tv and my parents warped my brain

TV (and my parents) warped my brain....

I'm very good at games like "Scene it" and "Shout out at the Movies."

People always assume that I possess all of this film trivia knowledge

simply because I am a theatre major. Unfortunately, that isn't the

case. The reason I know an abnormal amount of movie trivia is because

of my father.

My dad and I like to watch movie. My dad tends to prefer older movies,

while I prefer newer ones. I used to have a rule I called the "1975

rule." By this rule I refused to watch any movies that were made

before 1975. It wasn't until at least mid-high school that I realized

that I was missing out on some great stuff. Since then I've watched a

lot of movies and mini-series with my dad. My dad and I are alike in

that we are "marathon tv/ movie" watchers. We can sit for hours if

we're interested in something. We once spent an entire day watching

"The Streets of Laredo" mini-series. That thing is like 10 hours long.

If I remember correctly it was actually New Years Day and I ditched

watching the Rose Parade with my mom, which made her kind of mad.

In addition to being marathon watchers, we are also what I'll call

"research watchers." We can't just watch a film or TV and enjoy it. We

must look up every actor in it, look up reviews of it, and find out

when it was made and if it won any awards. We have a stack of books in

our living room floor to aid us in our research (yes, in the middle of

the floor...the book shelf would be too far to walk.) Because of this

"research" I know a lot about movies. Honestly I find it kind of

ironic that my father, the scientist, is the one who taught me all

about the art of film.

In my Tv watching with my dad, I've also been exposed to some shows

and movies that I wouldn't normally watch. Many of them I whine my way

through or bug my dad until he changes the channel, but there have

been a few that he has "converted" me to. I must shamefully admit that

I have sat up late on more than one occasion watching "Dog: The Bounty

Hunter" with my dad. Seriously, the show is hilarious and who doesn't

like seeing bad guys put in jail. It's like watching cops, but with

better costumes.

Another show my dad has converted me to over Christmas is "Myth

busters." This show is just cool. I never thought you could have so

much fun watching educational television. I think my dad secretly

wishes that they'd hire him to work on the show. I think if I was good

as science I'd wish that too.

My "Myth Buster" watching has continued as I've been back at school.

It was while flipping channels to see if "Myth Busters" was on on the

Discovery Channel that I came across, "Man vs. Wild." Now this is in

fact the most awesome show ever. This guy skydives into these remote

locations with nothing and has to survive and find his way back to

civilization. This guy is so hardcore. In one episode he hacked off a

piece of a dead zebra left over from a lion kill and ate it raw! (I

think that was the moment I fell in love.) The stuff this guy does is

just totally insane. If I were a boy I'd want to be that hardcore (not

trying to be sexist, but honestly I don't think a girl could do about

half the stuff he does). It has become my new favorite show. I

actually watched 3, one hour episodes last Saturday night and then

stayed up late and watched the same three episodes again until like 2

am. (the fact that I spent Saturday night watching the Discovery

channel is probably a little sad) It will be my mission when I get

home this summer to convert my father to this show. I just hope my

mother doesn't get mad again. I still don't think she's forgiven me

for introducing "Prison Break" into our home (that might have had

something to do with the fact that we watched the first season on DVD

for about 5 hours a night for a week straight over Christmas break).