randomly chaotic and frequently mundane

I thought it was really good.  A great way to spend a few hours the day before Halloween, too.  Actually the movie’s only about an hour and a half, but you get the idea.  Even better, on Tuesday I saw Saw IV for the first time (I know, I was SO behind… it was terrible of me).  Which I also thought was a great movie.  It’s a really good series, I have to admit.  Not many horror series’ have impressed me with every single movie (thus far).  Actually, I don’t think ANY previous series has.  Let’s face it, the orignal Halloween was great, the second was also really good.  And I liked H2O.  The rest of the series was rather so-so to me — and we won’t even speak of that horrid Season of the Witch thing that happened.  Nightmare on Elm Street… some great movies.  And some not-so-great ones.  Same with Friday the 13th.  The Exorcist would have been a great series if the 2nd one hadn’t happened (seriously, what happened there?).  I wasn’t too keen on Scream 3… I mean, that was REALLY stretching things, don’t you think?

 Of course, with all the horror sequels, prequels and remakes… who can keep up?

So I’m watching Titanic on TNT.  No real reason, it’s just on and I wanted some background noise while I did some cross stitch.  It got me thinking… when the movie came out in theaters, my sister and my friend Mare went to see it several times.  They came to visit me in Virginia and took me to see it.  I didn’t cry at the end.  The boat sank, people died.  I expected that.  It’s how history happened.  Jack died.  I expected that, too.  He was in the water.  I didn’t cry.  They said that I was a heartless bitch.  They were only half serious, of course.  Watching it now, I’m again not crying.  There are some movies that make me bawl no matter how many times I see them.  Mr. Holland’s Opus… waterworks as soon as he walks into that rally honoring him… it never fails.  Titanic.  Nope.  No tears.  No, that’s wrong.  There was one time that I got teary eyed.  The only time Woody and I watched the movie together.  We cuddled up on the couch and I was pregnant.  Maybe it was the hormones.

Gage napped yesterday afternoon, and was feverish last night.  This morning he was still really pale, so I decided to keep him home again.  Good thing, too.  About an hour after the bus would have picked him up… the throwing up started again. 

Maybe it’s ridiculously early, but Gage is watching Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  I don’t know if I’m gonna have money to get a picture of him with Santa this year, but if I can I’d like to have him somewhat familiar with the character.  Unfortunately the only movies we have that really feature Santa are Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman.  I’d love to get more at some point.  Maybe I’ll get some videotapes and tape the specials when they come on this year, some with Santa and some that don’t have him at all.  There are a few I’d really like to get… Smoky Mountain Christmas, Polar Express, Santa Clause is Coming to Town, The Night They Saved Christmas and a few versions of A Christmas Carol. There are 2 “traditional” holiday movies that I’m not interested in, though… Miracle on 34th St and It’s a Wonderful Life.  Just never liked them.  Dunno why.

Gage is addicted to A New Hope.  To the point that the tape is wearing out.  Of course, these aren’t new tapes.  We got them at a pawn shop 5 or 6 years ago, and it’s the box set of the original theatrical release (digitally remastered) that was released 10 or so years ago.  So definitely not new.

Anytime I’ve tried to put Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi in the VCR he’s ejected the tape and given me A New Hope to put in.  So today I mixed them up, put the wrong movie in each case to see if I could get him to watch Empire or Jedi.  He got home, pulled out A New Hope, looked at it, and then pulled the other two movies out of the cases and put them back in the correct cases.

Now I just need to figure out if he’s actually reading the title on the tapes, or of he’s just memorized the shape of the letters.  Probably the latter, but the former wouldn’t surprise me.  I did manage to get Empire in the VCR while he wasn’t looking.  When the George Lucas interview started he gave me this look like “Do you really think you fooled me?”

Is it wrong that I’m very excited about this?

People who know me know that The Exorcist is probably my favorite movie.  Weird, I know.  I mean, most people’s favorite movie is a happy fun movie that makes them laugh or at least smile.  Or it’s a tearjerker that touches them deeply and makes them weep every time they see it.  Nope, for me it’s a horror film.  I’m a weirdo.  I remember being scared shitless by the movie when I was a kid — of all the horror films I saw as a kid it was the only one that really terrified me.

I’ve just finished the book.  I don’t know why I never read the book before now.  I know that my mom read it many years ago, and was scared by it (apparently she was reading about the knocking in the attic when the attic cover in our home started shaking because of the air flow in the house).  What a great book!  And I have to say that the movie was a pretty good translation from book to film.  Some parts were almost literally transferred to film.  I’m so glad I finally read it.

and by the trilogy, I mean THE trilogy — there’s only one “The Trilogy.”  Star Wars, of course.  I put in A New Hope yesterday to see if Gage would watch it.  Lo and behold, he did.  Intently.  He even hummed along to the music and mimicked light saber noises.  A couple of hours after watching it, he brought me the tape and handed it to me — his way of telling me he wants to watch a certain movie.  So I put it in again.  He watched again.

