My Life in Film: Part 3

Back in May, I started to document My Life in Film...basically listing one movie from each year that was either my favorite or had some significance to it. I was listing a decade at a time and I only made it to 1992, so here's the next 10 years of that list. I was in the military for most of this decade so let's see how this goes.

1993 I would normally say something like Jurassic Park...Steven Speilberg...blah blah blah. Which I loved by the way. But truthfully, I was in my second year in the military and movies like Waynes World, Hot Shots, Loaded Weapon 1, and Groundhog Day were more what I was enjoying. I'm not proud of those choices, but I won't lie about it either.

1994 Forrest Gump. Loved that movie. Not a big Tom Hanks fan. Would prefer to have chosen Beverly Hills Cop III, which apparently nobody else liked, but I don't see a sequel expecting to be blown away...I just enjoy watching movies with characters that I like. It's that simple.

1995 Bad Boys was the type of movie I was enjoying during this time period and this particular movie brought back the buddy cop action comedy. And then there was Pixar and a small movie called Toy Story which brought animation back.

1996 My first instinct was to say Independence Day, and then I realized that the best of all the Star Trek moves came out in 1996. But Scream made people want to make good horror movies again. Thanks Wes Craven...you should have stopped with Scream 2.

1997 I didn't want to see Titanic...three hours in the theater with one intermission...and then there was Celine Dion (sorry Canada, she's annoying). But I saw it, and even though it was a romance built on the backdrop of a disaster...I actually enjoyed it. Hey, it was either that, or I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Katharine would say there's only one reason I chose that movie...or maybe two.

1998 There apparently were no huge movies in 1998, but a lot of movies I just enjoyed. Lethal Weapon 4 was a third sequel that didn't suck. That's a rarity. The Truman Show was interesting...the X-Files movie was out when I didn't watch the X-Files...and hey; I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. I remember going to see that in the theater and I was the ONLY person in that theater to see it. I admit that it was a little creepy watching a slasher flick and having not another person in the room. I jumped a mile when the usher walked in around the middle of the movie.

1999 I know everyone hates Star Wars: Episode I, but as I said earlier about Beverly Hills Cop III...I just enjoy seeing more stories about my favorite characters. Sure, I could have done without Jar Jar and kid Anakin, but a lot of that movie kicked ass too, right? Right? Subtract all those scenes where the 8 year old and the teenager were flirting and consider the rest of the movie. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan fighting Darth Maul? Awesome, right? There was also a little movie called The Sixth Sense. You're a liar if you say you saw the ending coming.

2000 Hollywood must have been like, "Screw it...the world is going to end when the clock strikes midnight anyway so we shouldn't bother making any good movies." And they didn't.

2001 Not a big fan of those Rings movies. Movies about one giant 9 hour long walk. BORING. There...I said it.

2002 Another boring Rings movie...a poorly dialogued Star Wars movie...a bad M. Night Shamaylan movie...and almost the worst Star Trek movie ever. What??? A different Ring movie was scaring the crap out of people though, so there was something.

2003 I'm a big fan of Will Ferrell's Elf movie. It was funny. Freddy fought Jason. Classic battle, even if the ending was less than a decision. The Texas Chainsaw remake was scary as hell.

What were your favorite movies of this particular decade?

The Learning Channel is Not Really Teaching Us Anything Except How to Exploit People

Didn't TLC used to be The Learning Channel? I'd like to know when they stopped teaching and when they started exploiting anyone and everyone who is different. Katharine is currently watching "I'm Obsessed with My Pet", which is only slighty better than "Toddlers and Tiaras" and a little less creative than "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant". I absolutely despise this sort of reality television and there's more and more of this on TV all the time. As if John and Kate plus 8 wasn't bad enough...then there was a Table for 12...which turned into 18 Kids and Counting. Little People, Big World gave The Little Couple an idea for a show. And I haven't even mentioned the shows about conjoined twins or giants.

