My 3 favorite escapes

FILM

            The most recent invention when it comes to my three favorite escapes, so it seems fitting to talk about it first. I love everything about it; going to the cinema and finding the perfect seat, watching previews for the movies coming soon. Noting which I’ll bother to watch in the theater, the ones I’ll wait to watch at home.  Then the theater darkens, and it starts. I’ve smuggled in my favorite dollar candy, and usually I’m flying solo at the theater, so I’m enjoying spreading out across two seats for optimum enjoyment.

            I love getting lost in all of it, my senses bombarded by the visuals, and hopefully a damn good soundtrack. Most genres appeal to me, suspense, mystery, romance, musicals, comedy, and drama. Ok, horror isn’t my cup of tea but you can’t win them all. Sure, I’ve come to a point where I can predict a lot of storylines, (I was one of those weirdos who knew that little kid was gonna see dead people) but who cares? Sometimes you want that. Other times I’ll watch an Indie or a foreign film, which usually ends with my favorite character alone after heartbreak, or dead.  I can’t seem to help myself, I’m still addicted.

            I still get a thrill every time I see Gene Kelly dance to singing in the rain, Darth Vader tell Luke he’s his father, when I rewatch the shark jump out of the water in Jaws, Bogart saying, “Here’s looking at you kid”, Robert Redford hitting the skin off the baseball in The Natural, and when “Rosebud” is whispered at the end of Citizen Kane. These iconic moments in film help me escape reality, even if only for a little while. They are their own time capsules, not only for when they were originally filmed, but for me. Even the movies that never received critical acclaim pull at my heart strings; Ferris Bueller’s Day off, 10 things I hate about you, Pitch Perfect, Love Actually, ET, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, All of the Die Hards... I watch them over and over again, because I know when I watch I can count on them to be the film I fell in love with in the first place. Sure, I may catch something I never did before, which if anything helps me fall in love even more.

            I can quote movies for days, and even use some of these to help me in my every day life, “I’d rather fight with you than make love with anyone else,” “What we do in life echoes in eternity,” “The Juice is worth the squeeze,” “What is an ocean but a multitude of drops?” “The sun rises and sets with you” “ If he wants to see you, he’ll see you.” “Do or do not, there is no try” “Life is but a dream”. Did you know any of those? If so, congrats!

BOOKS

            I think a love of books is being lost. People’s attention spans are shorter, the ability to read iambic pentameter is being lost, and a vocabulary large enough to appreciate the classics is falling by the wayside. There is nothing like pulling a book off the shelf you’ve read several times over, the pages creased and stained because of how many times you’ve thumbed the pages.  I still love the musty smell of library books, and I’m a purist- I hate electronic books. Have you ever dropped a kindle on your face because you fell asleep reading? That ish hurts, in case you were curious.

           

            There is a book for everything, and I for one can’t get enough of the knowledge held within a books pages. All you need to read a book is proper light and somewhere to sit or lay down, and you’re golden. I’ve spent entire days reading, only taking breaks to eat and run to the bathroom. These are rare days I enjoy immensely. I can also get a version on CD so I can listen to my favorite book on the road, and there have been many nights I’ve fallen asleep to one because the cadence of the narrator’s speech was soothing to me.

            I can’t help but fall in love with the characters, especially when I stumble upon a series and get to see their many adventures and misadventures, I feel like I know them as good as friends. I’ve cried at their heartbreaks, yelped when something printed in front of me was frightening, and yelled with happiness when the protagonist finally wins. I’ve gone back and reread a page when I couldn’t believe the plot twist the author had just written, either elated or saddened by the turn of events written there.

           

            I’m so glad my parents pushed me to read at an early age, because there is endless amounts of entertainment to be found, and reading really can be done anywhere. So far there isn’t a book I regret having read, even if some weren’t my cup of tea. I’m always learning something, picking up phrases, having my views challenged and reinforced. I can count on my books to keep me company, and helping me pass the time for the rest of my days.

           

MUSIC

“One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” –Bob Marley

            I often tell people I can find a song for every mood, and wish my life was a musical. In a way, it sort of is. Lyrics have always appealed to me, and I find it uncanny how my playlists and the radio seem to sing me the songs I need to hear at the right time. I’ve found songs I love across eras, genres, and fads. I’m told my musical love is quite eclectic, and this would be true.  My parents loved very different kinds of music, which helped me to be open-minded and appreciate a good song when I heard it.

            I have a soft spot for singer-songwriters, but give me a good power ballad, a sweet country song, a rap I can sing at the top of my lungs, they all have a place in my life’s playlist.

            I had it explained to me once why people seem to spontaneously burst into song during a musical; it’s because mere words couldn’t express all they were feeling, and singing was the only way to get it all out. Man, how I wish I could go around bursting into song without people thinking I was completely looney. I’d sing to my beloved all the songs I hear in my head when I think of them, yell the lyrics to my go-to angry songs when I was pissed off, and mumble along with the lyrics to the songs I know make me want to cry every time I hear them.  Music definitely helps me find emotional release, across the entire spectrum. Ps- if I’ve ever sent you a song, or told you it reminded me of you, then you should feel special.

            I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found a great album, raced home, and lay in bed listening to one track after another. Back in the day reading the song lyrics on the back of the CD cover, nowadays Googling the lyrics so I can learn them quickly. Duke Ellington’s “Sentimental Mood” always puts me in a state of wonder, The Foo Fighters “The best of you” always gets my blood up, anything by Disney makes me feel like a kid again, Billie Holliday’s haunting serenades make me ponder how someone can experience so much and keep going, and I’ve explained before how No Doubt narrates my love life.

            So these are my three favorite escapes. 3 easy ways to get to know me better, maybe win me over if you tell me you’d love to have a movie marathon, introduce me to a new book, or you also like to make road trip playlists.