So,like many of our holidays,there's not much to watch on TV(except for the endless Law & Order marathons) and if you can't get out to the beach or the multiplex,you need some sort of mental stimulation. Here's a few helpful hints:
Movies: The Patriot with Mel Gibson is perfect for a day like this;it's long,well themed and packed with lots o' violence. Also,Jason Issacs(best known as Draco's dad in the Harry Potter flicks)is the main baddie here and the man chews the scenery with extra relish and mustard. An added bonus is a pre-Brokeback Heath Ledger as Mel's eldest boy who lives,loves and loses out before the end credits. One of the last times we'll get to see Mel do what he does best onscreen-slaughters a whole bunch of bad guys with psycho wild man style.
If you prefer something a bit more romantic,may I suggest Kate and Leopold? Hugh Jackman is very belivable as the displaced and improverished nobleman mistakenly set to modern times who effortlessly woos uptight business gal,Meg Ryan. Sure,Meg is geting long in the tooth for these types of films but she can still turn the trick when called upon. I recommend watching the director's cut on DVD-it not only explains the basic plot better but has a nice in-joke scene at a film screening.
Tv on DVD:Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter and The Greatest American Hero make for very nice double features. If you're going for WW,check out Season 1 which has all those fighting the Nazis stories. The best one is a two parter,where Andros,an alien trying to keep his fellow beings from blasting the planet earth to bits before we earthlings get too advanced to mess up their neighborhood,comes to earth and hooks up with Wonder Woman. He naturally gets kidnapped by the Nazis and big league drama happens,with snappy background music to boot.
A good GAH to check out is the Captain Belly Buster episode,where Ralph gets help from a hamburger franchise mascot to bust up a group of drug dealers(season two) and another is My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys(season one)where Bill has some trouble facing the fact that one of his old buddies is in league with some bad guys. They don't make shows like this anymore,which is good and bad in some ways.
Books:Make this a day to read one of those American classics you never got around before-you don't have to grab some huge hunk of a book like Moby Dick(I never finished that one),go for something a little more accessible. Mark Twain,Edith Wharton,Harper Lee(she only has the one book after all!)-someone along those lines.
If you don't mind a good thick book but want to have the plot move along at a lively pace,Gone With The Wind is a pop classic of sorts. Scarlett and Rhett are just as iconic as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy or any of those mopey Bronte couples. Plus it has plenty of Americana;war,poverty,ruined cities and countrysides,and tons of sterotypes to cringe at yet enjoy in the sense that they were meant to be.
Have a happy 4th,folks and remember,it's more fun to watch fireworks at home on a flat screen TV with air conditioning than to stand outdoors at night in the sweltering heat(yep,I'm a city girl,can't you tell?).
2 comments:
Amen on the air-conditioning.
In the days of VCRs, I used to spend every 4th of July watching the entire Ken Burns "Revolution" series... haven't bought a DVD copy yet, so it's Dan Brown's Angels & Demons interspersed with the History Channel (and occasional peeks at the Sci-Fi Channel Twilight Zone marathon) for me today.
Cheers
Those Ken Burns documentaries were great-last one I saw was the one about Mark Twain(even bought the companion book as a gift for my dad).
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