The 1000 Journals Project

Now how appropriate is it that I should be reviewing SFMOMA’s 1000 Journals Project exhibit as my own 1000^th review… and coincidentally, as my 100^th First to Review… and even more eerily, on the 67^th anniversary of Pearl Harbor?
Gee, as I sit in this rocking chair with a moth-​eaten shawl around my quivering shoulders… I can still remember writing my first one way back on July 21, 2006, about the walnut prawns and Shanghai chicken at Eric’s …and then receiving my first compliment from the wondrous and even more prolific Kristina R. — who is nearing her own 2,000^th review milestone. Little did I realize I would still be at it two-​and-​a-​half years later.
As the exhibit shows, the 1000 Journals Project started in August 2000 when the anonymous creator (who refers to himself as «Someguy») decided to release one hundred journals in San Francisco. He gave them to friends, and left them at bars, cafes, and on park benches. Each journal was stamped with a message inviting people to do anything creative on its pages, and then pass it on when finished. Enthusiasm ensued, and one hundred soon became one thousand. The journals have traveled worldwide to over forty countries and all the states.
The idea of 1000 journals floating around the world made me think of my 1000 reviews on Unilocal — bits of variable verbiage passed around for others to read, agree or disagree with, comment on or just ignore. It made me think how once we all press the «Post» button, our reviews take on lives of their own as others may try or avoid a restaurant, a store, a play, a museum… based on what we write. My grand conclusion is that individually, our opinions may not matter much, but cumulatively, we influence each other in unexpected and meaningful ways.
Now through April 5, 2009, SF MOMA is featuring several of the journals that made it back to Someguy, and you can see them on the second floor in the Koret Visitor Education Center. In keeping with the spirit of the project, the center provides additional journals and various art supplies to those who are interested in leaving their own creative stamp.
Someguy describes the 1000 Journals Project as «the product of chance and collective consciousness». Now that’s a description that fits Unilocal very well, don’t you think? But the real question is whether I have another 1000 reviews in me… uhhh, errr (keeling over in my chair like Al Pacino at the end of «The Godfather Part III»).