Watching Movies More than Once: My Traditions

When I was first getting into cinema, I will admit that I re-watched movies quite often.  It was kind of what you did.  I was a teenager, and movies were not exactly plentiful in my house, and my parents had kind of instilled in me the idea of watching movies more than once.  Plus, TV was less plentiful then, with less original content on cable (it was a simpler time), so my entertainment options were limited.  Now that I'm older, and have a list of movies, TV, books, and the like that I need to experience before I die that keeps getting longer and longer (no matter how much time I have to devote to it), I thought it would be fun to explore what traditions I still have when it comes to re-watching, re-reading, and re-experiencing my favorite entertainment. (John's Editor's Note: Upon rereading this, I realize how insanely Type A I am, which I knew, but you might not, so proceed at your own risk)

1. Sleepless in Seattle

While I probably end up watching some movies like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, and Clue at least once a year, the only movie that I'm guaranteed to see every year is Sleepless in Seattle, and it is all part of a very specific tradition that I started probably when I was living in my first apartment in St. Paul.  Prior to watching the movie I will have spent the day at the Mall of America, my annual sojourn to Minnesota's gaudiest tourist trap (and will have watched a movie, walked every floor & done zilch shopping as I was already done by then).  Once home, I'll clean my entire apartment from top-to-bottom, particularly my bedroom, and make some popcorn.  I will then shut off all of the lights in the apartment, and turn on the movie.  It is one of my favorite movies, and at this point in my life I'm roughly the same age that Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks are at the movie (I'm officially in the in-between years of Ryan and Hanks at this point).  The crucial moment is when Nat King Cole starts singing "Stardust" and it is so dark in the entire apartment because it's night in the movie and it's pitch black in my empty apartment, I will switch on the lights of my tree, so that it's just Nat King Cole and beautiful, dark green-and-red lights.  It's always romantic and lovely and I can't quite put into words for you how much I love this, but it is perhaps my favorite tradition I have with myself every single year.

2. Lost

If you know me at all, you will know that I love the TV show Lost.  I actually went to Hawaii to just see sites from Lost (I also did other Hawaii-related stuff, but honestly-it was just for Lost, and I saw 11 places from the show so I am beyond happy).  Anyway, I have seen every episode multiple times, but I'm only allowed to rewatch the series once every three years.  Other shows I'm not as picky about (I will rewatch Community or Modern Family in the background of my life all the time), but I need to experience my most beloved TV show, so I only get to catch up with Sawyer, Kate, Jack, and the like once every three years.  In a few months, though, I'm pumped as I get to take a trip back to the island as 2018 is when I'm on-track to get to watch all 114 episodes once again, so expect another Lost week in your future around April.

3. Pushing Daisies

The other show that I get to experience once every two years in this case (because it's a comedy and it's heartbreakingly shorter, so it doesn't have to be as occasional), is the 22 episodes of Pushing Daisies.  For this, I also have to clean my apartment; I think this all hearkens back to the first time I experienced these shows, but I tend to appreciate my favorite things more when I see them in a pristine apartment (which is a rare occurrence, hence me underlining this), and I devote an entire weekend to the show.  In the process, I find a recipe for one of the pies that are on the show (my next one might end up being persimmon, as I've always wanted to try but never gone there), and I eat it almost entirely during the 22 episodes.  I also sing along with Olive and Vivian (hence why I don't watch with other people), and I usually try to start at night, though here I'm a little less picky about which episodes I end up watching at what time, though I tend to like snow on the ground as it makes the world outside a little more magical.

4. The Twilight Zone

The only show that I watch, at least in part, every single year is The Twilight Zone, and this tradition is coming up in a few weeks.  As a single person who works hundreds of miles away from where his family lives, I do find that I don't always spend all of my holidays with family members.  Other than Easter and Christmas, there's no guarantee that I won't be spending my holiday by myself, and so I have created my own traditions around these holidays, with New Year's Eve probably being my favorite.  On New Year's Eve Day, I will wake up super early, and I will turn on the SyFy channel, tuning in for their annual Twilight Zone marathon (they apparently run this marathon on other major holidays, but for me it's only a NYE sort of thing).  I usually get a massage on New Year's Eve (I like to ring in the year relaxed and calm, as January is always a tough month at work and in general once the haze of the holiday season is gone and you realize that you still have the same problems you did before Turkey Day), so this isn't a continual, park-in-front-of-the-couch sort of marathon, but I love it.  I have seen pretty much every episode at this point (I've never double-checked this, but after doing this for nearly a decade I have to be close), and I don't care.  The episodes are so well-made, and so well-constructed it's hard to argue with catching them again and again (you can see my favorite episodes of the series here), and instead of watching Ryan Seacrest or Anderson Cooper, my New Year's Eve is brought in with Robert Keith tricking his horrible family into smiting their faces for his money and continues on the next day as I do the last bits of my annual Christmas season cleaning around the apartment.  It's stress free, and it's a tradition I love so I don't have to worry about finding a party or someone to kiss at New Year's.

5. On Chesil Beach and The Alligators

I know there are people who read the same book every single year.  For years my mom would read the same love story once a year and my buddy John will read Harry Potter again about once a year.  For me, the only book that I read, consistently, every single year is Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach.  It's a beautiful (and blessedly for me, the slow reader that I am), short book and while I don't typically do this in its entirety, I have taken to finishing the book (which always makes me cry) very early in the morning on a cold beach by myself.  I usually read this in the spring, which is arguably my lowest time of the year, so that I can just have a lovely cry before the newness of the year starts (and I feel like I have to date again), and it's just terribly romantic.

My only other reading tradition is The Alligators by John Updike, a story that I will read before embarking on a new writing project.  John Updike is probably my favorite writer in terms of actual sentence structure, and The Alligators (which also makes me cry) is my all-time favorite short story, and I just find it inspires me to try and create something beautiful.  So as I will begin NaNoWriMo two days after I write this article (or a few weeks before this goes live), I will surely have enjoyed this once again.

6. Random Traditions

In terms of annual or recurring traditions, these are about it.  I do have traditions, though, when I decide to watch most movies again.  I can only watch most of my favorite movies, but particularly The Hours, Titanic, Casablanca, Lost in Translation, and lately Brokeback Mountain when it is dark out and on a Saturday.  When I watch The Godfather, it starts on a Friday night and turns into a weekend of the movie, with me forcing myself to stay awake throughout the first movie, and then pushing onward through the sequel on Saturday, and if I'm up for it going to the third (depending on my mood); I also always make a big tub of spaghetti and buy cannoli, which I wait to eat for the line. Despite its length, generally any of my actual favorite movies I have to watch from start-to-finish at night, which is a big deal for me as it is a rare occurrence that I'm out-of-bed after 9 PM.  The only holiday movies other than Sleepless I tend to find myself watching regularly are the Charlie Brown specials, the animated Grinch, It's a Wonderful Life, and lately Meet Me in St. Louis on Christmas Eve.  I tend to, whenever I rewatch Sex and the City drink pink champagne and listen to Edith Piaf after the episode where Carrie goes to the Paris theater (I went to this theater on my final Saturday living in NYC).  Oh, and this is an odd one, but whenever I get dumped, I will always, always, reach for The English Patient, which is bizarre because it's like the saddest movie and possibly my favorite film, but I tend to only enjoy it when I want to wallow.  I've seen it a lot, so you may understand my love life there.

Those are all of the ones that I can think of offhand (I'm sure there are more-TV, movies, and books are a large part of my life), but if you have some of your own, I'd love to hear them.  Please share in the comments!