2011 Movies – Shame and Change

To be completely honest… I’m embarrassed.  I just sifted through a list of all the movies released in 2011 so far and I’ve only seen 11.  Seriously!  Only 11 movies!  I am appalled.

Now, if you do the math… I still have about 5 months until the Oscars, which is my unofficial/personal cut off for a year… so there is still time to right this wrong, but still.  Once upon a time it wasn’t abnormal for me to see around a 100 movies in a given year before the Oscars… an achievement I haven’t been able to match (or even come close to) in recent years.

Back in 2006, when I became a father for the first time, it was understandable when my movie intake dropped a bit.  But, it screeched to a halt back in 2008 when I moved Serbia, where most movies are dubbed into Serbian… and then in Pakistan where going to the movies probably wasn’t the safest thing in the world to do. 

I’ve tried though.  I’ve tried to stay on top of the movie industry as a whole.  But it’s been hard.

But this year… I feel the tides a changing.

Now, I’m in Suriname… a Dutch speaking county most American’s have never heard of and even the most seasoned geographers have trouble identifying on a map… I feel like my love for movies has been given a new life!

As luck would have it, my next door neighbor is the son of an America film professor and our taste in movies is almost identical.  Couple that with the fact that we live in walking distance to an English six screen first-run movie theatre and you have the ideal situation for a movie addict like me.

In addition, all my wife, Serena, has been able to talk about, since arriving, is how she wants me to start going to the movies again, saying “I feel so bad!  JohnPaul hasn’t been to the movies in like 3 years and even he could go he wouldn’t have anyone to go with who would appreciate the movies like he would.”  Long story short; Serena is encouraging me to organize weekly trips to the movies.  Best – Wife – EVER!

 ‘Moneyball’ here I come! 

Anyway, here is the list so far, and I will keep track of my complete list on the ‘2011 Films’ tab on this page… so if you’re a geek like me, you can track my progress.

The Dilemma

The Green Hornet

Red Riding Hood

Win Win

Sucker Punch

30 Minutes or Less

Spy Kids: All the Time in the World

Rio

Hop

Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil

The Adjustment Bureau

‘Friday Night Lights’ FOR LIFE!

Okay, I’ll admit it… I LOVE ‘Friday Night Lights’ and I say ‘love’ in the present tense because I’m a season behind and once I get settled in Suriname the final season of ‘Friday Night Lights’ will be at the top of my cue.  I also use the word ‘love’ in the present tense because I will ALWAYS consider ‘Friday Night Lights’ one of the best television dramas ever produced.  My love will never waiver.

It probably goes without saying I’m over the moon about Kyle Chandler’s Emmy win for Best Actor.  I’ve been following Kyle since 1996 when he landed to lead on ‘Early Edition’… a show with an okay premise that Kyle made great.  His Emmy Award for ‘Friday Night Lights’ is much deserved.

Besides admitting my love for ‘Friday Night Lights’ I also need to admit that I didn’t want to love it.  I didn’t even want to watch it.  I fell in love with the show on accident.  You see… I have a habit… a habit my wife, Serena, merely humors.  You see, I like to TiVo the season premiers of all the new shows and watch them when I get the chance… which can be a bit complicated because Serena isn’t interested in watching the odd show.  She claims she is ‘too busy to watch just anything’.  So my job in the family is to weed though all the mess on television and pick-out the shows she might like (which is a VERY tough job… because she is VERY picky).

Anyway,  about two months into the first season of ‘Friday Night Lights’ I started running out of room on my TiVo… I record a lot of stuff and I tend to keep recording a show until I decided if it’s worth watching or not… and since I have two kids and a TV picky wife it can take quite a bit of time before I can alone preview a show.

So… one night in December, 2006 Serena took our oldest (and then only) son, Grayson, to a friend’s house for some all day Bar-BQ event.   I wasn’t feeling well, so I stayed home and passed the time sifting though random shows to clear off space on the TiVo.  Well… after starting and deleting a half-dozen really crappy shows… I came to ‘Friday Night Lights’ and I thought, “Great… I need to watch a show about a bunch of High School jocks like I need a hole in my head.”  So I deleted the six or seven episodes I had collected up to that point… and as I went to delete my ‘Friday Night Lights’ Season Pass, a voice started haunting me… “You shouldn’t delete it until you’ve actually watched it… you’re not making an educated decision.  You’re being judgmental!”

