When I find myself in times of trouble...

[autographedcat]

So, having made a solemn pledge to start updating again, I promptly stopped updating. Which isn't to say things have been boring around here. runnerwolf came to visit, which was shiny and awesome, and then I went to California for Consonance, which was also shiny and awesome, and then I came home and had the plague, which was dingy and boring, and then Marian Call was in town for a concert, which was back to shiny and awesome.

So, rather than talk about those things, each of which deserves at least a post unto itself, I want to talk about Pop Culture Comfort Food.

This past weekend was mentally fragile for me. I do pretty well most of the time these days, but depression still sucks, and every so often it gets the better of me. There are some things that reliably help, but it's mostly a matter of just getting through them until my brain chemistry balances out.

Since I had managed to lure kitanzi into playing The Old Republic with me, I got the notion over the weekend to rewatch Star Wars. I followed it up with The Empire Strikes Back because, well, it comes next, doesn't it. And a couple of things struck me while I was watching it:

1) The Special Editions are fine. Seriously. There's really nothing wrong with them. (Before you start, I want to note something: Han still shoots first. Really. Go watch. He shoots Greedo, whose gun discharges at strikes the wall. At the very worst, they shoot simultaneously. It's Not Even A Thing, stop griping about it.)

2) These films are, for me, the cinematic equivalent of a big bowl of macaroni and cheese. I've seen them enough times now that they really are like comfort food. I go back to them and I'm 10 again and the world is okay.

kitanzi and I were discussing this last night, and she said that she couldn't really think of a movie that fit that category for her, but she certainly had books which did, most notably Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series, which she claims to have read more times than she can actually count anymore.

So what are *your* pop culture comfort foods? When you just need something warm and familiar, what entertainment do you turn to?

Comments

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

There is a book I read about once a year, and have for the last 23 years since I first read it: Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.

What I find most arresting about it is that after having read it over twenty times over the course of two decades, I still find something new every single time I read it. Sometimes it's just a detail that I never spotted or a foreshadowing I never connected the dots for before, but it always reveals a new facet to me on each revisit.

It's about time to go dive into it again, now that I think on it.

[surrdave.livejournal.com]

Winter's Tale was recommended to me a number of times when I had the bookstore. I finally started it, and I think it's wonderful.

"As you can see, this is a real policeman's helmet, and I have to go."

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

That's one of my favorites too. Have I told you my theory about how it's set in the same universe with John Crowley's Little, Big?

Those are both comfort books for me. I also reread The Last Unicorn, The Westing Game, A Deepness in the Sky, A Fire Upon the Deep, My Most Excellent Year, Brightness Falls From the Air, Hellspark, Sunshine, The Armageddon Rag, Fevere Dream, Bridge of Birds, One For the Morning Glory, Beaches, Practical Magic, Tam Lin, The Homeward Bounders, Sister Light, Sister Dark, the Windling/Datlow fairytale anthologies, and probably two dozen others.

For television/movies, I watch both of the Anne of Green Gables miniseries, Purple Rose of Cairo, the Back to the Future movies, Happy Days, Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Show, most of the Muppet movies, Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers' speech to congress, The Electric Company, Leap of Faith, The Princess Bride, The Court Jester, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Stardust, etc. etc. etc. as they say in the The King and I.

Comfort listening is infinite. Favorites include Train of Thought by Chris Conway, Hold On by the Cottars, You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon. There are thousands.

[phoenixpdx.livejournal.com]

Oh yes. Winter's Tale is one we have read, and read aloud, many times.

Also John Crowley's "Little, Big". Which has sections I simply insist on reading over and over out loud because they are so chewy and lovely. (Words are my life, after all...)