#85: "tonight’s cinematic Entertainment"

It's been a long week, but we all made it. I got a flat tire this morning on the way to work, so I had to walk back home. The long, awful Kavanaugh hearing is the nightmare no one wanted but the GOP decided to give us anyway. The UN General Assembly is happening here in NYC and it's causing traffic nightmares all over town; so much so that the furniture delivery we were supposed to get at work was cancelled - for an entire week with no forewarning.

But hey, at least we got to laugh at the President, right? Also the Cubs made the playoffs for the fourth year running, which while awesome still sounds weird to say but I'm going to keep saying it until it sounds normal.

After all that I wasn't going to write a Friday letter. I was going to save the letters I have half written and let it pass, but then it hit me.

Amy left this evening for Las Vegas for a few days to 'judge an advertising competition' which sounds a lot like 'judge an advertising competition' but probably also means 'play a bit of blackjack and stare longingly at the buffet I know I don't really want to eat.' Benji crashed out at 7 and Fred is on his way to dreamland as I type this. My mother-in-law is here to help with the boys over the weekend and is not really what one might call a 'night owl.' That means that for the first time in what feels like eons I'll have the opportunity to sit down on the couch, turn on the tv, and - wait for it - watch whatever movie I want. Even better - UNINTERRUPTED.

I used to be much more of a movie watcher. I once had a dream that I would watch all 100 of AFI's Greatest Movies (the 2007 list). I got really far before life caught up with me, and while it's still a goal to watch them all, I must admit it's not something I actively think about when it's time to choose entertainment. It's probably because the films I have left from the list are:

34. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)
49. Intolerance (1916)
58. The Gold Rush (1925)
78. Modern Times (1936)
81. Spartacus (1960)
82. Sunrise (1927)
88. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
91. Sophie's Choice (1982)
98. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
100. Ben-Hur (1959)

In my defense I'm pretty sure I watched Snow White as a kid, but I decided that I would force myself to rewatch all 100. Also, four of these are silent films and one is a musical. Two of them are Charlton Heston films and I'll never be able to see him again without thinking of him as an NRA nutjob.

My real trouble these days is that I really enjoy the mindless entertainment of things like comic book movies over sitting down with a classic. I'm in a different headspace where I just want to not have to think about who is beating up whom and the whole thing just turns into a big explosion. I know it's rotting my brain, but it's dumb fun.

I want to watch Solo: A Star Wars Story but it's not on Netflix/Hulu yet. I haven't seen Thor: Ragnarok or Avengers: Infinity War either, and both would be fun. I've started Blade Runner 2049 a few times but have always had to turn it off for whatever reason. 

It would be nice to pick one of these and relax. There are also so many other options out there that I could spend the rest of the night choosing. What's probably going to be tonight's cinematic entertainment is the Great British Baking Show and that'll be the most exciting Friday night you've ever heard of.