Watching scary movies

We're watching Legion right now, and as I look over, Jennifer is hiding her hands behind her pillow.

OK, this was my pick. Tomorrow night it's Where the Wild Things are, a little bit more gentle that a cross between Bus Stop, Terminator and Tremors.

Catching History While You Can

Last night, Jennifer decided that she wanted to attend PLU's Holocaust Conference with me this am. And as my hubby and I mulled it over, it was with regret that we decided not this year.

She was sick for 3 days 2 weeks ago, and is still making up the homework and tests (for the first time, she had to explain why she had a C on her progress report). And her first period teacher has decided for some reason, she's not very fond of Jennifer, so if she missed work, she's very iffy about letting Jennifer make it up. And since this class is Chemistry II, not aerobic walking, I really hate for her to miss, or be late for the class.

However, next year, Jennifer's coming to this event. The first-person eyewitnesses to the Holocaust are going to be gone within a half a generation, and I think it's important for Jennifer to hear their stories. Just watching Schindler's List doesn't quite cut it (although she does like the movie).

Oscars

Jennifer and I are already planning our Oscar night dinner tonight, and rooting for Up, even tho we think The Hurt Locker will probably win. Go Up!

Maybe dad shouldn't watch this

Jennifer and I were watching Taken last night, and about 30 minutes in, just after the daughter gets kidnapped by Albanian white slave traders, I turned to her and surmised: "maybe your dad shouldn't watch this."

We had been in a tug and pull for months about Jennifer going with her French class to Paris 2 years from now. Gary at first said no, but then relented if I went with her as a parent chaperon. Jennifer's not happy with that plan.

But after watching said daughter in Taken get snatched from a Paris apt, I quickly started the movie after that, when Liam N. goes after daughter with a vengeance and kills everyone (I think I stopped counting bodies at 20) in his way. But they were Albanian slavers, so who cares?

I'll trade you a South Pacific for Watchmen

We were walking toward our parent-teacher conference, and I was trying to get Jennifer to go to Auburn Senior High School's "South Pacific" with me.

No, no and no.

I finally told her that if she wants to go to Watchmen, rated r, she was going to have to go with a parent, mainly me. And I wanted something in exchange. I finally was getting close to a yes, with some cash added in, when a friend walked up and said a bunch of them were going to SP. Did she want to go.

Well, that changes things. So she went, and I didn't have to pay her $20 for the privilege. Now we're off to see Watchmen tonight, but I keep hearing it's really violent. Maybe this wasn't such a good trade.

Can I go to a movie?

3pm: Can I go to the movies with friends? On a school night? I didn't think so, but she didn't have have any homework. And no practice.

3:30 pm: I say yes, she starts texting.So at first the movie was for 5 pm down at the AMC. A date with her b-friend and another couple.

4:00 pm :Then, pretty please could we pick up Ashley, who lives near the casino in South Auburn. Umm, you're asking me this at 4 pm. With traffic, we'd have to leave now, so no, I'm not going to become the taxi service now.

4:01 pm: She pouts and begins texting.

4:10 pm: Can we go to a 7:30 pm movie, so when Ashley's bro gets home, HE can take her to the movies. And get out at 10 pm, no you can't. The movie is the same horror movie they saw on the weekend, so we'll be out by 9 pm

4:11 pm. Fine, but once I pick you up at the movies, to bed. And I'm not taking anyone home.

4:12 pm. Oh, didn't I tell you, she says, we're meeting at Regal at the Auburn 17.

4:13 pm. No you're not. I'm not going all the way down and back and then down again. Move this gig to the AMC where it first started in KEnt or no go.

4:14 pm. More glares, more texting.

5 pm: Dad comes home and grumps about letting her go to a movie at all.

5:15 pm. Daughter disappears into room to text.

6 pm. Emerges. The deal is off. From the glare, I'm sure she blames me.

Twilight: Not quite a waste of time...but

That was my initial response as I arrived home at 1 a.m. this morning from a late night showing of the film with Jennifer and her friends. It was okay, tho the jury is out on whether "Edward's" character can act. (He did sooo well in the HP series...so this is puzzling)

Also, it seemed like the lines were too "delivered" for my taste. Even Jennifer noticed that it seems like the actors were always struggling to get them out. Nevertheless, the movie theater was full, mostly of moms and teenage girls, and they all were riveted. And probably counting down the days to movie #2 in the series, which is already underway.

And finally, all I have to do is look over at J. now reading Wuthering Heights. As I say, the book series is a gateway drug to better things.

Please do not beat up on the kids

But you can beat up about psycho guy sitting next to us if you want. On second thought, just leave him be.

That was the conversation this afternoon as Jennifer and I saw one of the first showings of The Dark Knight this afternoon. And wouldn't you know, some idiot parents brought their kids. I mean young kids, like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7. This is not a movie for any of these age groups. It's great, don't get me wrong, and will probably get the deceased Heath Ledger an Oscar nomination. However, it is dark, violent and disturbing in some parts. And you might run into creepy people sitting next to you laughing as someone gets a pencil through their eye. Yeah. Real funny.

Now there were some funny lines by The Joker or Alfred for comic relief. But of course weirdo guy didn't laugh at any of these.

