Bingewatching Before It Was A Word

When my family returned to the states from Germany in the late seventies, we were completely flabbergasted by television.  We suddenly had THREE networks to choose from instead of just the one Armed Forces channel. My family dove right into the network schedule like starving people at a banquet.  Any free time we had found us all right there in front of the television.  It was perfectly justified; there were no devices to record a show.  If you missed it, you had to actually...WAIT. 
At least until the reruns during the summer.  

And then my father found a Betamax, a machine which played tapes of movies. He brought it home and we gathered round.  It was a colossal machine, huge, ugly, and ungainly.  My father explained about video stores, where we could rent tapes of movies and bring them home.  He'd brought a few tapes home with him, for experimental purposes, of course. 

We loved it. 

During the winter months, weekends would find us in the family room gathered around the television.  We would watch two or three movies in a day, with pauses for bathroom breaks and munchies.  There were movies that we never saw in the theater, movies that had been hits in the sixties that were released.  Horror, comedy, drama...it didn't matter.  We watched it all. 

We were bingewatching. 

I realized it the other day, when my husband and I sat down to view multiple episodes of the second season of Daredevil.  The medium has changed, of course.  Now we use our X-box One to access Netflix instead of a betamax.  But it was still bingewatching, before there was even a word to describe it. 

I like the idea of being a trendsetter.

Quiet Dignity and Grace

Cancer is not a dignified disease.  You would think that something so insidious, so terrible would allow a person a modicum of dignity, or at least an approximation of  it.  It's the least that cancer can do, you might think, to allow a person to suffer the pain, the misery, and the possible impending death with the sort of grace that they show in the movies.

You would be wrong.

In the movies, the person with cancer looks perfectly normal up until they're about to die, and then they are in a hospital bed, maybe bald, maybe not.  Maybe their skin is pale, maybe the makeup man has made the actor's eyes and cheeks look sunken.  But the actor is able to speak in a normal voice, remembers the names of everyone around them, and says goodbye with a soliloquy worthy of Shakespeare.  Dignified. In real life, a cancer patient who has been through chemo and radiation and surgery looks emaciated, as if the disease has sucked them dry.  They may be too weak to speak, and may forget where they are or even who they are.  That is what cancer can do, and it is undignified.

Having cancer means that a lot of strangers will see you naked.  You will be asked to strip, time and time again, for examinations, for mammograms, for PET scans, for surgeries. Naked isn't a dignified state, no matter who you are, but a cancer patient has little choice.  I used to be shy about my body. Not anymore. More people have seen me naked in the last year than in my entire life. I've stopped caring about my stretchmarks, my belly fat, or the scars on the left side of my chest.  I don't even think about it anymore, it's happened so often. Maybe a few years in the future, I'll probably just start taking my clothes off one day just because the person next to me said something that triggered the muscle memory.

And you can't really hide cancer from the world, not for very long.   I know that quite a few private people who don't want anyone to know that they have cancer.  I was one of them.  I wanted to suffer in silence, just like I have done most of my life.  I was used to fighting my way through pain and whatever else life threw at me.  That way I could keep my dignity, I used to think.  Cancer doesn't allow you that option.  You're more tired than usual, when you have cancer, and you no longer have the energy or the enthusiasm you used to. It gets difficult to hide that something is going on when you suddenly start refusing all invitations or calling in sick.  And you lose your hair, for gosh sakes! ALL of it.  Eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. Even if you wear a wig, it's obvious to most people who see you every day that something is up. And most people want to help, if they care about you. 

It's not undignified to allow people to help, I've found.  It's not undignified to hold someone's hand when you go to the oncologist.  It's not undignified to have someone drive you to chemotherapy and it's not undignified to need someone to help you out of bed after chemo when you're too weak to do it yourself. Reaching out to others, asking for help, connecting to the world through the hands of others--there is strength in that.  There is grace in that.  And there is dignity in that, even if real life isn't like it is in the movies. 

