Me in Place

Once when I was in first grade, or maybe kindergarten, they were going to show the Benji movie on TV. It was Christmastime. A time when you can feel good about a little doggie being captured by kidnappers. So the family gathered on the bed (my parents always kept a little teeny tv up on top of really high armoires and you had to crane your neck to see it.) and we popped popcorn. The movie started and I started getting very upset about poor little Benji. And then I cried. And my dad said, “This is supposed to be a fun night for the family – watching a movie and eating popcorn. Don’t cry!”

Sniff.

So the next year, they play Benji again – at Christmastime, when my emotions were running high anyway and I was probably on overdrive anticipating the awesome gifts my grandmothers were going to send me. So Dad says, “We can watch Benji again, but you can’t cry, okay? It’s supposed to be fun!” (Dad was not against crying – just against his daughter sniffling through the whole Benji show and dripping salt tears on the popcorn and he wanted to reassure me that Benji would survive). I said, no, no, I won’t cry. I know what happens and everything comes out okay. So we started watching the movie again. And Benji ran up those cement steps outside the white house and he gets inside and the kidnappers are there and… oh no! A tear! A tear falls and Dad says, “Great.”

We never watched Benji again. My daughter found the original Benji book at a Goodwill and it’s been sitting on our steps for the past three weeks. Everytime I pass it I think about crying about poor Benji. And the secret I learned later on… The easiest way to get my dad to cry was to bring up sad animal stories. And I bet his popcorn was really salty too.

The reason I named this post “My New Slang” is because I kept reading the title and then realized it sounds a lot like a slang phrase, “Oh, for the love of Benji, would you stop it!!!”

I come humbly before you, my dear blog readers, with a request on the behalf of SuperBoy.

You were there when he went through the spilling cereal on the floor every single bloomin’ morning phase.

You were there when he learned to vent his frushtrations.

You were there when I posted his photos in which he so carefully and thoughtfully posed for you, including this one:

And now, I have a huge favor to ask of you for SuperBoy’s sake. You know the movie Kung Fu Panda? We saw it a few weeks ago and SuperBoy fell head over heels for Master Tigress. Then McDonald’s (in their ever present attempts to steal my children’s souls) so thoughtfully released the Kung Fu characters in their Happy Meals and the kids and I were determined to get that Master Tigress character for SuperBoy. But every McD’s we went to was out of it and now I think they’re gone forever. By chance, do you have one for SuperBoy? We missed the Panda and the Tigress.

Will it help if I tell you that SuperBoy had a fever today and a cough that made him gasp for air and then say in his raspy voice, “see…I told you I was feeling bad.” He slept til 9 and took a nap and watched Blue’s Clues. Poor, poor buddy. If only he had a Master Tigress.

I know, I know… that was just plain Mean to put this adorable photo of my shnoogy woogy back in his baby phase to make you want to give up your Master Tigress.

My friend  and I  went to see The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in a series of movies based on the books by Robert Ludlum. Matt Damon stars as Jason Bourne; a man desperately seeking answers to why he is the way he is (aren’t we all, Jason, aren’t we all?). He seems to be involved in a secret CIA program that is carrying out assassinations around the world. Who is Jason Bourne and who is after him?

The movie is frenetic in its energy and its chases. Seeing as how I got seasick when I went to see Titanic, let’s just say I had to close my eyes every once in a while.

All dizziness aside, the movie was great, action-packed and suspenseful. Julia Stiles plays Nikki Parsons, a fellow agent who helps Bourne figure out who he is. I like her character; strong and trustworthy. The music soundtrack is wonderful – it adds to the movie, doesn’t distract.

Worth seeing just for the huge car chase alone, this is the Feel-Good Movie of the summer. Okay, I’m lying about the feel good part, but it was a lot of fun and much more to my liking than smarmy romances.

Ed Note: No, I am not friends with Reese Witherspoon. My friend just has the uncanny ability to get her hair to look as great as Reese’s. And I’m no Jennifer Garner, but one can dream.

1. The Beguiled (1971) 3/8; in the words of Tiff: Yikey Frikeys!
2. Cherish (2002) 4/27; fun in a strange way
3. Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
4. The Great Train Robbery (1979) I’ve watched this way back when; but we watched it again tonight (Jan 5) because it happened to be on TMC.
5. A Guy Thing (2003)
6. No Highway In the Sky (1951)
7. Rear Window (1954)
8. Seems Like Old Times (1980)
9. Shooting Fish (1997)
10. The Sting (1973) – 2/6/07; rating: 8.

1. Title — date — location — rating