"It looks like you've got pneumonia," he said matter-of-factly... and had this been two hundred years ago, I would have hopped on my horse, galloped over to the local undertaker and started planning my funeral. This being 2012, however, I hopped into my car, drove over to CVS, pick-ed up my z-pak and headed home for five days of mandatory rest, relaxation and cough syrup with (Amen!) codeine.
I couldn't tell you the last time I took a sick day - let alone four in a row - so I had no idea what I was going to do to pass the time. Sure I read a little bit, and at times even checked my email; but aside from the 14 hours a day I spent sleeping, my time was mostly consumed by inordinate amount of television.
Here are some highlights:
I should have known better than to watch this one so close to the passing of Dick Clark. The minute he appeared on the screen made me a little misty-eyed. So did seeing Markie Post (from Night Court) reading off the clues to some 40-year-old 1980's housewife dressed like Estelle Getty. At any rate, I was amused at the point in the second round when the Estelle Getty lady won the "Mystery 7" prize and Dick informed her the prize was "a brand new Video... Casette... Recorder!" The lady went bananas; I laughed out loud.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
One of the most under-appreciated pieces of dialogue comes at the end when Ferris' parents (who are married in real life, by the way) pull up to their house after the big Ferris-and-Jeanie chase scene...
MRS. BUELLER: I just picked-up Jeanie at the police station. She got a
speeding ticket, another speeding ticket and I lost the Vermont deal
because of her.
speeding ticket, another speeding ticket and I lost the Vermont deal
because of her.
MR. BUELLER: I think we should shoot her.
Silver Streak and See No Evil, Hear No Evil
I did a little twin-spin of Gene Wilder/ Richard Pryor flicks. The former was late 1970's classic that my brother and I must have watched a million times when we were kids - the premise is kind of dumb and the dialogue is corny, but the train crashing into Chicago's Union Station at the end is still cool. The later was the first R-rated movie I ever saw in the theater... and save the gratuitous Joan Severance shower scene, its rather unremarkable.
Field of Dreams
A guy plows under his corn and builds a baseball field so that the ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson can come play... which he does. Honestly: has there ever been a sports movie with a more absurd premise? Its dorky, hokey and overly sentimental - yet like any other red-blooded American male who loves both his father and baseball, I usually end up in tears at the end.
Thanks to my Apple TV, I now have access to every single Law & Order episode ever made. (Of course you could also argue that by virtue of having access to TBS, TNT and the USA Network I already had the complete series at my fingertips, but I digress.) I gasped when they killed Greevey, gaped awestruck at the acting genius of Paul Sorvino and got a little misty-eyed when I saw Lennie Briscoe (RIP Jerry Orbach).
Daphne Zuniga in hot... a fact often overlooked in this Mel Brooks classic. Also overlooked...
DARTH HELMET: Found anything yet?
TROOPER 1: Nothing yet, sir.
DARTH HELMET: How about you?
TROOPER 2: Not a thing, sir.
DARTH HELMET: What about you guys?
TROOPER 3: We ain't found shit!
I watched pretty much every episode from when Josh convinces Matt Santos to run for President all the way through the wild Democratic convention. Santos' "we are members of the Democratic Party" speech still gives me goose-bumps... so does Arnie Vinick's sly "alright - let's go win this thing" line to end the season. (It's sad when you can recite the lines before they even say them.)
Tomorrow its back to work... and unless I get diagnosed with malaria or typhoid fever, that Quantum Leap marathon I was planning will just have to wait.
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