This past weekend, some friends and I participated in a new, but beloved, holiday tradition of ours - Terrible Movie Night! Now, before the Christmas police get all up in arms, I call this a holiday tradition because we also get together for Terrible Movie Night on Columbus Day, the 4th of July and Superbowl Sunday. I guess it's maybe stretching things to call that last a holiday, but it happens to fall at approximately the right time of year for a quarterly (ish) event. Also, most of the movies we watch are actually only terrible if the audience is made up primarily of scientists and engineers. Indeed, many are entertaining and with great special effects... and absolutely dreadful science.
Exhibit A of entertaining but scientifically disastrous is the movie 2012. You know it's really just an excuse to smash and destroy things digitally when they haul out mutant neutrinos (now with special microwave properties!) to explain the end of the world. When you throw in an audience that included an atmospheric physicist, an astronomer, a geologist and assorted engineers, it's like MST3K, only live, and nerdier.
The second movie of the night was the honestly, truly dreadful Star Wars Holiday Special. This is easily the most horrible thing lurking in the back of the Star Wars franchise closet. How bad is it? Well, it originally aired in 1978 and has never, to my knowledge, re-aired since. It is not available on DVD, VHS, or indeed any other sanctioned media. Finding a copy took months and a trip to a very sketchy back alley in Boston. It was worth it, though, because this turkey is really, really, incredibly terrible. Some of the gang were convinced that, had it gone on any longer, their eyes may actually have started bleeding. As a warning to those tempted to go out and find a copy of their own - this is not a "so bad its good" kind of movie. It is pure, unadulterated badness.
One of the reasons we limit Terrible Movie Night to two features is so that we can also throw in a pot luck dinner. This time around, I seized the opportunity to do some baking. I love baking, and I love eating baked things, but when you live alone, it's just a caloric nightmare to make a batch of cookies, cupcakes or whatever just for you. It's an easy thing, though, to put aside a small baggie of goodies (one cupcake, and 2 of each kind of cookie) for personal enjoyment. Leftovers went to the office today, spreading the joy, etc.
After a day of recovery, we are still willing to proceed on to our next movie night. We're trying to decide what is highest on our must see (and ridicule) list - perhaps the inanely classic "The Core"? Or maybe one of the lesser known titles in the immortal Attack of the Killer Tomatoes cannon (say, the delightfully surreal Killer Tomatoes Eat France)? Who knows where our journeys into the underbelly of cinema will take us next, particularly given our current list of nominations runs to some 3 powerpoint slides (yes, we are THAT geeky). So far, The Star Wars Holiday Special is the undisputed leader in the "worst movie ever made" contest. No prize but bragging rights for the winner.
In other news, the year is winding down and it is almost time for another fabulous December tradition - the Girl's Weekend. Of course, most of the girls are married and two now have children, which makes the weekend that much more of a treasured event - a few last days of sanity before the full bore holiday madness descends. We're heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico this year. I haven't actually used Living Social for a hotel before, but Lil found a great deal for us, so here's hoping it goes well.
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