The UP Project - My Journey To Watching UP 50 Times

What if sitting with one story could change how you see your life? We launch the Up Project with a bold commitment: fifty viewings of Pixar’s Up, each one an experiment in attention, emotion, and meaning. Rather than chasing the next hot take, we trade speed for depth and explore how repetition turns a familiar plot into a mirror that reflects who we are today.

We talk about the first-viewing jolt of that quiet opening montage, then trace the shift that happens on the tenth and twentieth passes, when surprise fades and noticing takes over. Without novelty to hide behind, the only variable left is us—our mood, our season, our grief, our gratitude. That’s where the film reveals its quiet power. The house becomes more than a balloon-lifted icon; it’s weight, memory, and the cost of holding on too long. Russell transforms from comic relief into an unexpected invitation to soften. Carl’s arc feels less like a lesson and more like a lived reminder that letting go is not betrayal, but a form of love.

Across this conversation, we lean into questions that open rather than close: Why does the same scene hurt one day and heal the next? What do we miss when we only watch once? Can patience turn entertainment into insight? By staying with a single story, we practice a slower way of seeing that honors nuance over noise. You’ll leave with a fresh lens for rewatching, a framework for noticing, and an invitation to revisit a favorite film, chapter, or poem until its quiet truths surface.

If this resonates, follow the show, share this episode with someone who loves Up, and leave a review with the one scene you notice differently now. Your reflections shape where we go next.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And The Up Project
• 2:07 Why Rewatch The Same Story
• 3:38 From Reacting To Noticing
• 5:02 Discomfort, Novelty, And Self
• 5:49 Meaning In Repetition
• 6:27 Beyond Trivia To Truth
• 7:23 Themes Ahead And Closing

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 1:02

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show, brought to you by Beats O Man Productions.

SPEAKER_00: 1:08

I call it the Up Project, and on the surface, it kind of sounds ridiculous. Watching the movie Up fifty times. Not once, not a handful, but fifty. People hear that number, and either I guess they could laugh or ask the obvious question, which is why. And honestly, that's fair. Because we live in a world that celebrates speed, new releases, new takes, new content. We binge, we scroll, and we move on. So choosing to sit with the same story again and again feels almost rebellious. So here's the truth. I didn't start with a plan, I didn't start with a thesis. I didn't even start with 50 as a number that meant anything. I started with a feeling because up isn't just a movie, it's an experience. And every time I watch it, it watches me back. The first time you see up, you're not thinking about symbolism. Uh, you're not thinking about themes, you're not trying to survive the opening montage. You're you're just trying to survive the opening montage. The quiet the quiet sequence, the love, the plans, the loss. It hits you before you're ready. No dialogue, no warning, just life happening. And when it ends, you feel like you've lived an entire lifetime in four minutes. The first viewing is emotional shock. But something interesting happens the second time and the third. And somewhere along the way, you stop reacting and you start noticing. That's where the up project begins. Here's what repetition does. The first time you watch something, you've focused on what happens. The tenth time you're focusing on why it happens. By the twentieth time, you're asking why it hits me differently now than it did before. The movie doesn't change, but you do. And that's the experiment. What happens when we stop chasing new stories and instead let one story unfold us slowly? I chose 50 viewings not because it's a gimmick, but because it's uncomfortable. Because after a certain point, you can't hide behind novelty anymore. You can't say, Oh wow, I didn't see that coming. You did see it coming. So now the only variable left is me. My mood, my season of life, my grief, my gratitude. The same scene lands differently on a good day than it does on a bad day. And that's fascinating to me. I rarely give anything that much attention. Not books, not people, not even ourselves. We skim, we summarize, and we move on. But what if meaning lives in the revisiting? What if wisdom shows up not in the first impression, but in the fifteenth? Up rewards patience. It's layered, it's quiet, honest. It doesn't shout its lessons. It waits. And maybe that's why it keeps rolling me back. Because I'm at a stage in life where loud answers don't help much anymore. And Quiet Truth does. So the Up Project isn't about Pixar trivia. It's not about Easter eggs or animation techniques, all those are super cool. It's about watching one story long enough for it to stop entertaining you and to start revealing you. It's about asking, what am I noticing now that I didn't before? Why does this moment hurt more or less than it used to? What part of this story feels uncomfortably familiar? Over the next episodes, we're going to talk about grief, about holding on, about letting go, about the lies we tell ourselves about someday. We're going to talk about Carl, about Russell, about the house, about what it costs to chase a dream long after it's stopped loving you back. But for now, this episode is just about the commitment, about choosing to stay. Because sometimes the bravest thing you can do is not move on too quickly. This is the UP project. 50 viewings, one movie, and an ongoing conversation about life. And next time, we're going straight into the moment most people want to rush past. And you know what part of the movie I'm talking about. All right. Well, hope you all have a great day. This is Scott Townsend. Thanks for listening to the Scott Townsend Show. Have a great day. Everything's going to be all right. And we'll talk to you later.

SPEAKER_01: 6:26

The Scott Townsend Show is a D So Man production. For more episodes, visit the Scott Townsend Show YouTube channel. Listen on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite movies.