hobbies

Besides liking to talk about myself, my family and my views on everything, I also really like to watch movies and read.  Yay! not very interesting sounding, I know, but the volume of material I read and watch is...well...probably not good for me in some way.

I was trying to count it up and figured I probably spend about 1/3 to 1/2 my waking time reading and about 1/2 of that time watching something.  Perhaps I am media junkie.  Only, I have found that radio has totally been squeaked out of the equation.  Growing up, it was all radio and TV and maybe the paper after school.  Now it is CNN online, SFGate online, NYTimes, NPR online; not to mention the blogs and social sites I read through every day.  Added to that, I watch perhaps 1-2 movies a day and 1-2 TV shows a day.  I also then read the physical NYTimes Sunday paper and this usually takes me a couple days, reading a section here and there, in between all the other information I am consuming.  And then! on top of that, I will read about an hour before going to sleep at night from whatever book I am on, or Kindle story/book is next in my queue.

Most of the time, I realize, I don't have anyone to really share with in the funny/disturbing/poignant/stupid ideas I glean from all this information.  I have M, to be sure.  I am like my Aunt or Mom, sending her the highlights from the articles and posts I read during the day and night, if I think she would also be interested/amused in them.  But there are others that I know she just wouldn't care about and would just give me a "yes yes, there there" look and go back to looking at food blogs.  Also! The extreme variety of movies I watch, she is not into.  She is much more inclined to watch romcoms, silly comedies, and movies about food.  I am inclined to watch EVERYTHING!

I am pretty sure Netflix is having a hard time keeping up with my interests (or lack of coherent interests).  I think the only stable choices they have going for me right now are "dark, visually stimulating, foreign dramas" and "lesbian."  But I will go for anything, really.  I watch both DVDs and streaming.  I think the only thing I am not that into is anime/manga and even there, I will sometimes watch a movie or a show.  There is something about the gigantic, wiggling eyes that freak me out about this genre.

Today, for example: I watched a movie called "Monique" about a French woman that comes to live with a boring English couple to take care of their kids.  The movie was made and set in 1969, and it gets pretty obvious, pretty fast that they are all swingers that just need a nudge out of their non-swinger shells to enjoy the happiness that is polyamoury.  Everything works out swell for everyone involved and that is actually pretty refreshing, considering how this movie probably would have gone if made in 2010 vs. 1969.  I suppose they were all a bit more optimistic about that whole "free love" thing then.  Anyway, I think the take-away from this film was that bringing in a hot nanny who likes men and women to live in your home will save your marriage and turn your frigid housewife into a raging nympho.  Hurray for the 60's!  Wait, but there is one scene where the French woman (Monique, obviously) is unpinning her hair and hubby is watching her.  It takes forever! It was fascinating watching how many pins and extensions this woman unclipped from her scalp.  No bump-its involved. weird.

Anyway, and now I am watching a Spanish movie about some kid who is turning into a vampire made in 2008.  It is done in an appealing foreign way to how this movie would be done in America.  There's no rock-star status given to the vampire kid and there is definitely a Grimm's fairy tale sort of vibe going on with "something dangerous is eating sheep in the woods, don't go in the forest!"(why are sheep in the forest, anyway? Don't these people have fences?).  This one's called "Shiver" and so far very enjoyable.  Also on my mantle, waiting to be watched on DVD are "Mary Poppins," and "Darby O'Gill and the Little People."  Not exactly "Monique" there, but I suppose that Netflix must have suggested (confusedly) "Mary Poppins" seeing as how I was enthusiastically clicking on "Monique." Similar stories, you know...a nanny comes to help out a married couple's life with the kids and makes everyone happy?  Maybe I should pay really close attention to see any strange juxtapositions between the two movies.  Perhaps Mr. and Mrs. Banks are swingers and I just didn't see the signs before.  hmmmm.