The Life and Times of a Midwestern Movie Addict

Well, we've come once again to the end of another year and I've had a lot more time to reflect on things this week than in years past thanks to a combination of having no distractions and absolutely nothing to do.  I'm starting to wonder where my friends have all gone.  No one is around, because they all have better places to be and so here I am, spending the week leading up to New Year's with no one but my cats to keep me company.  If there was ever a time I felt more like an old maid, I cannot remember it.  I have enjoyed playing with my Christmas presents, particularly the new Zelda game.  I am so close to beating that.  I also got a new vacuum, which is amazing compared to my ratty old thing...my carpets haven't looked this nice in years.  I'm not sure if I should be excited about cleaning my carpets though...I don't think its normal.  Anyway, today as I was watching a film I'm quite happy to now own on Blu-ray, I got to thinking about late po...

In my experience, I've found that those people who have close families and who participate in family traditions tend to be the happiest at the holidays.  That may be a gross generalization, but then again it may be true.  I know, from personal experience, that my family enjoys Christmas much more when we are together and are repeating the traditions that we have participated in over time.  This can be a blessing and a curse for people who are just beginning to join a family who has been entrenched in their own holiday traditions and plans so long, because it makes the newcomers feel like outsiders.  As you might imagine, the final film to be covered today is about this very subject and I am so pleased to conclude this year's 25 days of Christmas movies with it.  It is a film about the importance of family, but also about learning to welcome outsiders into a close knit family.  Now, without futher ado, let's celebrate Christmas by visiting with The Family St...

 I woke up with a ulcer flare up today, so I'm not in the best of moods today...which is a shame because today is our Christmas Day since Dad and I are driving home from PA tomorrow morning so that we get back to his place at a decent hour.  However, I will not be revealing my gifts here today (because that just doesn't go with the whole Christmas tradition) and will reveal the loot tomorrow so that I'm not getting ahead of anyone.  Anyway, since I am in a little bit of pain and have no idea what to write about today, I decided to pull up an archive post of a film from last year I really enjoyed watching and hope you will enjoy reading about it again....now let's travel back in time a year to last Christmas...five, four, three, two, one: Another snow day today which means we have only one calamity day left before we have to start making them up...and tomorrow is our last day of school before break and a lot of non-educational activities along with early releases fr...

There are so many reasons to celebrate Christmas.  Spending time with family, giving and getting gifts, thinking about what we're thankful for...and of course celebrating the birth of Christ.  As many are aware, Christmas is meant to commemorate the date of Jesus's birth in the manger to Mary and Joseph (as it is told in the Bible)...and as fewer know it was set for the 25th of December in order to overshadow the already existing pagan holiday of Yule (which is where we get our Christmas tree and wreath traditions).  However, despite the commercialization of the holiday and the focus on giving and getting gifts, many circles still find the time to memorialize the birth of Jesus (regardless of whether or not it was actually on December 25th) by staging plays and pagents about the Nativity.  In merry old England, the schools even get in on the act by staging annual Nativity plays; which brings us to today's film.  It is the story of a teacher who is trying to prod...

Well, today was nice and low key.  I woke up, had a leisurely breakfast, did some chores, did some errands, and now I'm just running out the clock until I have to leave for Dad's house to get ready for the final holiday exodus to PA to visit Mommom and Uncle Mike.  It's rather nice to have nothing to do before the holidays, because it gives you time to think and contemplate the holidays.  I gotta say though, I do love that Dad is driving to PA and not me.  Holiday travel is something that just drives me batty when I have to be the one in the driver's seat.  I would much rather relinquish my command and save myself the headaches.  However, it does put me in mind of those who will be flying into forbidding climates this season and how many people can get trapped at the airport due to flight cancellations.  This brings me to today's film, which I just watched for the first time last night and which made me cringe with pain at how awful holiday flight can ...

 I don't have much headspace today for an original post, so I'm breaking out another archive post for you guys.  I will add that I'm happy to say that Christmas in WV was a success and I received a great many things I wanted...I am also happy to report that my gifts were well liked and at least one illicited a squeal of glee.  I had a really FAT day yesterday too...I mean I ate so much food that I went over my calorie count by something like 1000 calories.  However, I am happy to report that I am back on the wagon today and that it was a one time incident in celebration of the holiday (I think its ok to overeat one or two days at Christmas).  Anyway, today I decided to post some archives of two posts on my favorite holiday action flicks.  So sit back and re-experience Die Hard and Die Hard 2 . "Yippie Kay Yay, Motherfucker!" - Those of the immortal words of Detective John McClane...one of action's premiere characters and the star of the surprise hit of ...

Ah...so here were are in the home stretch.  Only five more days until Christmas Day and for me that also means only five more days of Christmas movies until its time to hang up my tinsel for another year.  This year has been more fun than the previous years for me because I have gotten to experience so many more new films that I have never seen before, and so I hope it has also been as rewarding for you to read.  Today I am falling back on my small cache of Christmas horror films again mostly because, in an hour, I will be without internet for 24 hours.  You see, I am headed to my brother-in-law's family cabin this morning to spend a bit of early Christmas with mom, sis, Ross, and nephew and will be there till tomorrow.  It's out in the boonies and there is no cell phone nor internet service there.  So I'm a little pressed for time to meet today's deadline.  So I'm reaching into the dusty bin of my memory to throw something into today's box fairly quic...