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A Christmas Story

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My first time watching A Christmas Story was in my 5th grade homeroom class. Up till then, I was used to watching Christmas movies like It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, and that one with Charlie Brown. After the movie finished, I was confused. There was no heavy-handed moral in A Christmas Story. It just seemed like a Christmas-themed Wonder Years episode to me. I didn’t like it.

But for some reason, year after year, I kept watching it, thanks to TBS’s marathon of it during Christmas. After the second or third viewing, I began to like it more. Now it’s one of my favorite Christmas movies, up there with Home Alone.

Part of why it’s so good is that it’s about a regular American family during Christmas. I didn’t understand it at first, but now when I watch it, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling — like seeing extended family that you only see once a year.

The other part of why it’s one of my favorites is that it’s not cheesy at all. It’s funny (“You’ll shoot yer eye out!) and doesn’t have any scenes that make you’d want to censor from younger children in your family. It’s a movie that really can’t offend anyone. Yes, the “fa ra ra ra ra” scene is funny to me too.

A Christmas Story, along with dinner with the extended family and gift giving is one of the things I look forward to when the holidays roll around now.

TV Dinner

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Dinner: sushi take-outI felt lazy tonight after a long day at work (why are Mondays always so hard?) so I picked up some take-out from Taro’s Teri & Sushi. I spent the rest of the night with a bowl of chirashi (the fish was actually good!), some episodes of 90210, and a couple hours of Persona 4.

I had never watched 90210 before. I didn’t catch it when it was airing on television years ago because I was too young to be interested in the show and I don’t think my parents would have let me watch the hot and steamy scenes anyway. I thought there would be more risque scenes than there are. I guess that’s just what they show in the commercials back then.

Slumdog Millionaire

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I finally watched Slumdog Millionaire, a movie about an Indian boy who grew up in the slums and wins the top price in India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire game show. Of course, no one believes that he didn’t cheat to win because how can someone who grew up with no education manage to answer all the questions correctly?

The movie is a perfect mix of suspense, romance, and comedy. I thought the movie would become too formulaic after I realized that we were going to see just how Jamal, the contestant, arrived at each answer of the game show. Luckily, it didn’t end up being to predictable at all. I liked how the movie fed us bite sized pieces of Jamal’s life till the end and showed us present day India without being too preachy.

My favorite thing about Slumdog Millionaire was the soundtrack. There’s a good mix of bhangra-influenced songs as well as catchy pop songs. The best song is at the end, when the credits roll. If you end up watching it, don’t get out of your seat until you see the credits.