Some of the shows are interesting as one time specials, but then TLC takes it to another level and creates a 22 episode season...then a second. Apparently there are plenty of people in the world for TLC to expose and they're looking for more all the time. You think it would be fun to be on such a show...you can sign up:

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/apply/getontlc.html

I'm should write a letter to TLC and ask them to produce a show for me called, "There's Nothing Special About Me" or "Jeff and Katharine Plus One and a Dog in a Small House". Come on...it could work. What would your TLC program be called?

Where Have I Been: A Blog Post for Those That Might Not Be on Facebook

I haven't posted anything on my website since May 25th...that wasn't my intention, it just happened. No blog updates, no comic updates. That's no way to treat loyal readers. But I have the best excuse of all. I had a baby! Well...I didn't actually have the baby, but most of you know how that works so there is no point in detailing how that works. So yeah, at 37 years old, I am a father for the first time. What is that like? Well, first of all, here's what he looked like at 6 minutes old.

I intended to live blog the whole having a baby process (again, without the details that nobody wants), but that didn't quite happen as planned. After about 24 hours in the labor and delivery ward of the hospital on June 26th, live updates to the web weren't exactly first on my mind. I was tired, Katharine was more tired, and then when it was all said and done, they handed me an 8lb 1oz bundle of baby wrapped in a blanket and part of me panicked, while the other part was excited. While the other part of me panicked. For the next 48 hours, I would have help keeping him alive at the hospital, but after that, he would rely on me and Katharine for all of his needs.

We spent 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital with our son, Nathan, and it was an interesting stay. I won't dwell on it. The nurses in the labor/delivery/maternity wards were excellent, aside from the lactation consultants, who were like Nazis that insisted on breastfeeding and gave no other options for those that might not be able to or, god forbid, chose not to breastfeed. I won't discuss that whole thing in detail...it just annoys me. I'll try to remember all the positives surrounding our hospital stay instead...like the wonderful nurse that coached Katharine through the delivery and the fact that they gave me free meals. I know they weren't really free, but nobody asked me to pay for them.

So then we went home with our baby. The drive home was pretty scary...I likely drove slower than I have ever driven in my entire life, aside from that one time...never mind. Did I have to drive like my grandmother used to drive before they took her license away? Probably not, but I did anyway. I didn't want to break my new baby on the way home from the hospital. He made it home in one piece. The first night was a great big unknown. He cried. We tried to comfort him. We had no idea how to comfort him. We cried (not really, but we wanted to). We called the hospital to make sure he was OK. He was. When he had cried *in* the hospital, someone came and took him to the nursery so we could sleep. There was no nursery unless Monty the dog was going to comfort him. Unlikely...he was still pissed that we brought this "squaking thing" home without asking him first. Nathan cried a lot of that night. Here's how he looks when he cries (this was his first bath).

The first two weeks were trial and error. We figured out how to bottle feed the boy on our own...breastfeeding is way too stressful for mom and baby if you ask me. There's no way to tell how much food your baby gets and he's always hungry. If you've done it, more power to you. My baby is doing just fine on a bottle and we're all happier that way (hospital lactation consultant...STFU). We've figured out his sleep pattern (mostly). We know when he's tired, hungry, needs to be changed, and just plain cranky (he gets that from me). He gets almost everything else from Katharine...except for his eyes...those are mine.

The second two weeks were easier, altough he was more active and we learned that he only likes to sleep on our laps. As fun as that is to stare at him and take pictures while he sleeps, it's hard to get anything done. Bills still need to be paid. Household chores still need to get done. Blog updates need to be updated. Nathan is learning to like the swing now, but it takes some coaxing. I tried cake...he wasn't interested. Sometimes a pacifier works.

The fifth week, and now the sixth week, we've been trying to get him used to the co-sleeper when he sleeps. We get a good 5 hour block of sleep once a night (he does...we haven't learned to sleep when he does yet), so we better plan it well. We usually do, except for that one night...that was last night. Nathan is doing fine...we're trying to introduce him to stuffed toys, we've increased how much he eats by an ounce or so per meal, he tolerates swaddling and sleeps better that way (except when he's trying to break free and grunts as he struggles), I've read him some DC and Marvel Comics to let him decide for himself, Katharine has taught him about the piggies that go to market and the wheels on the bus ("What the hell is a bus," asked Nathan)...and that is that for now.

And I'm back to post more posts.