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

[yam]

Hm. UHF maybe for movies. It's all comfort books for me, though. In a serious funk I will read all of Heinlein except sixth column, I will fear no evil, and rocketship galileo. Starting with the past history shorts, then juveniles, then everything without lazarus long, and finishing with time enough for love because lazarus long is totally my boyfriend. Then maybe Friday an extra time for good measure. Then if I'm feeling significantly better, the lord of the rings or the l'Engle's time quartet to regain my composure. If I'm not, but I don't feel quite so ingrown and misanthropic, all of Tamora Pierce's tortall books. If I'm instead feeling WORSE, then some randomly selected Spider Robinson, who is sort of a heinlein-specific packet of sweetener. If I am in a really CRACKING bad mood, I will ride the dystopia-go-round: Parable of the Sower, Earth Abides, and maybe the tripods trilogy to leave a better taste in my mouth. And if absolutely nothing works, Oz books, all fourteen. So far that's never not worked. But that's kind of the NUCLEAR MACARONI option.