It's Weekday Movie Night!

Since my work schedule has been somewhat hectic and definitely draining of my energy, it’s been hard to be productive after work or during the weekends. Why attend to cooking healthy meals, heading to the gym, or working on house projects when I can stare at a TV and drool?

Not so pretty, but really, motivation has been scarce in our residence as of late.

One trick Robert and I have implemented, at first on an accidental basis, but now on a traditional basis, is the week day movie night. This is a night where we order take-out food, drive it home, and camp out in front of a movie while drinking rootbeer.


Thinking back to my more reckless youth, it’s hilarious to think that this is me being wild and crazy. What? Drinking soda? Eating fast food? Watching a feature length film? **Gasp** I guess I'm just a rebel like that.

One night it was BurgerMaster and Julie and Julia. I know, how ridiculous are we to watch a movie about French cooking while chowing down on greasy American burgers, but somehow it just felt right.


Another week, we ordered pizza and had a few friends over to watch the Indie Sci-Fi flick, Moon.

Another night it was Chicken Teriyaki and Doubt. I was very impressed by Doubt by the way. Meryl Streep’s portrayal of the character really did it for me.


And most recently it was Teriyaki (there are two competing chains near our place, and we wanted to see which one is superior…as suspected, it’s a toss-up) and Pineapple Express. I absolutely adored Pineapple Express and laughed my a$$ off.

Anyways, these weekday movie nights really help me get through the week. It gives both of us a break from cooking, cleaning, and stressing. Rob and I can just stretch out and unwind for a few quiet hours. I find it’s easier to stay focused, healthy, and productive during the week if I know I have a special weekday movie night upcoming.

Nature Porn

**Not actual Pornography in this blog, just a movie review of Avatar**

**Possible Avatar Spoilers **

I liked Avatar a lot. Sue me. I don’t care. It was a fun movie! I was thrilled by the setting, story, characters, and effects. While I can acknowledge what detractors say: it’s *just* a special effects marvel, it’s costs were out-frigging-rageous, it’s story line has been done a thousand times over, and it was a bit smug and simplistic…I certainly had the most fun I’ve had at the movies in a long time!

And actually, I don’t completely buy into the critical opinion that Avatar is just a frivolous movie. Whether intentional or not, the movie got me to thinking…..

First of all, I thought: wow, white people really hate themselves a lot!

Second of all I wondered: do any members of the armed forces feel saddened by their portrayal in the movie?

Maybe it has to do with Christian dogma, maybe with technology, maybe with the basis of western civilization itself, but people do not feel connected to nature, and I believe this can cause a great deal of fear. It made me imagine a person setting out for a camping trip: pack the tent, the plastic bottles, the packaged food, the special insulated blankets, and so on. We want to wrap ourselves in plastic before we even enter nature. At best nature was subdued by a generation or two before us, at worst, nature has yet to be subdued. Yet, we fetishize nature like we would fetishize anything we fear and covet. There is an urge to commune with nature, but a fear of the messiness and danger that nature presents.



Additionally, there is a gut feeling that nature has been wronged, and humans (especially privileged humans) are to blame. For doing wrong, there is an underlying feeling of guilt for not receiving due punishment for these transgressions, and this leads to a sort of thrill when punishment arrives. For example, when the Na’vi fight back against the humans and win, it got my heart pumping. It felt right. It felt legitimate. It was justice. Seeing the carnage of human kind felt good, because darn it, we deserved it. We want our punishment for going too far.



Watching the movie also reminded me of my juvenile fixation with nature shows. I absolutely loved watching the documentaries; although, I learned early on there was a pattern: ¾ of the show was about how amazing, cute, or precious nature is, and the last ¼ was how humans are messing it all up. Avatar used this formula too, except at the end nature fights back, and **phew** not a moment too soon, humanity is stopped. That was quite a sight to see: all the thrill of retribution, without actually having to be punished (because the audience is on nature’s side of course).

Furthermore, the Na’vi have so much dang integrity and wholesomeness too. Isn’t that something? They mate with one partner for life, they can directly communicate with their ancestors, they can physically connect to many animal and plant lives, and we never see a flaw in their lifestyle. They live in balance with all life, and all their needs for sustenance, community, and spirituality are satisfied in their world, without the need to suffer any fear or doubt. Additionally, they are sleek and sexy and can comfortably dwell in the nature that surrounds them without the aid of plastic wrappings.

This movie is like an exotic pornography for people who want to thrive in and connect to the natural world. If only life could be as pure and simple for us as it is for the Na’vi.

Where the Wild Things Are

We wound down this Halloween weekend with dinner and a movie on Sunday evening. Let’s start with the best part: dinner. Dinner was delicious, and I normally don’t say this about restaurant pho. I love a hearty Vietnamese soup, but normally it’s so much tastier home made. However, we went to a great pho place in Queen Anne called, Pho Viet Anh. Because of the neighborhood, it’s a little pricey, but the hot and spicy broth and complimentary extra noodles make it worth it – especially if you’re in the area anyways. Newly Prudie, take note!

We went to see Where the Wild Things Are after dinner. I have definite memories of reading this book and enjoying the pictures as a child. Actually, it was the first “real” children’s book I read after those mini-easy-reader things. But, before going into the movie, I couldn’t remember much of the real story. After leaving the movie, I didn’t know much about the story either.

We enter the world of the wild things with the reckless and hyperactive, Max, a young, sensitive boy with an active imagination. The world of the wild things is part dense forest, part barren desert, part tempestuous ocean. The wild things spend their time playing, sleeping, fighting, and eating their kings. Max haplessly becomes their next king; although, (spoiler alert) he does not get eaten at the end.


There is a lot of drama in Where the Wild Things Are, and some interestingly dark conflicts. (Sidenote: “dark” is the primary way this movie is described on rotten tomatoes.) One of these conflicts is the lead wild thing, Carol’s, mercurial temperament which can turn quite violent and dangerous. Also, within the wild thing clan, there is some inequality and bullying that happens. The characters also worry about the potential end of the world and the helplessness and emptiness it makes them feel. Often they refer to things turning from sand to dust and the sun dying, which was inspired by Max’s real world science teacher. In Max’s real world there is also the drama of his struggling single mother and Max’s lonely childhood. Unfortunately, at the end of the movie, after Max leaves his world for his dreamscape and then leaves his dreamscape to return to his world, none of the conflicts are resolved! The most bullied wild thing continues to be bullied, Carol shows no remorse for his abusiveness, Max’s mother continues to struggle, and there is no apparent solution for Max’s loneliness.

Lacking a traditional linear story line, character development, resolution of conflicts, and lessons to be learned, the story just moves from one wacky, wild adventure to the next, as Max tries to survive the unpredictable wild things. The movie is both dreamy and abrupt, with its ambient music, melancholy ponderings, sudden bursts of energy, and vistas of these wild mascots. On the one hand, this seems like a fresh approach to movie making, but on the other hand, it makes it hard to latch onto anything memorable (besides the stunning images). It was a spectacular thing to watch, if at times a little bumpy and chaotic with all the wild rumpuses going on. All in all, I’m glad I watched it, but the dreaminess of it almost lulled me to sleep, especially with a belly full of complimentary extra rice noodles.