"Great movie? Wouldn't know - never saw it."

I got to thinking the other day, after I had asked everyone for suggestions in regards to what I should write about, that a friend of mine thought I was from another world because until this recent Christmas season, I had never fully seen "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". I was told I was "UnAmerican" because I had just FINALLY witnessed the cinematic tour de force that is Chevy Chase at Christmastime. Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but then I got to thinking about what movies I still have never seen - and on the other end of the spectrum, what movies that no matter how many times I've seen them, I will sit and watch them whenever I see them on.

I also for the first time in my life sat and watched two Alfred Hitchcock classics in their entirety within the last two weeks. I finally saw "The Birds" and "Psycho" and I must say, even though the cinematography and dialogue are extremely dated, they both are very scary still. I was deeply disturbed at the end of "The Birds" because they never explained what made those damn birds so crazy - and ever since then, if I see 2 or more crows sitting together, I get nervous.

Unbelievable to some - I am 40 years old, and have never seen any of the Godfather movies. Janel has tried to get me to see them, but I don't want to be interrupted when I watch them, and until I have the time to sit and watch that way, I won't do it. Perhaps some Tuesday when I'm off.....

I have never seen "Gone With the Wind" - and I really don't have any desire to either. I tried to watch "Titanic" - but I already know the boat sinks, so why bother?

Now, I have seen all the Star Wars movies more times than I can count and oddly enough Janel has only seen half of Episode 3, and has no idea why #3 is actually the 6th movie. I have seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show over 50 times. I will watch "Murder in the First" any time I see it on. I will basically watch ANY Tom Hanks movie whenever they come on, and lately I have watched "Jaws" 5 times in the last 2 weeks. There are so many other ones that escape me right now.

So my friends, what movies have you never seen that would surprise people, and what movies are like a drug - that you just have to see, no matter where they are, in the middle or the beginning? Comments are welcome here or on Facebook. Who knows - maybe I'll have some new ideas to plug into Netflix when I'm done here. Right now, I think "The Shawshank Redemption" is coming on, so I'm outta here!

New Year's Resolutions? No thanks.....

Hello all. I see by my little notice here that I haven't written since November 9. I really loathe the holiday season - too many things to so, too many places to be, not enough money to do what I'd like to do for everyone...the whole time from just after Thanksgiving until New Year's really grates on me.

Today is 1/1/11, and as I sit here, I think about all the "resolutions" people make every year at this time. I always wonder how that got started. "Today is the start of the New Year - I will be SO MUCH DIFFERENT than last year." Ummmm....no you won't. I make resolutions every day - and you know what, I break about 90% of them. I yell at the kids for doing something stupid, then I promise myself "I won't yell next time, I'll try a different approach." I try that approach, they don't listen, so I resort to what I know.

I promise myself all the time "I'm going to eat better." I'm also broke most of the time, so if I have nothing but Ramen noodles in the house, then the hell with the sodium content, I'm having Ramen noodles for dinner.

I have resolved in the past to write blog entries more consistently, but the only time I have to do them is usually Tuesdays when I have my day off. Weekends are out - way too much to do with the kids, and most Tuesdays now are used to catch up with laundry, or dishes, or the 1000 other menial tasks that need to be done around the house on any given day.

So - will I break tradition and make resolutions this year? Not really. Will I try to make a more concerted effort to write? Yes - because it's like therapy for me, and for one reason or another, there are a lot of you who seem to enjoy it. Will I try not to yell at my kids? That's totally contingent on if they decide to remain stupid. Am I going to eat better? Lately, I have coffee in the morning and am so busy at work that I don't eat lunch then eat something when I get home, so we'll see. I eat what I have available - if that means dinner is a bowl of Life cereal at 9:45 PM, then that's what I'm eating.

I always strive to improve as a person, but I don't need a day like January 1st to say "For most of the past 365 days, I've been a total loser and liar to myself - but by golly gee whiz, starting today, I'm going to be a whole new me!"

If you make resolutions, I certainly don't begrudge you - I just want to be able to look back 365 days from now and think "Well, at least I didn't lie to myself or anyone else." I'll start to watch my cholesterol because my blood work tells me I need to - I'll take my medicine for it (if I remember it - which I didn't this morning. Damn.) and see if it helps.

So my friends, let me know - do you agree with me? Have you made resolutions? Do you ever keep the ones you make? Comments are always welcome here on the blog, or on Facebook. I have to go now - I forgot my Lipitor this morning.