Jennifer swore if the kids started to cry, she was going to order the parents to take them out. Not really out of concern for the kid's psyche, mind you, but because she didn't want the noise spoiling "her" Batman movie. She's been obsessed since the opening date was announced.

Plans to buy a t-shirt tomorrow. (her dad later said no) We have two large boxes of cereal going stale on our kitchen counter so she could get the Batman and Joker toys out of the bottom.

The blame game, Sex in the City style

J.'s not allowed to take her friends with us to see movies anymore if they are R-rated.

Not after the fiasco this weekend. J. and Gary were going to to go up and watch a soccer match this Saturday, after frankly, I wish they had.

They decided to go to Sex in the City instead, so I tagged along, as did one of J's closest friends, Ashley. Now I remember asking the mom "you've seen sex in the city, right? You know what the episodes, and probably, the movie will be like, right? And you're okay with this?" She was.

We met the dad, getting ready to pick up the kids for the weekend on the way out. We told him where we were going, and invited him to come along. Dismissing it as a chick flick, he declined.

So off we went. And I admit, some parts were pretty risque, even for me. But overall, I thought the messaging of the movie was pretty tame (stick by your man, remain in a committed relationship, etc.)

Three hours later, we arrive to drop off friend, and there is dad waiting on the porch, saying he didn't realize we were taking her to an R movie or one that is was so "morally bankrupt." Gary and I were so shocked, we didn't say anything, which is probably just as well. We want to keep the friendship intact between the girls. We did a slow burn on the way home.

I resisted pointing out that said friend had just been to a horror movie(not with us, we hate those films). Did he realize his daughter had seen Juno? I'm not sure if it's R or not, but it does have some pretty revealing scenes, not to mention the long-distance guys jogging by in closeup. And no, the camera is not on their faces.

Even my mom, who doesn't like the fact I take J to R-rated movies was annoyed we seemed to be given the roles at the bad guys in this little episode.

But, at any rate, to keep peace with all parties involved, the friends are banned from R movies from now on. We'll try to keep the moral bankruptness to ourselves.

Manson, The Musical

J. stayed home from school yesterday (it was teachers' training day - and for those that missed the punishment this weekend, they were scraping gum off the bottom of desks on monday).

So she wanted to rent a few classics from the songs she heard at the symphony this weekend, and no, she wanted to go, I didn't have to drag her. We struck out on Casablanca, so we settled for West Side Story and Schindler's List. Gary was a bit worried about the latter, and wondered if she should hold off until we could watch it with her - although I'm a little unsure what I'd say about the scene where the girl in the red dress, now dead, is thrown into a pile of bodies being burned. "Gee, that didn't happen in real life?"

She ended up watching both shows by herself anyway. Apparently, not much angst on SL, but when I started asking her about West Side Story, it was a different story. I could feel the angst(mine) bubbling up as she started describing what happened after she watched WSS.

She first was interested in Natalie Wood, so googled her, and found out, she died young of drowning, then she went after Richard Beymer, who played Tony. Guy didn't have much of a dating life, but did date, for a few short months, Sharon Tate. Who's that, J. wonders.

So she wikipedia's Tate, and of course finds out how she died and who slashed her to death (8 months pregnant), so now she's wikiing Manson. And the whole entire clan. She then started to ask what Manson wanted to accomplish by all this (race war), his inspiration (Helter Skelter), and where he is now. (alive, in prison).

Well **&^. No more Rodgers and Hammerstein for you.

Questions that Make My Head Explode for $800, Alec

Mom, what does that mean?

This question sort of took me off guard, as a. we were watching TV at home, not an R movie in the theaters, and b. as I recall, it was a comedy. PG-13 to boot.

Anyway, the question : What is the s-word, rhymes with lobotomy?

In the few heartbeats it took me to answer that, a few options came to mind.

A. pretend my cell is buzzing
B. pretend I didn't hear her
C. tell her to go ask her dad (really not an option)
D. let her find out from her friends by Googling the word.

However, I flashed on the boys that ran into the bathroom with her cell phone last week and decided against option "d." I didn't want those boys telling me daughter anything. Or discussing this with her girlfriends.

So, with deep breath, in my calmest voice, which I was hoping wouldn't squeak, I told her the basics. Her eyes grew big, and then she just dropped it. No follow up questions, thank god. I guess her reporter DNA doesn't run as deep as I thought.

I guess I should have prepped for this, given that I have taken her to "R" movies, where yes there is violence (which -given a choice between violence or sex- violence bothers me the most) which I why, sorry Viggo, we turned off "Eastern Promises." as well as "History of Violence."

But we did see "Borat," tho I did notice I was the only one with a child in there under 18. I probably got the hairy eyeball from the adults behind me. I thought it was hilarious. So did she.

I've decided there are "Rs" and there are "Rs." The violent ones I'm likely to pass on and forbid J. from seeing, unless its essential to the story (Letters from Iwo Jima falls in this category).

Hmm, may make an exception for Sweeny Todd and No Country for Old Men, given it's Oscar season and all.

On sex, Gary is stricter in movie-land than I am with J. But that's okay, like My Space, it never hurts to be to curb the bit at this age.

Still, sometimes you end up defining words you'd rather not.