A warm welcome to "Shooting Lessons: 1000 Pictures!"

Thank you very much to everybody who is reading this introductory welcome to my film blog, an online journal in which I hope to record my exploits in completing the The Shoot Pictures, Don't They? Top 1000 films list, from the perspective of a relative newcomer to cinema.
My calculations inform me that, to date, I have only seen a paltry 178 films from the top 1000, a figure that forces me to ask why I even consider myself a film buff! Nevertheless, considering I only took an active interest in cinema nearing the end of 2006, I suppose that it's a respectable enough figure.

Though I understand that the TSPDT Top 1000 is by no means definitive, it probably gives the most accurate representation of any list that I've been able to find. At the very least, even if I'm ultimately unsuccessful in completing my goal, I will have seen a bucketload of great films in the process of failing, and I really couldn't ask for any more than that!
My primary goal in the short-term (the next six months or so) will be to complete the TSPDT Top 100, of which I've currently seen 46. The fact that I'm missing five films from the top ten alone (The Rules of the Game, The Searchers, The Seven Samurai, Tokyo Story, Sunrise) is rather embarassing to me, and so they'll be among the first to be crossed off!

Now, for the sake of interest, here are the 178 films from the list that I have already seen and (for the most part) loved:

Citizen Kane
Vertigo
2001: A Space Odyssey
8½
Godfather, The
Singin' in the Rain
Battleship Potemkin
Lawrence of Arabia
Bicycle Thieves
Godfather Part II, The
Raging Bull
Casablanca
City Lights
Touch of Evil
Third Man, The
General, The [1926]
Some Like it Hot
Psycho [1960]
Sunset Blvd.
Gold Rush, The
Chinatown
Magnificent Ambersons, The
Taxi Driver
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Rear Window
Seventh Seal, The
Night of the Hunter, The
Apocalypse Now
It's a Wonderful Life
M [1931]
Modern Times
Wild Strawberries
Blade Runner
North by Northwest
Wizard of Oz, The
Metropolis
Pickpocket
Notorious
Sherlock Jr.
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Double Indemnity
Clockwork Orange, A
Man with a Movie Camera, The
His Girl Friday
Nosferatu
Broken Blossoms
Battle of Algiers, The
Duck Soup
King Kong [1933]
Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The
Star Wars
Jaws
Manhattan
Stalker
Grapes of Wrath, The
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The
Umberto D.
Annie Hall
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Shining, The
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Chien andalou, Un
Philadelphia Story, The
Once Upon a Time in America
Jetée, La
Brazil
Maltese Falcon, The
Pulp Fiction
Monsieur Verdoux
Paths of Glory
Conversation, The
Last Laugh, The
Exorcist, The
Good, the Bad and the Ugly, The
It Happened One Night
Bridge on the River Kwai, The
Schindler's List
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Rosemary's Baby
Birds, The
Graduate, The
Raiders of the Lost Ark
To Kill a Mockingbird
Peeping Tom
Alien
Great Dictator, The
Fantasia
Awful Truth, The
Night of the Living Dead
Strangers on a Train
All Quiet on the Western Front
Navigator, The
Fargo
Manchurian Candidate, The [1962]
Five Easy Pieces
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Aliens
African Queen, The
39 Steps, The
Shadow of a Doubt
F for Fake
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
Terminator, The
Reservoir Dogs
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Empire Strikes Back, The
Top Hat
Frankenstein
Rebecca
Amadeus
Midnight Cowboy
Cabaret
Night and Fog
King of Comedy, The
Hard Day's Night, A
Groundhog Day
I Know Where I'm Going!
Come and See
Silence of the Lambs, The
American Graffiti
Limelight
Faust
Full Metal Jacket
Back to the Future
Invasion of the Body Snatchers [1956]
Voyage dans la lune, Le
Elephant Man, The
Rocky
Eraserhead
All the President's Men
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Alphaville
Shawshank Redemption, The
Die Hard
12 Angry Men
Dog Day Afternoon
Killing, The
Barton Fink
Scarface [1932]
Scarface [1983]
Blood of a Poet, The
Forrest Gump
Hana-Bi
Lady Vanishes, The
Thing from Another World, The
Phantom Carriage, The
Dead Poets Society
Spirited Away
Blood Simple
Verdict, The [1982]
Seven Chances
French Connection, The
Day the Earth Stood Still, The
Miller's Crossing
Straw Dogs
Edward Scissorhands
Stray Dog
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Being There
Jason and the Argonauts
Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The
Thin Man, The
Purple Rose of Cairo, The
Eyes Wide Shut
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Fight Club
In the Heat of the Night
Arrivée d'un train à la Ciotat, L'
Trial, The
Adventures of Prince Achmed, The
Woman of Paris, A
Broadway Danny Rose
Big Lebowski, The
Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, The
Man in the White Suit, The
Rope
Knife in the Water

That's 178 down and 822 to go. My first post and review will follow in the next few days. Wish me luck!