7 Best Ways To Spend A Winter Break

I am a firm believer in the idea that a break, or a vacation, is a time to not engage in anything remotely work related.  I put away my work laptop, and push the latest report that I need to finish completely out of my mind.  I don't check my work email, or answer any work related text messages.  My husband is the same way; we are very happy to let go of work-related responsibilities and focus on rejuvenating ourselves.  This year our break has been emphasized by the realization that I will be starting chemo therapy in the next two weeks; I may not be feeling so hot then.  Here then, are all the ways that my family and I have been enjoying our Winter Break. 

1. Sleep in.  Moms traditionally never get enough sleep.  That's just one of those things that you give up in exchange for the adorable children you birth.  During the work week, moms traditionally get up at the most ridiculously early hour to make sure that the entire household gets to school/work on time.  During Winter Break, however, NOBODY has to be up before the sun, unless you live on a farm.  If you want to sleep until 8am, that is entirely possible.  Thirty extra minutes or so is entirely possible during this time of year, and that is golden.

2. Catch up. Got a full DVR?  Shows that you missed still in your Netflix or Hulu queue? This is the perfect time to catch up on all those shows that you've been missing because of various conflicting activities, such as soccer practice.  We've got a ton of Constantine as well as a few Finding Bigfoot episodes to watch.  Once they've been viewed, we can clear everything off, and that will be a relief.  The best part of DVR viewing?  No sitting through commercials! 

3. Movie Day...and Night.  Winter break is perfect for watching movies.  It's dark and gloomy and cold outside--who wants to be out there?  Grab some popcorn and park on the couch, where it is nice and warm and cozy.  We've watched all three of the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, and every Peter Jackson film involving Elves and Hobbits.  We still have Godzilla and the last Bond movie to go.

4. Read All The Things.  During this break, I have been able to sit for long periods of time and just...read.  There is not a darn thing wrong with sitting in bed, in your comfy jammies, and reading all day long.  Right now, I'm reading lots of fluffy books by Jayne Krentz and Jude Devereaux and Julie Garwood, but that's only because I've read all of the new books that I had on my Kindle.  I have a huge pile of books next to my side of the bed, and I'm making my way through them.  I think the YA book Ripper is next, or it could be Mark Twain's autobiography. Who cares?

5. Do Family Stuff. We have an Xbox One, and my husband and son have bonded over Shadows of Mordor.  The three of us have looked into the telescope Zane got for Christmas, huddling outside after dark and checking out the moon.  We've combed the back yard to make sure that Bigfoot is not hiding in the bushes.  We've giggled and had indoor snowball fights.   We've played Hide and Seek, too, although that has mostly been us sitting on the couch and Zane hiding. Because we're lazy parents. 

6. Eat. Drink. No Guilt Allowed.   During this time, it is okay to have an extra helping of pie, or a second glass of wine.  I'm not talking about eating your weight in fudge, although that is actually a lovely daydream.  Winter Break is not about starving yourself, or worrying about how many calories you're consuming.  Don't go nuts, but this time of year is not for guilting yourself about your diet.  Savor that bite of fudge, instead of regretting it.  It will taste better. 

7. Just Be. How often do we just get to be who we are?  Most of the time there's some sort of demand upon us.  There are deadlines and meals, and children to be driven to where ever.  It gets to be difficult to remember your name, let alone who you are.  Every now and then, we all need to have a small space of quiet.  Winter Break gives you those moments of silence to pause and contemplate and remember.   No pressure, just a second or two of peace, before we have to go back into the fray.


What are your favorite ways to spend a Winter Break?  Do they involve cookies?  Can I come over?  I wish all of you lots of love and laughter for the New Year! 


Go check out the other great bloggers over at Mamakat's World Famous Writer's Workshop.  This is the perfect time to join up!  The prompt I chose was 2. 7 best ways to spend Winter Break.

