Get Connected

Get Connected

I am a bit of a grouch lately. Not on par with Oscar, certainly (and as someone who has now sat through two screenings of Elmo in Grouchland, I feel qualified to say that), but definitely on edge. The reason? No internet connection – since Saturday afternoon. At this moment, it is Tuesday and I am writing this at my desk at work, saving it to my flash disk. Why wouldn’t I have internet? Well, we have recently switched from cable to a satellite so that Jeff can get sports channels highlighting his soccer games from Europe and South America. I am fairly certain that I even saw some teams from Antarctica on the channel. When we switched, we made it very clear that we would be keeping our cable internet connection. So, of course, when the cableperson came to undo that voodoo that made our cable work, our cable internet was lost also. We didn’t know until Sunday since we were gone on Saturday afternoon and evening. Sunday and Monday, Jeff continued to call and finally on Monday we were told that someone would be coming out to our house between 3:00 and 5:00 on Tuesday to check the problem. So, here it is Tuesday at 3:30 and I am seeing the physical side effects of withdrawal. Clever, witty and altogether banal things are being said on the internet and I am not a party to it. I am dizzy and sweating, afraid that I’ll never see the internet again. I have stolen glimpses of it, like a dieter unable to stay away from that chocolate cake, swiping bits of frosting from the top, hoping to convince herself that the little taste will satiate her. But, the little tastes (from my boss’s computer while he is away in another building) aren’t helping. They are only showing me the world that I am missing. Oh, I am sick. I know it. I should check myself into some sort of internet rehabilitation facility.

Ok, now it is Friday and after having internet for one whole day (Tuesday), we were cut off again as we transition from cable to DSL. So, again, I blog at my desk at work. Most of the trembling has subsided, but my mood is still tense. I still don’t have internet access, but the prospect of getting connected once more gives me hope. Still time away from the computer has given me a chance to focus on my other hobbies (some of which I will not discuss in the forum), including movie watching. I love movies. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t (except for many of my coworkers who do not own TVs). This last week I have watch Elmo in Grouchland a couple of times and it has made me think of the joy that I get when falling in love with a movie. Jude has obviously fallen in love with this movie. Elmo is less a movie star and more a demigod for the preschool set; I suspect that they are building alters in Elmo’s name with their Fisher-Price tool sets. Secondly, though, the villain of Grouchland is played by Many Pitinkin. No matter how many trash heaps he plays upon or broadway musicals he does or episodes of Crimimal Mind that he does, Mandy Pitinkin will always be Inigo Montoya to me. I can’t help it; I love The Princess Bride that much. I believe it is the movie I have seen the most times and still remember the feelings that I had watching it when I was 15 and falling in love with it for the first time. I have met people who will watch a movie once, then will never watch that movie again. I would say that about half of my movie-watching involves movies I have already seen. Do you prefer movies you’ve already seen and know that you like or prefer the adventure of the unknown? Sure, I love discovering new movies as well, but there are favorites that never get tiresome to me. Want to know what they are? Sure you do. Well, in addition to The Princess Bride, I still get weepy at Chasing Amy and still laugh my ass off at Clerks (nope, it really doesn’t get less funny). In fact, Mallrats was on cable and I watched a few minutes. I didn’t realize that I was mouthing all of the dialogue until my husband asked how many times I had seen it. Juvenile? Yep. Silly? Yep. I still love it. I know Say Anything pretty much by heart, but it doesn’t stop me from wanting to watch it again and again. I know whether Ilsa will pick Rick or Victor at the end of Casablanca, but I still love it anyway (and if you don’t know the answer to that question, than you need to stop reading this blog immediately and get to a video store). Christopher Guest would get a guest spot on my list of favorites. Thus far, I have loved all of his improvisational “mockumentaries.” I have a special spot in my heart for This is Spinal Tap just because of the sheer silly and genius dialogue (“There is such a fine line between clever and stupid” and “The answer is none. None more black.”) One night last week I was talking to Jeff and made a comment about Christopher Walken in True Romance (thus reminding me that I am one of those Quentin Tarantino whores who fawn over every word he writes, even if said words are in a movie that he did not direct) and Jeff had the audacity to say “Christopher Walken was in True Romance?” To which I responded “Yeah, in the scene with Dennis Hopper.” To which he responded “Dennis Hopper was in True Romance?” So, now I am sure that you know that Jeff and I will be watching True Romance sometime in the near future. I am sure two or three blogs from now, I will write more about movies. Right now, though, I am going through withdrawal. At work without so much as a TV screen in sight. So, take my mind off my trembling: what are your favorite movies, the ones you must watch again and again?