Today he asked for it again.  Instead of A New Hope, I put in Empire Strikes Back.  There was humming, light saber noises even blaster noises.  So when Empire ended, I put in Return of the Jedi.  Again, Gage watched.

Now he’s humming the Imperial March — indeed, he is my boy!*  It’s so very cute.  I could certainly deal with an addiction to Star Wars.  Personally, I could watch the trilogy over and over again (oh wait, I have).  Maybe he’ll get some Star Wars toys for christmas or something.

* - for those of you who don’t know, when I got married I walked down the aisle to the Imperial March, and I woud do it again.

TNT is showing Lord of the Rings this weekend, and I’ve been watching. I can’t resist. And of course, every time I watch it, I feel the need to hit you tube and play this. What can I say, it cracks me up. I know, I’m crazy. But it’s funny. And every time I watch LoTR and Legolas says “They’re taking the hobbits to Isengard,” I have this tremendous urge to log on and play it.

I think that the Lord of the Rings is my 3rd favorite trilogy behind Star Wars (#1) and The Godfather (#2).

Speaking of Star Wars… I put in Star Wars (A New Hope) yesterday and Gage watched intently. And then an hour or so later he indicated he wanted to watch it again, but bringing me the tape and making light saber and blaster noises. It was SO cute. Maybe I should dress him up as someone from Star Wars for Halloween. A Jedi or something. That would be cute. I don’t know, I haven’t decided yet.

i watched rose red the other night. it’s not a bad movie, rather entertaining. i put it on after gage went to bed, since he’s had problems in the past with scary movies. about half an hour before it ended, gage woke up and came out of his bedroom. it was kinda cute. he sat on the couch and watched the end of the movie. he seemed focused and intently watching. fortunately he didn’t have any kind of reaction that night or the next night to it. it was a pretty “light” scary movie, which is good. i would have turned it off, but i figured i might as well take the opportunity to see if he handles it better than he did a few years ago. not that i plan on sitting down and watching the exorcist with him or anything.

so… we’re watching mulan again… it’s gage’s current favorite movie.  and something occurs to me.  every family in mulan’s family was instructed to send a man to serve in the army, yes?  they were told to report to a specific camp.  the same camp that mulan goes to for her training while she’s pretending to be “ping.”

how come no one from her village points out that her father’s only child is a girl?

so i’m in the finals for 3 contests at whogets.com, all 3 of them are movies

Aviator

History of Violence

Hidalgo

and it’s the person with the most votes who wins. and i would love very much to win… so if y’all would be a bunch of dears and go vote for me i’d be so grateful. it takes about 10 seconds to register and you don’t have to buy anything.

speaking of movies… i saw a preview for 1408 yesterday, which is based on a short story by stephen king… from everything’s eventual, as i recall. if the movie is half as good as the short story, it should be pretty good. it’s not like there’s a lot of stuff in the story that can’t be translated to film, so it should be pretty close. i’d SO love to be able to see it. wednesday will be the 1 year anniversary of the last time i got to see a movie in the theater… it’s also the 1 year anniversary of the last time i was taken for an evening out without gage.

ok, so i wasn’t tagged to do this, but i just felt the need.

i love movies… and i’m more appreciative since meeting woody of a really well put together movie. so here are a couple of my favorite flicks…

the exorcist — color me crazy, but this movie cracks me up. it’s one of my favorite films of all time. i can watch it over and over again.
legend — i’ve loved this since i was a kid. woody bought me the special edition a few years ago, with the directors cut… it’s a very different movie. the plot and story are the same… there’s just more. i love it even more now.
fried green tomatoes — it doesn’t show often, but i AM capable of being a girly girl. this is my favorite chick flick.
mr. holland’s opus — maybe it’s because i’m a musician… maybe it’s because i’ve known american sign language since my freshman year of high school… maybe it’s because the teacher who touched my life most profoundly was a high school music teacher… but this movie moves me like no other.
the godfather — what? it has to be on the list. it’s required. not really, i just really love the movie. i even find myself watching when it’s on spiketv edited with full commercial interruptions. it’s not as fantastic as it is uncut… but still good.

file this under movies that are about equal to the books they’re based on.

the last unicorn, that is. it’s been one of my favorite movies since i was a kid. i only learned about a year ago that it was based on a book… which i was able to read this week. it was offered as a bookring on bookcrossing. there were a few differences between the book and movie, but nothing tremendously story altering. i actually think the movie was about equal to the book, honestly.

it’s been one of my favorite movies since i was a kid.  i got a copy of the book in a bookcrossing bookring yesterday, so i’m reading it.  it’s pretty good so far.  several parts are just like the movie, word for word… or perhaps i should say several parts of the movie are word for word like the book…

maybe when i’m done with the book me and gage will watch the movie.  haven’t watched it in awhile.

i think i saw this video for the first time in august or september… and it’s been about the way i’ve felt since about november… i probably listen to this song a couple of times a week… i love the movie. i’ve seen it a couple of times.