X-Men: Days of Future Past

My family is big on movies.  My parents used to load us into the back of the family VW Beetle with blankets and pillows and head to the drive-in theater(we were supposed to be asleep, but I was back there quietly watching the screen).  Growing up near a theater in Germany, my brother and I were at the movies at least once a week, dollar in hand.  Once we returned to the States, our movie days were curtailed by cost...until the dawn of the Beta-Max.  That machine, attached to our television, meant that my family could spend entire weekends happily snowed in, watching movie after movie. Other families weren't that different from mine. My husband can remember watching Beastmaster over and over, just because it was on a fledgling HBO. 

Nothing beat the theater experience, however.  Some movies just have to be experienced on the big screen.  Star Wars wouldn't have been nearly as vivid if my first experience of it had been on the tiny screen of a television.  And I can't imagine being as transported by Raiders of the Lost Ark if I saw it on television, can you?

These days, I'm much more picky, because it costs so much.  There are certain things that we will not even consider seeing in a theater, like "chick flicks", or Academy Award pieces.  Those films can be viewed in the comforts of our home, where I can cry my eyes puffy and not worry about scaring small children as we leave the theater. We also have to consider whether a film is R-rated or appropriate for our son to see.  Lots of thought and discussion is involved.

Except for movies about superheroes.  Those require the theater experience.  The geek in our house had been hearing about the new X-Men film since forever, and his enthusiasm was infectious.  While I was never a big fan of the Marvel universe, the X-Men world intrigued me.  It intrigued most of my extended family, too.  So one Sunday after lunch, the eight of us drove to the theater to see X-Men: Days of Future Past. 

My knowledge of the X-Men has been limited to what I've seen in the movies and on Saturday morning cartoons.  If you've never seen any of the previous X-Men films and want some of the back story before you hit the theater, I am sure that you can find X-Men: First Class on Netflix.  That should help get you up to speed. On the main characters, anyway--Wolverine, Professor X, and Magneto.

Wolverine has always been my favorite, mostly because he gets to smack people around and he heals very quickly. And he always has snappy dialogue. What this particular movie did, more than the previous films, was to solidify the relationship between Charles Xavier, played by James McAvoy, and Magneto, played by Michael Fassbender. 

The film reveals more about why these two are the way they are, how they became who they become. Their friendship, after all, is where the entire X-Men universe begins, even though they end up on opposite sides of an ideological war. Professor X and Magneto join together at some point in the future to send Wolverine back into the 70s, to change history. 

I recommend this film.  Even if you've never had any interest in the Marvel universe, there's lots to enjoy.  X-Men: Days of Future Past moves very quickly from one point to another, so there is little downtime.  The dialogue is snappy, the fight scenes are well choreographed, and there is a scene with Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle" that left me breathless with laughter.  And the film got the seventies.  They got the horrid clothing, the music, the huge gas guzzling cars, and the Cold War fear of the unknown.  I was transported by the authenticity, and it made the film so much more vibrant. 

So, this movie is entertaining, exciting, and funny.  Go see it.  

  
3.) Tell us about the last movie you saw...do you recommend it?

Roll In The Hay

Back in the day, when dinosaurs walked the earth and Nixon was President, we lived in Germany.  My father was in the Army, and we were in the Army, too.  We lived on the post where my father worked, and because of that, everything was within walking distance to our building.  In fact, the post movie theater was right next door, if you crawled through the hole in the fence. We did this every Monday night, sometimes more.  Monday was the night the theater screened children's movies.

The parents in our building would give their children a dollar and send us on our way.  A dollar would get us a ticket, a small popcorn, and a drink.  About twenty of us kids would troop over, and we would all sit in the very front row.  Then we would discuss the movie on the quick walk home, and continue our discussions on the bus to school the next morning.

In the summer, when we didn't have school, I would often go to the movies by myself.  My parents thought nothing of it.  Most of the time they didn't even know what was showing, and neither did I.  I just checked out the poster to make sure that it wasn't too scary looking.  One of these nights, the movie Young Frankenstein was being screened.  It was rated PG, but the guy at the ticket office didn't even bat an eye when I purchased a ticket.  I suppose that I looked big for a nine year old.

