Review – 1000 Journals

Portrait of a good idea gone wrong. Someguy (an artist in San Francisco) came up with the notion of purchasing 1000 blank journals and sending them out into the world with notes asking that people contribute something to them, update their status on a web site and then pass them along to someone else. Of course the whole thing quickly succumbs to human “foibles” as some of the journals get hoarded or vanish entirely, participants start defacing each other’s entries, and squabbling over turns commences. Of course that’s all part of the art. Still, I can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t have been a better experience if everyone acted like they had some sense. The documentary features interviews with a number of people who’ve ended up with the journals, and it even shows a few moments where the journals move from one person to the next. Mildly amusing