Cinematic Classics
80s Lyric for the day: You should have known by the tone in my voice, Baby,
But you didn’t listen
You played dead, but you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissing
But you didn’t listen
You played dead, but you never bled
Instead you lay still in the grass
All coiled up and hissing
My beloved and I settled down the other night with a plate of (vegetarian) burgers, stuffing, and green beans, to watch some of the old claymation classics that I just bought (this was after I set the burger buns on fire, but that’s a secret). I never thought I’d be that girl who watches tv while she eats, but the miniscule dug-out-of-the trash table in my kitchen/dining room/breakfast nook is covered in Christmas crap at the moment (important note: the table was loaned to me by a friend, and I love him because it is certainly better to have a dug out of the trash table than none at all). So to the couch we went, with guilty pleasure. The Professor’s pleasure bulb dimmed a bit when old claymation Drummer Boy popped up on the screen, but I reassured him that these movies are “awesome.”
Oh, how wrong I was.
Not awesome. Not awesome. Horrid, absolutely bad. Frantically I tore through each of the six Christmas classics I had purchased, hoping against hope to find one that was as good as I remembered them. Frosty and Rudolph were just bearable, but none had the glimmer and magic that they had when I was six. I suppose it was naive to believe that my cinematic tastes had not evolved in 21 years . . . Note to self – childhood cannot be purchased for $32.99 plus shipping, no matter how much you want those golden pre-mortgage pre-job pre-cellulite days back. Amazon dot com may sell a lot, but they aren’t that good.
PS I’ve decided to add a cheesy 80s lyric at the beginning of each entry for now. I need to educate my younger siblings, who have yet to learn the beauty and power of REO Speedwagon and Peter Cetera when one is nursing the pain of a broken heart (or a particularly obvious nose pimple).
2 Comments
Amanda
claymation was never a very seamless artform which is part of the reason i enjoy it. it reminds of the work that had to be put into it. i can\’t remember as a child ever enjoying the stories, i can\’t remember not enjoying them. what i do recall are the smiles that would beam from Pap\’s face everytime we sat to watch with him. watching these videos now at 23 is not about the storyline for me. watching these movies at 23 is the break from being a grown-up. it is the slap that makes me remember Pap and his bristly mustache and lining up at the top of the stairs and rudolph coloring books bigger than we were and being jealous that Randy got 27 million hot wheels cars. it gives me 30 minutes of reality-free tv and reminds me that once upon a time, i could buy dad a blue, plastic pencil holder for his desk and he would love it. i am not really watching the dvd version of what originally aired in 1964, long before dvd\’s came about, i am thinking about all the times we went to Pittsburgh and traded gifts and stayed at paps house with the stockings for all the grandkids and the little houses with the fake snow. and that is why i hope that when i am 27, or 37, or 107, i can still have these "classics" as some small connection with a past that has been long since forgotten and traditions that are already dead.
Frannie
Wow….those little bit of lyrics brought back a lot of memories. I\’m sorry that you didn\’t enjoy your claymation evening. I really enjoy watching them….I guess because of all the memories of years past. I am also getting to enjoy them with my kids. Your sister\’s comments were wonderful. I\’m sorry to read that the mole told you that you would probably be getting the layoff too. I can understand why you wouldn\’t have any motivation to be productive. I would definitely be "fake" working too. That just sucks!! Sometimes I wonder how the decision makers in the corporate world can even look themselves in the mirror let alone sleep at night. I hope that today is a good day for you!