I was familiar with Frankenstein, so I was expecting a horror movie.  Boy, was I surprised!  I enjoyed the film, even though I didn't understand most of what was happening. I loved Marty Feldman's facial expressions and Peter Boyle's singing.  Much of the script flew over my head, however. There were a great many double entendres, you see. I had no idea what a double entendre happened to be.   For instance, when Gene Wilder is helping Terri Garr out of the wagon and he comments "What knockers!", I had no idea they were talking about breasts.  I thought they were talking about the actual door knockers.  Terri Garr singing about rolling in the hay?  I thought she was singing about playing in the hay, not [air quotes]playing[air quotes] in the hay.  My mom, on the other hand, quickly asked me to stop singing "Roll, Roll, Roll in the hay!" as I dressed for school the next day. 

I was suddenly popular, because kids my age weren't supposed to see PG movies without a parent.  There might have been things in that movie that could have stunted my emotional growth, after all. (Jaws was rated PG when it first came out, for those who need context.)  I may not have understood most of the movie, but I was perfectly willing to bask in the brief glow of fleeting fourth grade fame.

Many years later, with the invention of the BetaMax, my parents purchased a copy of Young Frankenstein.  I watched it again and again, as a sixteen year old, and this time I actually got the jokes.  All of them.  I've been a Mel Brooks fan ever since.



1.) A movie you loved as a child.

The A-List: Why I Go To The Movies

I used to watch a lot of movies.  We would hit the theater near our house at least once a week when we lived in Germany, and when Beta-Max hit, my entire family was spending their weekends in front of the television, watching movies.  As I've grown older, however, my theater going days have been significantly reduced by the dollar signs.  At ten or eleven bucks a ticket and throwing in eight dollar popcorn and and four dollar drinks, it isn't worth the cost.  Even if we don't get the popcorn or drink, if the movie sucks, I feel like I've been cheated. 

Source: en.wikipedia.org via Tina on Pinterest

We cheerfully paid the money, however, to see The Avengers this weekend. We did not have to stand in line for tickets(thank you, Fandango!). We did have to arrive at the theater earlier than normal, keep a restless 4 year old busy during that time, and wait forEVER in line for popcorn and a small drink.  While I was standing in line and reconsidering my footwear, I thought about why I was there on a beautiful Saturday morning.  I was there with my family, paying to see a movie about comic book superheroes.  Wow. That thought, of course, led me to consider what sorts of movies I am willing to pay to see in a theater these days. 

1. Pure escapist fare.   I don't go to the movies to see Oscar-worthy films anymore, unless there's something else about the film that catches my attention, such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Nor do I enjoy sitting in a theater bawling my head off watching chick flicks.  I prefer to view those movies at home, sometimes with a giant box of tissues.  Maybe I am an oddball, but when I plop down the exorbitant prices they charge at the theater these days, I want fun. I want to escape reality for a small window of time.  I want stuff exploding.  I want car chases, the more ridiculous the better.  I want my hero/heroine decisive and clever.  And I want to look at the pretty actors who work out forty times a day to have the rock hard abs and nice biceps and a butt that you can bounce a quarter off of.  None of those things have anything to do with real life.

2. Bring me the funny.  When Old Yeller died, I cried.  When ET died, I cried.  When Spock died, I cried.  I hate crying in public; my face gets all blotchy, and there are never enough tissues.   And why would I pay money to cry and be depressed?  Real life does that to me on occasion for free.  I want to giggle.  I want to guffaw.  I want to belly-laugh so hard that I am crying, because those types of tears are wonderful.  Laughter is cathartic and it is healthy, and I don't have nearly enough of it in my life, so I will pay to see a movie that will make me laugh.

3. Samuel L. Jackson.  I will pay to see just about any movie that has Samuel L. Jackson appearing in it.  I will also pay to see Daniel Craig, Robert Downey, Jr., Tim Roth, and Christian Bale.  These people have credibility with me, because what I have seen of their work has been consistently good.  I don't limit myself to actors.  If Joss Whedon is involved in a movie, I am there, as I am with Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez, Guillermo Del Toro.   Sometimes I am disappointed, of course (*cough* Snakes on a Plane).  Mostly, I am just transfixed.

