Movie Madness

I can't quite articulate why, but everytime I'm in a video store, I feel some sort of obligation to rent a serious, important film.

My day started off to a soggy start. I was determined to not hate my life this morning, so I dressed up a little, wore more jewelry and makeup than usual, and packed fun food to snack on (Mini Wheats, grapes, a discounted chocolate bunny). Unfortunately, the Philippines didn't get my "let's make Thursday happy" memo and I was sent the crappiest of all crappy files to work on. It was so bad I refused to work on it. I've never done that before. So they're going to resend it tomorrow. Hopefully without the hundreds of errors.

Anywho, I left early (since I didn't really have anything to do) and ended up in Blockbuster. My favorite way to unwind is to be anti-social and just hang out in my apartment and read, write and watch movies. I can't pack my weekend with social engagements. I need a certain amount of nothingness to prepare me for the coming week.

Maybe it's because I live alone. When I'm hanging out with other people, I'm all about the fun movies. But when I rent DVDs just for me, I feel this unspoken pressure to watch classics, award-winners, critical and cultural gems. So there I was, staring at copies of A Streetcar Named Desire, All About My Mother, A History of Violence and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. And I just couldn't do it.

So I gave myself permission to impulse rent. Way too much of my life is thought out and over-analyzed. I just felt this need for cinematic breathing room. I wandered every aisle and picked out the three that caught my fancy, and tried not to second-guess anything. Here's what I picked:

1. Bull Durham. Because I like baseball movies. And Susan Sarandon. And I haven't seen it.
2. Sylvia. Because I like true stories. And Daniel Craig. And Gwenyth. And because my woes as a writer are nothing compared to Sylvia Plath's.
3. The Upside of Anger. Because subconsciously I must have a thing for Kevin Costner (who plays a retired ball player. I tell you, the man is obsessed with that sport: Bull Durham, Field of Dreams, For the Love of the Game). And because I like intimate family dramedies.
   

There. Not a Gone With the Wind in the bunch. No Brando, no Woody Allen, no foreign languages.

I will eat dark chocolate and watch as a fan, not as a student of film. I love weekends.