently and these words came back to me.

Does this add value to my life?

I started asking myself this question of my possessions... did that bluray that i enjoyed but will never watch again add value to my life? Does the graphic novel gathering dust that i don't think i'll read, ever? How about the old Mac computer that hasn't been switched on in 7 months? I started to resent all these items, what were they doing here, wasting money and space? 

If you only ever take away one thing from minimalism, make it this question.

The how.

Some people may think of minimalism as getting rid of all your possessions and never buying anything unless absolutely essential, for me this couldn't be further from the truth. My friend even joked that my minimalism blog should just be a blank page.

My biggest passion is cinema so I have bought many DVD's and Blurays over time, how to apply minimalism to hobbies? In particular collections? Ask the question 'does this add value to my life?' - I applied this question to every item in my collection and reduced my collection down to just a few of my absolute favourites, I have a beautiful Mondo edition of one of my favourite ever films, Possession, you couldn't pry this from my cold dead hands. This clearly passes the 'does it add value to my life?' test.  I think you will surprise yourself at the answer for much of your material possessions.

Little by little I am clawing back money and space, I now have room for the aforementioned plant, every minimalist needs a plant.

Aloe Vera - part of NASA's top 10 plants list

A quick tip if you do use ebay or want to, put your items on Thursday night at 8pm and run it for 10 days. This gives two weekends of exposure and finishes on a Sunday evening when people are most likely to be around to finish bidding on your items.

Things that are less valuable either went in the bin or charity shop, in particular clothes.

I feel like i should mention Lia's Loft video blog here as watching her video's helped me on this journey and provided inspiration to create my own blog.

What to expect, and why minimalism?

Just a quick post about what kind of content to expect here in the future. This is a personal blog and i've struggled for a long time deciding what content to write about, people say you should find a niche and focus on that but that is assuming you want to build an audience and make money, neither of which i'm really interested in.

It's only recently that i came into minimalism that I started to realise this extends to so any areas of my life, my interests that seemed so separate aren't in reality, they are all connected and thus minimalism has made me realise my interests do share a common theme.

The core focus of the blog will be to document my journey into minimalism, this will branch out into other areas and interests in my life, so i will occasionally write film reviews. I'm a huge fan of Andrei Tarkovsky's films so i will be posting about his films in the future that are most definitely linked to minimalism. For a wider range of my film reviews you can find them on lettterboxd, where i first caught the writing bug.

Other things i may touch on are music, ambient music in particular, travel, food and i will occasionally post about tennis, i'm a fan of Roger Federer and Simona Halep who i think are the most exciting players to watch in men's and women's tennis respectively.

If i'm honest, what really kick started this minimalism journey is my desire to purchase my own flat, minimalism helps me save far more than i ever would have otherwise, i have less stuff to move with and going forward, better money management when i have a mortgage to pay for, allowing me to have money still for things that really add value to my life.

Minimalism is everywhere and nowhere.

Minimalism is everywhere and nowhere, it has been at the periphery of my life yet only now at 38 am i consciously aware of it, where i can nurture it into other areas.

My minimalism journey is just beginning however after just a couple of months i can list some of the immediate benefits i have noticed.

I have more space.

I'm currently sharing a house so the more space and less clutter the better.

I have more money.

Budgeting has been a revelation which is great because i'm saving for my own flat. 

I am more positive.

The little things I used to stress about don't bother me so much any more because my mind is clearer and i can see the bigger picture.

I am more focused.

This blog wouldn't exist if not for minimalism, it helps me focus my energies more efficiently, I no longer get bogged down in the muddiness of decision making and ending up doing nothing.

I have more time.
Time for family, friends, interests as i reassess what really adds value to my life.

At the heart of it all

The discovery of ambient music at the turn of the millennium was my first brush with any form of minimalism, indeed, the first ambient track i heard was aptly titled 'At the heart of it all' by Aphex Twin.

As a big Nine Inch Nails fan during my student days I bought everything by NIN that i could get my hands on, one of those records was Further Down the Spiral, a remix album of the now classic industrial album released in 1995, The Downward Spiral. This included the aforementioned track 'At The Heart Of It All', a stripped back, atmospheric, industrial droning beast of a song... at the time, unlike anything i had ever heard. Where were the vocals? Where was the chorus? Where were the drums and guitar? This was a soundscape, not a song and i absolutely loved it, excited to hear more i grabbed everything i could that Aphex Twin had produced... next being blown away by Selected Ambient Works Vol II, which is my most listened to album of all time and one of my favourite albums of all time.

Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works Volume II

As ever with exciting discoveries, they inevitably lead to the snowball effect... i've since discovered Brian Eno, Biosphere and various other ambient artists and it has become my favourite genre of music.

However like i said in my previous post, this was only ever really at the periphery of my life and never extended further than simply my enjoyment of listening to this music... it was maybe the seed that was planted, it's just taken a while to grow.