Why I Love Movies

Mom and me pose for a picture shortly after the store opened.

I spent the first nine years of my life (more or less) in a video store.  My parents owned their own store, Video Adventures, and I would end up there everyday for obvious reasons.  There was a little mattress in the back office where I would take naps.  I didn't mind being at the store.  I filled my time playing with Barbies in hand-built structures made entirely out of plastic VHS cases and honing my skills as a skee-ball player.  That's right....we had a skee-ball game... in the store!  It wasn't a good idea for my parents to show me where they kept the tokens as I frequently would nab them to play with customers.  I don't think anyone ever paid to play that game because I always had them on hand (sorry Mom and Dad!).  In fact, I loved spending time at the store.  All of the employees became an extended family, customers became friends, and we always had something good to watch.  Plus, I got to work a pricing gun and use the register. When the stores closed we liquidated all of the videos except for our favorites. This meant that we got to keep goodies like: Mannequin, Adventures in Babysitting, The Gnome Mobile, Troop Beverly Hills, Just One of the Guys, The Parent Trap (the first one), The Absent Minded Professor, Hairspray (again, the first one), Sleepless in Seattle, The Mighty Ducks, Coming to America, well....I could go on and on.  I'm probably one of few people my age who brags about their impressive VHS collection.  I just can't let them go.

Growing up I got to see alot of movies.  I mean alot of movies.  The store would get preview tapes so that we could watch them before we ordered.  Mom and Dad would have to watch them and I would always be right between them on the couch.  It was pretty great.  Because of the store I got to see movies that most kids my age weren't allowed to see.  We had a pretty strict rule about not repeating bad words and whenever anything would get too mature Dad's hands would go over my eyes and Mom's hands would go over my ears.  This was a pretty good system.  It took me a while to figure out the actual story behind Pretty Woman.  I just thought it was a movie about a lady who learned to shop and live in Beverly Hills. I'm happy my parents let me watch movies with them.  I learned a lot. In the end no harm, no foul.  I turned out just fine.  In fact, I think I turned out pretty awesome.  Movies introduced me to acting, music, design, and a world outside of Southern Maryland. For this I am very thankful. 

The reason I am bringing this up is because tonight is the Academy Awards.  I always get excited for the awards despite only ever seeing one or two that are nominated.  The main reason being that I grew up in a family that watched movies at home not in the theater.  I do enjoy going to the movie theater but I generally only go for two types of movies: Will Smith action films and comedies.  It is incredibly enjoyable to laugh out loud with people or scream and cheer for Will Smith's victory over aliens/the wicki-wild wild west/whatever he is conquering.  Otherwise, why spend all that money when you can pig out in your pajamas on your own couch?  I never see movies in a timely manner but I'm ok with that because I love renting and watching movies at home.   These days I am a big fan on Redbox and the library.  The library gives me access to the classics while Redbox helps me stay in touch about relatively new films (and pop culture).

This year I saw 17 movies; meaning movies that were released to a wide audience in 2011.  I saw eight with the help from Redbox, three in the theater, three via cable at the Lyddane's house, two via United flying cross country, and one via the library.  I'm pretty proud as I have seen three of the films nominated for best picture: Moneyball, The Help, and Midnight in Paris.  All three were very enjoyable but I have to go with Moneyball.  I love sports movies to begin with but Moneyball takes it to the next level.  It is a candid look inside the world of major league sports.  It is intelligently written and well acted.  If you haven't seen it please go to Redbox and treat yourself.

In honor of the awards, I decided to nerd out a bit and serve food and beverage inspired by the three nominated movies that I have seen.  We are having Moneyball meatballs.  They are meatballs in a spinach and cream sauce.  How does this relate to the movie?  Well, because money is green and so is spinach. We are having green meatballs so in my simple mind they are kinda like Moneyballs.  Stop laughing.  We are also having The Help malted chocolate pudding pie parfaits but without the special ingredient. To drink we are having red wine to honor Midnight in Paris.  Kinda lame I know but we needed a beverage and red wine is very French.  Oh and a salad because it is important to eat your veggies.

Are you doing anything fun to celebrate?  Enjoy the show!

In case any of you were wondering, below is a list of the 17 movies from 2011 that I saw this year.  My taste in movies can be questionable at times (note that I love romantic comedies, frat boy humor, and musicals) so please don't judge me too harshly.  Also if you have any suggestions of other 2011 movies I should see please send them my way and hopefully they will have them at Redbox.  Here we go: Midnight in Paris, The Change Up, A Better Life, The Way, Country Strong, The Green Hornet, Soul Surfer, Gnomeo and Juliette, Paul, The King's Speech, Arthur, Water For Elephants, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, The Help, Bridesmaids, Crazy Stupid Love, and Moneyball.