Hello World

Movies and television are like old friends to me.  I was raised by them, from my earliest cartoons, like Bugs Bunny, Magilla Gorilla, and the Jetsons.  I graduated to the Patty Duke Show, through Gilligan's Island and Bewitched, all the way in to the Brady Bunch.  Even today, it is one of my favorite things to do at the end of the day. Grab some tea and sit down to watch what I have saved in the DVR.  No matter what was going on in my life, there was some reference I would make to the shows I saw on television.  I remember one time in my life, the picture tube on our TV broke, and we listened to it, until we could afford another one.  My mother said it was like listening to the Lone Ranger on the radio, like she did when she was young.   Even though I hated the reference, I still sat there listening to the sound on that old TV. It has been that way through my entire life, Movies and TV shows are the soundtracks that play along my journey through life.

I left home at 17, it was a difficult time for me.  I lived with another family to finish High School.  American Graffiti got me dancing and participating in school and my church.  The Trial of Billy Jack fueled my sense of spirituality and discipline, “One Tin Soldier” I sang in a talent show. As I graduated and moved to Salt Lake City, I saw Jaws nine times.  I memorized the lines from the movies. My first year on my own, Silent Movie came out, and I would visit the movie in the theater over and over, mostly on my own.  I became a huge fan of Mel Brooks and went to most of his movies after that.  I usually worked at night, and so during the day, when there were not a lot of people I went and sat, laughed and was inspired by the movies. One of my favorite movies that sustained my first couple of years on my own was Rocky.  I know Sylvester Stallone was a heart throb to some, but he was inspirational to me.  When those films came out on Beta and then VHS, I had to own them so I could revisit them as needed.

Those are just the beginning, The Good Bye Girl, all Neil Simon plays turned into movies, John Hughes films, ET and all Steven Spielberg films. Well at this point I could go on and on.  This year as I am going into the next phase of my life, I noticed that TV, with the movie channels, has really become phenomenal, like a viewing smorgasbord of wonderful shows and movies.  So that is where I am at. The most I have ever heard people admit to this much love for pop culture, is Rosie O’Donnell when she had her talk show originally years ago.   Mostly we viewers hang our heads in shame for loving Shameless, or knowing when Mad Men has hit a home run like it did this year. We are considered by some lazy, and intellectually challenged.  There is something magical about TV and movies, and the people who work in the industry. I love them.  I think from now on, I will own that affection, instead of pretending, I am watching for the news.