Going without TV Week 2: Feelin' the Burn

Week 2 without TV. Still going strong... well until today.  Let me explain.

Even before I decided was challenged to go on a 3-week "fast" without TV I had been trying to clean up my TV watching shows and started substituting vampires, crime, superheroes and lesbian prisoners for more Property Brothers, Bible: the MiniSeries, and 19 Kids and Counting. I was trying to find less mind numbing TV to put on in the background while we went about our day, or while I worked at night.

I'm still not willing to give up GoT, SoA, or HoC, but I'm getting a little better.

Overall I have loved quitting and changing our TV habits. Now I just have to find some good habits to replace this one. 

This week though, had a lot more stress and personal challenges that would have been great to come home and vegetate in front of the idiot box with a beer, but that just didn't happen.

CHALLENGE 1 - THE CAR: We had to buy a car this week and that itself was the most stressful thing to research and pray over. We bought a car on Wednesday and I'm just glad it is over, its a dark beige (inside & out) 2004 Honda Pilot, over 150,000 miles, I named it the Happy Honda, cause no matter how much stress came with buying Happy, I was determined for Happy to bring happy moments and happy thoughts. I decided this after a 3 hour car buying experience during a particular stressful drive home at rush hour in the dark while raining without my phone or GPS.

But more importantly to note is that the new car came with a DVD player. SOO during the drive to my parents house this weekend the kids watched a bit of Bambi.

Sidenote:  my three year old is not mature enough for Bambi. I almost lost it when Maggie was asking me from the back seat "What happened to the mother?" "What happened to the mother?"

Note: I have not read Fahrenheit 451, I think I started it once, but then a TV show came on that day

CHALLENGE 2 - PARENTS: I'm at my parents house. So even tho I have NOT sat down in front of the TV, it is on in the back ground. Parent's house is the worse when I try to restrict myself from something like TV or peanut butter cookies.

CHALLENGE 3 - TUMBLR: Ross seems to be the one missing his shows, mainly cause all his shows are discussed and shown on tumblr. So sometimes I hear him wimper when he's scrolling on his phone. He's still 100% supportive of our quest as a family. I myself, have long ago "hid" TV shows and entertainment pages I liked on facebook. I found myself delving into endless internet surfing sessions revolved around the fake character lives of hollywood people. Ain't nobody got time for 'dat!

WHAT ARE WE SUBSTITUTING TV WITH:

• Reading: I just finished my 2nd Duggar book. Both books are so good and truly inspirational to see how Jesus and the Bible have inspired a peaceful parenting atmosphere and a ministry-minded life. We are also reading the Bible, Researching natural solutions and gardening.
• Play: Maggie is loving puzzels and she has really enjoyed doing all sorts of puzzels, including a puzzle of the United States Map. Willow is finding that taking people's things and then running at top speed is super fun. 
• Potty Training: I made a HUGE deal out of going to the store to buy "big girl" panties and having a big girl day with mommy and getting our toes done and buying a bunch of potty books for Maggie to read. So we've been a LOT more consistent over here. 
• Buying stuff: Not necessarily a good substitute, but this last week I have noticed an influx of spending, not including the car we bought. Gonna have to fix that.
• Eating: Peanut Butter cookies..... um yea, not a good substitute either.

Ocean's 11

So watched the original 1960 Ocean's 11 this weekend, and I watched the documentary The Ocean's 11 Story about Las Vegas and the Rat Pack. I also watched the 2001 version to remind myself of the differences between the two. (Lots of tv this weekend)
The 1960 Ocean's 11 was really hard to follow, it was also hard to tell the differences between the 11 because they all had the same haircut the same suits. It was also hard to follow because 'the heist' was a lot of just ducking into closets and rooms and super long boring conversations that went nowhere. The newer one was much much better and all the characters were more well developed and understandable. The only simularities were las vegas, a robbery, 11 dudes, and a blackout. There was really nothing else that tied these two movies together. It was on the other hand nice to know more about the famous Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack

 

Rosemary's Baby & The Omen

I don't 'do' scary movies, i don't like them, i don't watch them unless forced too. I don't 'do' Freddy, Jason, Chucky, chicks that crawl out of wells, dudes with chainsaws, zombies, possessed animals, based-on-a-horrifying-true-events, and saws (nothing you can say can convince me that watching Saw will be "fun"). Nope not Crystal, tho i have been tricked or peer-pressured into seeing a couple much-less-than-romantic-comedy slasher films. I differently don't voluntarily sit down by myself and watch a modern-day horror flick at night.

