Get-Well Gifts

My mom sent me a care package, which was so thoughtful and very appreciated. Oh, I should have taken a picture of the Christmas ornament. It's a bear wearing a raincoat--she knows I love rain, and she likes to give me stuff related to that. I do love rain... sigh.

Among other things, she sent a burned DVD of the movie, Gorillas in the Mist. This might seem like an odd get-well gift. Laynie found it odd. Katie found it odd. I found it wonderful. I love that movie!!

I have not seen Gorillas in the Mist since.. oh... high school? I'm not sure I have seen it since then. But it was one of my most favorite movies, maybe my very favorite. Don't ask me why! There is something fascinating about a person who devotes herself so completely to her work, as Dian Fossey did. And from things I've read about her, she seems a little spectrumy. Just sayin.

So of course I was excited to pull that DVD out of its sleeve. I commented to Katie that it had to be recorded from TV. No way it was a clean burn from another DVD (disclaimer: my mother would never pirate a movie). I was right: it was recorded from TV!

I know what you're thinking: You say that like it's a good thing... (See, I can read your mind.) I guess it's a matter of perspective.

You might say that my family did not have a great deal of disposable income. We didn't buy very many store-bought video tapes, but my mother DID buy plenty of recordable VHS tapes, which she put to good use. She recorded hundreds of movies and television specials. Not exaggerating. Hundreds. Maybe over a thousand. Everything from the Care Bears to Star Wars. At some point, we started numbering the tapes and cataloguing the movies on them. Several programs would be on each tape, you see, so this was easier than just labeling the sides of the tapes (well, we did that too... but had to write so small...). 

Mind you, these were not exactly professional quality recordings: a lot of our recordings had multiple episodes of static, due to the fact that for three years we lived not only on an Air Force base but also in the flight path of National Airport. Double airplane trouble. Check it out:

I had to smile when the picture went black for a while when I was watching Gorillas in the Mist.

I'm so glad mom recorded that movie and sent it to me. It really made my day.

Star Trek

I really liked the new Star Trek movie!

The theater was nearly empty (hello, Tuesday night), which was nice. And it wasn't the kind of movie that yell-at-the-screen people attend... you know the type. There were a few chuckles at original Star Trek references, though. I don't remember much about the original series, but I guess my dad's hours of viewing somehow made an impression, because I "got" many of the jokes. For example, when Bones crooked his eyebrows and said, "Good god man!" for the first time, I cracked up. Same with his many DAMMITs. Of course, there was Chekov's accent. I love the /w/ for /v/ substitutions. Those two characters were pretty campy, actually. The Bones actor was a little too into it when he yelled, "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" 

The Kirk and Spock characters were GREAT. And Uhura was actually interesting, which either wasn't the case before, or I never noticed. Probably the latter. I don't know if I would have picked up on it on my own, but because someone on the radio pointed it out, I noticed how Kirk sat like a girl in the captain's chair. Legs crossed, knees together. That was like the original Kirk. But I like this Kirk waaaaaaaaay better.

Anyway, it was a good movie, and I'll definitely watch the next one.

OH, I should say that I'm impressed at how well Laynie handled the movie. She used to be so sensitive, but she didn't complain about sudden noises or anything. Luckily it was loud but not painfully loud, like movies often are. Laynie even described the bad guy's voice appropriately... wow, she noticed voice quality. She's really doing great. And she enjoyed the movie. I'm going to Netflix Star Trek IV, because I remember it being funny and interesting. But it's been at least 15 years since I've seen that movie, so hopefully it holds up.