So my conscience got the better of me and I undeleted the pilot episode and watched it.  And when it ended I thought… “OH – MY – GOD!”  I hadn’t seen anything REMOTELY like it… it wasn’t a sports show, it wasn’t a teenie-bopper show… it’s wasn’t even a formulaic drama… it wasn’t anything I had expected.  It was just ‘Friday Night Lights’, and it was awesome!

I quickly grabbed my TiVo remote and undeleted the other episodes and double checked my Season Pass and once everything was back to the way it was before, I watched more… I’m pretty sure I got through four more episodes before Serena and Gray got back… and I’ve been hooked ever since.  It’s an amazing show and I highly recommend it.

Here’s a great link to an article about the show.  Check it out:

Obsessions: 'Friday Night Lights' was the band camp of football shows

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/23/showbiz/tv/obsessions-friday-night-lights/index.html?hpt=hp_t2#

‘EGOTing’ - A New Beginning

Three years ago I started ‘SchutzHappens’ (schutzhappens.blogspot.com), a blog chronicling my life as a husband, father, and United States Foreign Service Diplomat.  When I started writing, the intent was merely to keep my friends and family back in the States up to date with our travels… however, two years in I discovered ‘SchutzHappens’ was being syndicated (via RSS feeds) on numerous Foreign Service and travel oriented websites… honestly, I had no idea and up until then, I was pretty sure my mother was my only reader.  I was wrong.  Apparently, my musings on fatherhood and life overseas had become quite popular.

However… there is slight problem. 

Although ‘SchutzHappens’ is (seemingly) widely read… the blog itself suffers from a general lack of focus.   Since I didn’t think anyone was reading, I pretty much talk about whatever I want.  And to be completely honest, when I’m not talking about my beautiful wife and amazing kids… or our random misadventures around the world… I have a tendency to write (ad nauseum) about another passion of mine: the entertainment business.  I’ll admit it… I am a complete freak about movies, television, music, and theatre.

As avid ‘SchutzHappens’ readers know, I wasn’t always planning to be Diplomat.  Once upon a time I was an actor.  I was an honest to God working actor (and theatre director)… who got paid for it and everything.    Now, keep in mind, I was mainly a stage actor, so if you’re tempted to ask, “Having you been in anything I’ve seen.”  The answer is more than likely ‘no’.  However, I still got paid for it… but as glamorous as it might sound, theatre work isn’t always stable and I found my life moving into a slightly different direction.  Luckily, my theatre connections opened a lot of doors and I ended up teaching high school theatre and eventually moved into public arts management; which I did for over seven years… before my professional life took a much more dramatic turn and I found myself working overseas.

Anyway, when it comes to ‘SchutzHappens’, over the last year its thematic divide between my new Diplomatic life verses my old Theatrical life has become more and more defined… and as a result ‘SchutzHappens’ now appeals to two very different audiences: those who want to read about my family and our life in the Foreign Service, and those who want to read my overly analytical opinions about the entertainment business.

So… what is my point?  Well… I think it’s time to make a thematic split.  Don’t worry.  ‘SchutzHappens’ isn’t going anywhere.  It will always be my primary blog of about life.  However, it is time to give my entertainment obsession its own home… and that is why I created ‘EGOTing’ (egoting.blogspot.com)… a place to let my movie freak flag fly.

Anyway, if you are reading this on ‘SchutzHappens’, sit tight!  I’ve been back from Pakistan and with my family for two months now, AND we arrived in Paramaribo, Suriname last Friday.  And get this!  Our car, UAB, and HHE from Serbia arrived before we did!  Stay tuned, I have lots of stories to share about our Home Leave, our move, Suriname, Grayson’s first day of school… and an xBox I rebuilt for $32.00.  The fun starts October 1^st.

As for ‘EGOTing’… there are less than 100 days left in the year and you know what that means… less than 100 days to qualify for the Oscars.  There are going to be some SERIOUS movies coming out and I live down the street from a movie theatre… that actually screen movies in ENGLISH!!!! 

Sweetness!