4. Good stories.  I read books for the stories they tell me.  I watch television shows for the very same reason.  Movies are no different.  I don't have to be told a great story, but I want to be told a good story.  If a movie tells me a good story, I can ignore bad acting and poor CGI.  A good story makes even a poor director look decent, which is why so many movies panned by critics become cult classics. 

5. Connections.  If I read a good book, I talk about it.  If I see a good movie, I talk about it.  Movies give us a cultural point of reference, a form of language that isn't necessarily verbal.   If I am on the streets in a foreign country, and I say "Hulk smash", at least one person in the crowd will lift his eyebrows and nod to show that he gets it.  There are very few places out there where people don't know what "Yippy-kai-ay, Mother-F*****" is from.  Even if we are complete strangers and have no other way to communicate, the movies give us a common language to use to communicate with others. That is pretty awesome. 

That's my list.  What do you think?  What gets you to pay to see a movie in the theater these days?

The A-List: Movies That Always Make Me LOL

Last week I wrote about a movie that always makes me cry, so to balance out the Force, I decided that this week I would write about movies that make me laugh. Happy stuff! We all need a little bit of stress relief for the holidays, and what better way is there to de-stress than laughter? (Yes, I know--but this is a family show, at least for today.)

For the record, I most definitely Laugh Out Loud. I snicker. I chortle. I guffaw. I even snort on occasion. If something cracks me up, anyone in a five mile radius hears me. These are movies that always make me laugh out loud, no matter what mood I am in or how many times I've seen them. There is a small voice in my head telling me to list these movies in alphabetical order. A small voice which shall soon be drowned out with wine.

Blazing Saddles One of the most irreverent films I've ever seen, this is also one of the funniest. I can't hear "Camptown Ladies" without thinking of this movie. I secretly wait for moments when I can enter a room and say, "What in the wide, wide, world of sports is a-goin' on here?" This is by no means a 'politically correct' movie; it was made well before such nonsense. It shows racism and other things, sure, but these topics are shown in the bright light of comedy, and the result is positive. Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder seemed to have such an easy chemistry on screen that they always look like they're having a blast. In fact, the entire cast appears to be having a great time, and that is contagious.

Young Frankenstein I first saw this movie by myself in Germany when I was nine or ten. I got very few of the jokes at the time. I remember loving Marty Feldman arguing with Gene Wilder about the correct pronunciation of "Frankenstein". I watched the movie again when I was a teenager; we were one of the first families around with a Betamax. This time, I actually got all of the jokes, and fell in love with the movie. I wore that tape out. It turns out that just about every second of that movie is a joke of some kind, either a sight gag or a play on words or a word in another language(Schwanstuka, anyone?). My friends and I would take turns laughing about "Abby-someone", and reciting other lines, such as "Could be worse. Could be raining." The dart game between Dr. Frankenstein and Inspector Kemp is still one of my favorites.

Dodgeball I did not want to like this movie, but I ended up laughing so hard that I had to go get my inhaler. I actually remember playing Dodgeball in school; I was one of the kids who always had red welts on my arms and face from being pegged out. The nerdy guy who reads about obscure sports, the guy who thinks he's a pirate, the teenager who longs to be a cheerleader instead of a football player--perfect misfits Rip Torn with his "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball" routine was both insulting and hilarious at the same time. I am pretty sure that Rip Torn was actually wasted while filming that part, and that is okay. It made the point without overstating it. Ben Stiller shone as White "Nobody makes me bleed my own blood!" Goodman. ESPN should actually have a channel called The Ocho, and Cotton McKnight and Pepper Brooks need to be announcers at the Super Bowl. Plus, this movie has Chuck Norris in it. If you don't laugh, Chuck Norris will come to your house and punch you in the face.

Airplane! The key to this entire movie is that it was filmed as if it weren't a comedy, but a drama. It was supposed to be a spoof of all the airline disaster movies that were popular during that decade, but Airplane! is so much more. Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges, and Leslie Nielsen, and the others made this movie the classic that it is, by keeping a straight face while reciting some pretty off-the-wall things, such as "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue". Even the names of the characters were part of the joke, as in Roger, Victor, and Clarence. And who hasn't sat next to someone like Ted Striker, who won't shut up for the entire plane ride? Surely you can't be serious!