But i may be convinced to watch old scary movies. Less special effects, big eyes right before something happens some tell tell music and the fact that i've heard of these classic films can make me curious "to see what that is all about". So i watched 2 horror films this weekend. Here's what i thought.

Rosemary's Baby, by far my favorite scary movie yet minus the naked old people. Here's why. Simple premise, I knew what i was getting myself into. It was paced very slowly and nothing jumped out at me. Plus I wanted to see what the hype  "Mia Farrow's hair in Rosemary's Baby" was all about. I actually really loved this movie and would watch it again. (but not the sequel and not any remakes).

I actually found The Omen harder to watch. Its was scarier and i found myself holding my breath. Funny what a decade can do with movies. The creepy child wasn't nearly the scariest part. The growling dogs, overprotective nanny, and random deaths were. From what i can gather the 2006 remake was very close to the original, but i think i'll pass. Oh, and the tiny European cars were really cute, best part of the movie.

 And the movie posters were also really well done for both movies.

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Close encounters & a cuckoo's nest

I watched 2 classic movies this week. Close Encounters of the Third Kind and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. 


Close encounters... was exactly what i expected + some 70's plot-pacing + the newly-discoved invention of "product placement". The shear amount of Piggly Wiggly and other product placement was a bit shocking to me and a bit uber-obvious that it looked amateurish. Must have been something new in the 70's. Other than that its kinda cool to know where Richard Dreyfuss got his start and the cinematography was really well done. Definitely some memorable pictures that will be in my head. See below. :)

I also watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, to be honest i didn't know that Jack Nicholson was the main actor, i don't know why i didin't see that before. But I didn't. Kinda neat to see Jack Nicholson before "Here's Johnny?" There's also some other famous faces in the movie including Christopher Loyd and Vincent Schiavelli (who i recognized but didn't know where from, till now). Here's some pictures i screen-shotted from the movie. I wish i could have gotten better photos.

All in all its kinda cool to see where A list actors came from. And i enjoyed the movies :)

Pollock & Exit Through the Gift Shop

Another one of my resolutions is to watch less crappy tv. I love tv, but i want to watch more true stories, documentaries, and tv/movie classics. So whatever i can find on Instant Play on Netflix i'll watch. I watched 2 movies in the last week. Exit Through the Gift Shop and Pollock. 2 artists, 2 completely different backgrounds and stories.


Exit Through the Gift Shop is a documentary about a crappy filmmaker, Thierry Guetta, who turns pop-street artist, Mr. Brainwash, and the people who inspire him along the way, including street artist Banksy (who i thought the movie would be about). This movie was not exactly what i expected. One, i use the word filmmaker loosely. Two, there is a line between artist and i'll-think-i'll-paint-something and he walks it...with a broken foot. His transition from camera holder/street-art appreciator to main-stream artist is sudden and kinda uncomfortable to watch. And three, exit through the gift shop is a perfect title to this movie. Watch the whole thing and it'll make sense. I wouldn't watch it again, but I love the movie as long as Mr. Brainwash wasn't talking. :)

Pollock was a bit different than Exit..., it is an adaptation of the book Jackson Pollock: An American Saga. Ed Harris stars as Jackson Pollock, and to me it seems like he really understood the troubled alcoholic's mannerisms and method to his madness. Its also good to know that Pollock wasn't just throwing/dripping paint on a canvas, that it became a calculated art form, it was something nice to look at and had as much meaning as a "bed of flowers". Of course its also good to see and realize that during his soberness stage is when he really discovered the style in which he is so famous for. The only thing i hate about these "true" stories is the unhappy endings. Spoiler alert: Pollock dies as an alcoholic mentally-abusive unfaithful husband in a drunk driving accident killing himself and his mistress's friend.

I love "made for movies & based on a true story" movies. I also love looking up on Wikipedia before and during a movie like this to see how true to life the movie was (not that Wiki is a good reliable source).