# How is John Cusack organizing his records in "Hi-Fidelity" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717 "2006-04-29T06:53:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/1 "2006-04-29T06:53:28Z")
In the movie Hi-Fidelity, there is a scene in which the John Cusack character has his records spread out and he is reorganizing them. His co-worker comes in and asks him if he is organizing them chronologically or alphabetically and the John Cusack character responds with “No, I am organizing them\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” How is he organizing them? ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/2 "2006-04-29T06:56:41Z")
Autobiographical (the order he got them). ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/3 "2006-04-29T07:11:06Z")
Oh yeah! That is what he said, it has been driving me crazy all day. Thanks! However, when he said “autobiographical”, did he simply mean that he was organizing them in the order that he got them, or was he organizing them according to his different events, phases, girlfriends, or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/4 "2006-04-29T07:18:22Z")
It wasn’t as simple as chronological, John Cusack clears that up right in the film (in fact he says it’s definately not chronological). I can’t begin to explain the intricacies of what it means to categorize your records autobiographically but here is the explanation in the movie: “yep, I can tell you how I got from deep purple to howie wolf in just 25 moves” “oh man” “and…if I want to find the song landslide by fleetwood mac I have to remember that I bought it for someone in the fall of 1983 pile but didn’t give it to them for personal reasons.” ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/5 "2006-04-29T07:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=drm] It wasn’t as simple as chronological, John Cusack clears that up right in the film (in fact he says it’s definately not chronological). I can’t begin to explain the intricacies of what it means to categorize your records autobiographically but here is the explanation in the movie: “yep, I can tell you how I got from deep purple to howie wolf in just 25 moves” “oh man” “and…if I want to find the song landslide by fleetwood mac I have to remember that I bought it for someone in the fall of 1983 pile but didn’t give it to them for personal reasons.” [/QUOTE] No, it is chronological. The book makes it more clear. ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/6 "2006-04-29T07:27:15Z")
When he says it not chronological he is taking about the order of release. That is how he had then at the time. Autobiographical is the chronlogical order he bought them. > [@](#): > > Tonight, though, I’m trying to put > them in the order in which I bought > them. That way I can write my own > autobiography without picking up a > pen. Pull them all off the shelves, > look for Revolver and go from there. > I’ll be able to see how I got from > Deep Purple to The Soft Boys in twenty- > five moves. What I really like about > my new system is that it makes me > more complicated than I am. To find > anything you have to be me, or at > the very least a doctor in Rob-ology. > If you wanna find Landslide by > Fleetwood Mac you have to know that > I bought it for someone in the fall > of 1983 and then didn’t give it to > them for personal reasons. But you > don’t know any of that, do you? You > would have to ask me to– ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/7 "2006-04-29T07:27:36Z")
> [@Acqua Minerale](#): > > No, it is chronological. The book makes it more clear. I’ll take your word for it but in the movie it is definately not chronological because the bald guy says, “it’s not chronological” then Cusack says “nope” and then goes on to say all that stuff. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/8 "2006-04-29T07:29:22Z")
Yeah, the book does make it more clear. It confused the hell out of me in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/9 "2006-04-29T07:33:36Z")
ohhhhhhhhhh, I’m an idiot. They must have meant that he wasn’t organising the movies by the date of their release. It’s late and I’m tired, forgive me. ---
**Author:** ![Mesquite-oh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@Mesquite-oh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mesquite-oh)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/10 "2006-04-29T07:52:44Z")
Well, I am going to organize my sock drawer autobiographically. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/11 "2006-04-29T07:54:20Z")
[QUOTE=drm] ohhhhhhhhhh, I’m an idiot. They must have meant that he wasn’t organising the movies by the date of their release. It’s late and I’m tired, forgive me. [/QUOTE] That’s OK. Should we tell **drm** that Cusack was organizing a _music_ collection? Or do we just want to snicker loudly when drm passes us in the hallway? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/12 "2006-04-29T08:31:39Z")
My friend Jason collates his vinyl that way, because it makes sense to him. (He also hates _High Fidelity_, and gets irritated as hell when people go on about how much Bob Gordan is _exactly_ like him.) I can’t make fun of him, because I used to a organize my books according to the colour spectrum – not so much because it made the shelves look neat, but because it was faster and more intuitive to find individual books that way. Eventually, though, the benefits of having authors’ works grouped together tipped the balance in favour of alphabetical-by-author. That, or the acid ran out. One or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/13 "2006-04-29T14:41:57Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] (He also hates _High Fidelity_, and gets irritated as hell when people go on about how much Bob Gordan is _exactly_ like him.) [/QUOTE] Well then, imagine how pissed he’s gonna be when someone compares him to Rob Gordon! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stentor\_2.5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc8723/32.png) [@Stentor\_2.5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stentor_2.5)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/14 "2006-04-29T15:20:12Z")
I organize my travel photos autobiographically. It actually works extremely well. ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/15 "2006-04-29T16:25:02Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Should we tell drm that Cusack was organizing a music collection? Or do we just want to snicker loudly when drm passes us in the hallway?😉 Feel free to snicker it’s been a while since I’ve reminisced about high school. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/16 "2006-04-29T18:23:17Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] I can’t make fun of him, because I used to a organize my books according to the colour spectrum – not so much because it made the shelves look neat, but because it was faster and more intuitive to find individual books that way. [/QUOTE] I sort books after three methods: 1. the color spectrum 2. size of books or 1. library index (geek cred) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/17 "2006-04-29T18:26:47Z")
I used to organize my CDs in the same way as in the movie. Then the CD rack fell apart and I couldn’t remember the exact order any more ☹ So I next organized them by color… ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/18 "2006-04-29T22:31:30Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] (He also hates _High Fidelity_, and gets irritated as hell when people go on about how much Bob Gordan is _exactly_ like him.) [/QUOTE] I can understand not liking the movie or not being a fan of it; but hating it? Does it hit a little too close to home? Tell us more. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-is-john-cusack-organizing-his-records-in-hi-fidelity/354717/19 "2006-04-30T00:34:42Z")
There was a music store I went to a few times that had a strange sorting system. First, it was by genre/era (so old rock’n’roll was separate from current rock). Then by _label_ and within a label sorted by catalog number. So if you were looking for a Beatles album, it could be filed under Capitol or Apple. And then even the Capitol albums wouldn’t be all that close to each other. They also had a huge inventory. Shelves and shelves for each big label. It was impossible to browse normally. You had to know what labels a group recorded with, and then guess approximate year -\> catalog number. Forget trying to find imports. I think the guy was like Barry and just didn’t want to sell the albums. (He made most of his money on instruments anyway.)