Monty Python and the Holy Grail I actually have a stuffed animal of the evil bunny from this movie; you can make his mouth open to see his little teeth. The Holy Hand Grenade would hold a place of honor on the mantle, if it hadn't been blown to bits. Movies with straight-faced British actors always seem to be a little smarter because of their crazy accents, and I don't think that any American could have made Holy Grail. The tale of King Arthur is a British story, after all. We didn't have any Black Knights defending bridges. We didn't have any "Bring out your dead!" carts rolling about. And none of the Salem witches was ever accused of turning anyone into a newt. No, Holy Grail is most definitely a British film. The sight of that cow flying over the wall of the castle has me cackling ever time.


Honorable Mention: The Naked Gun, There's Something About Mary, Tropic Thunder. They all crack me up!

Have I missed any good comedies? Let me know--I'm always looking for a good laugh!

Passing Down the Habits

My son is like all small children, in that he likes to watch movies, etc. over and over and over and over and over and over. He's seen the movie UP about 400,000,000 times just in the past month, for instance!

I kid...it's only been about 200,000,000 times.

We have tried many times to get Zane to watch other movies instead of the same one a kajillion times, finally resorting to telling him that the movie is in time out. For instance, Finding Nemo is currently in time out because Nemo did not listen to his father. The Toy Story movies are all doing time because the toys didn't put themselves away when they were done playing. Up is on the shelf because that little boy did not ask his mother for permission to head to South America. My son is learning valuable life lessons from the 'punishment' of his dvd collection.

I understand that kids have to watch movies repeatedly. I know that it is developmentally appropriate to repeat a task over and over again. I did the same thing with my Donny Osmond records. At least until they disappeared under 'mysterious circumstances' and somehow ended up on the top shelf of my parents' closet.

What I find interesting is that after about 10 minutes of watching, my son starts playing with his toys, wandering around the house and following me around. He seems completely oblivious to the television and what is on it, so I turn it off. The second the television is off or the channel is changed, Zane comes running, hollering that he was watching that. Huh?

Are viewing habits genetic? My husband has to be sitting right there in front of the television from the second the show starts. He cannot handle missing any part of the sequence of events; it completely ruins his enjoyment of the show. He enjoys watching the shows that he likes multiple times, and will buy the blu-rays of his favorites. On the other hand, I wander about while watching television, doing laundry and various brief tasks. I am pretty good about extrapolating what is happening, so it doesn't bother me if I miss a bit here and there. You can even tell me the end first, and I will still enjoy what comes before it. But there are very few movies or television shows that I want to watch more than once.

I focus more on the conversations and the people in books. Too many extraneous details(as if people stand around counting the windows on buildings!) make my eyes cross. I skim those parts to get to the meat of the story. I read submersively, from beginning to end, without a break. Once I read a book, unless it is an absolutely awesome book(such as Lonesome Dove) on a colossal scale, I am not likely to read it again. There are too many books and too little time for me to go back.

My husband, on the other hand, reads very slowly. He reads every single word painstakingly, sticking his mind into the smallest detail and committing them to memory. If he loves a book, he reads it again and again, until that particular book becomes a part of him. For example, Larry can quote Tolkien because he's read all the books so many times. He's currently rereading the books of A Song of Ice and Fire, just so he can then read A Dance With Dragons with the previous books still fresh in his mind.

My son isn't really old enough to have habits, but he seems to be taking after his father in the book reading. Whatever book he is 'reading'(meaning that Dad or Mom read to him) must be read repeatedly. Zane can repeat, almost word for word, the book When Dinosaurs Say Goodnight, and he points out specific details in the pictures on the pages, like the fact that the dinosaur got water on the floor while taking a bath, and his Mama was going to be mad. I think that is pretty awesome, whether it is genetic or not.