A Month of Gratitude: Day 19

Today, I am grateful for family movies that aren't awful. I know I will watch many terrible kids' and family movies over the course of Milo's childhood. So, I am extremely grateful for the likes of "Monsters University."  Which we watched over the weekend and all thoroughly enjoyed -- with the exception of one scene that proved a little too scary for a 2 1/2-year-old.

Up until recently, the S.O. and I have been able to pick out the shows and movies we watch with Milo. Lately, the boy has been insisting on certain TV shows -- some much better than others. At least with the TV shows, they last 20 minutes or so. Movies can go on and on. I am grateful for the ones that try to entertain kids and parents alike. I am grateful for the ones that don't rely solely on poop jokes and the ones that assume kids and parents are somewhat intelligent even if they don't always share the same tastes.

There are certainly worse things in the world than bad movies, but a good movie is one of life's true pleasures.

Daddy Talk

The Classics.

I shared a memory of my dad with Pam today. It was when I was young, somewhere around 10. My dad rented a movie for the family called Thunder Warrior. It was certainly a cheese fest, a bit of a rip off of Rambo only with a Native American as the lead. It was a terrible movie from my recollection. I think my dad secretly liked it, but I can only guess. I remember my brother and I thought it was terrible on a whole lot of levels. Kind of a feat really to get kids to think it was so cheesy. Its a funny memory only because my dad picked up the sequel a few years later.

We gave him an endless amount of ribbing about it, how we hated it because it was so terrible and this and that but we still watched it. I can't remember what happened with the movie, what the plot was or who the characters were. There were plenty of times where we watched good movies or forgettable movies, but nothing like this. Nothing that sticks in my mind. It doesn't bother me that this movie was bad and it sticks in my memory, I think the worst part about it is wondering if my dad took it too hard.

I may just make the boy suffer through it when he gets older. I hope he has a memory of it, it will probably be a good memory for him. Just got to figure out the right time to do it and where to get a vcr. Most importantly I need to find the 80 dollars to buy it because it is a "classic" now.

Movies for Mamas

Last night, the S.O. and I watched "Baby Mama." I didn't really have high hopes that the movie would be fantastic, but I needed something light and fun.

And "Baby Mama" definitely fits that description. Despite the fact that users on IMDb only give it an average of six stars, I really liked the movie. It was silly and predictable and fun. And really, how can you not love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Plus, you get the stunning Sigourney Weaver (I can't believe that gorgeous woman is in her 60s!), the ever-charming Greg Kinnear, and goofy Steve Martin, playing a hippie-dippie mega-successful businessman.

If I had watched this movie back in 2008, when it was first released, it probably would have pissed me off. Wanting to get pregnant and not being able to, being told I couldn't, wouldn't get pregnant definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth. Sure, I could identify with Tina Fey's character when the very expensive fertility specialist tells her she has a one in a million chance of getting pregnant (my "specialist" said one in 100), but (SPOILER ALERT) when everyone ends up pregnant, that would have sent me over the edge.

Because I watched this movie as a mom-to-be, I found it to be light-hearted fun. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are great together, and who wouldn't fall for Greg Kinnear?

It's not one of the all-time great films, and definitely not the best movie I've seen recently, but it was a nice little escape for the evening. The S.O. even made popcorn.

Christmas recap

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas day. Christmas on a Saturday is great, isn't it? Now we get Sunday for more relaxing. I'm not one to run out to the after-Christmas sales, so today will probably be a lot like yesterday. Naps and snacks and watching movies.

Our Christmas dinner was not exactly what most people would consider traditional, but we are making it a tradition in our house. Because we had a big turkey dinner just about a month ago, we're not ready for more turkey at Christmas. And ham isn't really my thing. So we had a Korean Christmas. I made bulgogi, cabbage kimchi, spicy cucumbers and sticky rice -- all from scratch.

I did a lot of prep work earlier in the week, so all we had to do yesterday was cook the rice and meat. For those of you who might not know, bulgogi is Korean barbecue, and kimchi is a spicy fermented vegetable dish. The cabbage kimchi I made is not the traditional fermented variety. It was a quick -- or fresh -- kimchi. It's much simpler because it doesn't take weeks to complete, but it's still tasty.

We spent much of the day watching videos, including "A Christmas Carol," "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (the original cartoon, not that Jim Carrey thing) and "A Charlie Brown Christmas." We finished the evening watching "Green Fingers." Which isn't a Christmas movie but is a really good, really funny, heartwarming movie I highly recommend if you 1) like Clive Owen (and who doesn't?) and 2) enjoy British films.

All in all, it was a nice Christmas -- quiet and uneventful. I'm guessing it's the last of its kind for the S.O. and me for a long time. And I'm perfectly OK with that.

Tiny dancer

Last night, the S.O. and I watched the movie "The Good, The Bad, The Weird" on Netflix Instant. It's a Korean gunfighter film. Yes, that's right: Korean gunfighters. During the climactic chase scene, Baby was going nuts, moving all over the place. It felt like I had a little tap dancer in my belly. I like to think Baby is going to be just like Daddy (who is half Korean) and Mommy (who loves Asian action films).

On the other hand, maybe Baby didn't like the shouting and the shooting and was trying to protest. But because Baby sure seems to move around more when I'm happy, I'm going to go with the idea that Baby LOVED this movie as much as Mommy and Daddy did.

Check out the trailer:


As I said, it's on Netflix. And it is a ton of fun.