Great thinkers since the dawn of time have been wondering
what the meaning of life is; why are we here? What is our purpose?
I have long since come to terms with the fact that I don’t
know the answers to these questions and indeed never will. If I have the people I love in my life I need
very little else (with the clear exception of food, water, shelter, carers,
hoists, wheelchairs, electricity, medication etc. etc.!!)
I think that one of the issues that I struggle with the most
is purpose, especially since my disability made me unable to continue working
five years ago.
Life is gift and although the tree of life hit me repeatedly
with the manky stick, I adamantly refuse to believe that my life is purposeless
and that I cannot contribute positively to my families lives, my friends lives
and to society.
I try to be a good family member (even if it’s just showing Mum the correct button on the remote for the billionth
time). I try to be a good friend (sometimes most of the time I talk too
much, sorry Lucy, sorry James). I
try to contribute to society by doing voluntary work and promoting knowledge
sharing and awareness online through my blog, Facebook, and Twitter.
However… (here’s the
fun part!!) …
I REALLY enjoy setting
myself challenge and tasks and aiming to successfully complete them. They are challenges that probably seem pretty
pointless to anyone other than myself but they give me a larger sense of
connection and purpose. Purpose is
important.
My previous self-created challenges include:
1.
Learning how to ‘loom’ some complex designs even
though my hand function is severely reduced – I loom in a slightly different
manner and vastly slower than most but with good results.
2.
Everything I have stitched, designed, glued,
weaved, needle-felted and hooked has been a challenge due to the degeneration
of my condition. See some results here.
3.
The Goodreads book challenge (link). This time I completed my challenge of reading
30 books in one year, only just though. (35
next year??).
Well the true purpose of this blog is to tell you about my
new challenge to myself and it is an awesome one because it combines my love of
movies, my OCD list making and my love for a fantastic actor. Tom Hanks.
I recently saw ‘Sully’ and loved it.
Chesley Sullenberger is a true hero and only Tom Hanks can do justice to
his life saving actions.
It got me thinking about how I feel I have grown up watching
Tom Hanks on screen and have loved everything he does…Splash, Big, Joe versus
the Volcano, Forrest Gump, The Burbs, The Da Vinci Code, Saving Private Ryan,
Captain Phillips, Toy Story…
It wasn’t until I looked up his film list that I realised
that I have almost literally grown up watching his movies as his film debut was
1980, the year of my birth.
HANX MOVIE CHALLENGE
Challenge tasks:
1. Create a list of all Hanx films. Only
including those where he is credited as an actor (including tv movies – more challenging
to get but aim high!!), not including production only or tv series’.
2. Collect ALL the movies on the list on DVD,
no time limit (may take a while!) All movies must be in DVD format and legally
obtained (obvs!) and can be second hand (most will probably come from searching
charity shops).
3. When task 2 has been completed then have a
major Hanxathon by spending days watching every movie in sequential order as per year released.
4. Continue adding to the Hanx collection every
time a new movie is released fitting task 1 criteria.
|
FILM
|
YEAR
|
CHARACTER NAME
|
|
He Knows You're Alone
|
1980
|
Elliot
|
|
Mazes and Monsters (TV Movie)
|
1982
|
Robbie Wheeling
|
|
Splash
|
1984
|
Allen Bauer
|
|
Batchelor Party
|
1984
|
Rick Gassko
|
|
The Man with One Red Shoe
|
1985
|
Richard
|
|
Volunteers
|
1985
|
Lawrence Bourne III
|
|
The Money Pit
|
1986
|
Walter Fielding
|
|
Nothing in Common
|
1986
|
David Basner
|
|
Every time We Say Goodbye
|
1986
|
David
|
|
Dragnet
|
1987
|
Streebek
|
|
Big
|
1988
|
Josh
|
|
Punchline
|
1988
|
Steven Gold
|
|
The Burbs
|
1989
|
Ray Peterson
|
|
Turner and Hooch
|
1989
|
Scott Turner
|
|
Joe Versus the Volcano
|
1990
|
Joe
|
|
The Bonfire of the Vanities
|
1990
|
Sherman McCoy
|
|
A League of their Own
|
1992
|
Jimmy Dugan
|
|
Sleepless in Seattle
|
1993
|
Sam Baldwin
|
|
Philadelphia
|
1993
|
Andrew Beckett
|
|
Forrest Gump
|
1994
|
Forrest Gump
|
|
Vault of Horror I (TV Movie)
|
1994
|
|
|
Apollo 13
|
1995
|
Jim Lovall
|
|
Toy Story
|
1995
|
Woody
|
|
That Thing You Do!
|
1996
|
Mr White
|
|
Saving Private Ryan
|
1998
|
Captain Miller
|
|
You've Got Mail
|
1998
|
Joe Fox
|
|
Toy Story 2
|
1999
|
Woody
|
|
The Green Mile
|
1999
|
Paul Edgecomb
|
|
Cast Away
|
2000
|
Chuck Nolan
|
|
Road to Perdition
|
2002
|
Michael Sullivan
|
|
Catch Me If You Can
|
2002
|
Carl Hanratty
|
|
The Ladykillers
|
2004
|
Professor G. H. Dorr
|
|
The Terminal
|
2004
|
Viktor Navorski
|
|
Elvis Has Left the Building
|
2004
|
Mailbox Elvis
|
|
The Polar Express
|
2004
|
Various
|
|
The Da Vinci Code
|
2006
|
Robert Langdon
|
|
Charlie Wilsons War
|
2007
|
Charlie Wilson
|
|
The Great Buck Howard
|
2008
|
Mr Gable
|
|
Angels and Demons
|
2009
|
Robert Langdon
|
|
Toy Story 3
|
2010
|
Woody
|
|
Larry Crowne
|
2011
|
Larry Crowne
|
|
Extremely Loud and Incredibly
Close
|
2011
|
Thomas Schell
|
|
Cloud Atlas
|
2012
|
Various
|
|
Captain Phillips
|
2013
|
Capt. Richard Phillips
|
|
Saving Mr Banks
|
2013
|
Walt Disney
|
|
Bridge of Spies
|
2015
|
James B. Donovan
|
|
Ithaca
|
2015
|
Mr Macauley
|
|
A Hologram for the King
|
2016
|
Alan
|
|
Sully: Miracle on the Hudson
|
2016
|
Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger
|
|
Inferno
|
2016
|
Robert Langdon
|
|
The Circle
|
2017
|
Bailey
|
|
Toy Story 4
|
2019
|
Woody
|
