There's always time for Titanic

So, many thanks to mah friends at The Video Strip at 3307 S. Archer (off 33rd/Wood St. and Archer)who just had their 17th anniversary and celebrated by giving us customers an amazing deal on DVD/game rentals. Remember the old days when you trekked to the local video shop to pick out a game or a movie and pick up some accoutrements (IE: junk food!!!)? I indulged in renting the Blu-Ray version of Titanic...and it was glorious but not as sharp and crisp as I thought it would be like how it looked on HBO...must be the Über cable technology they have that gives us the HD experience we know and love today.

Anyway, I once again...after about 25 times....watched Titanic.

So this now makes....26 times.

Yeah, yeah yeah.. back off, man. I know! So, here's the woman who's scrambling around to figure out when the Notre Dame football game was on, wondering when NHL's lockout will end, being asked by both male and female friends/family what the score is for the World Series and here she is; making a huge deal out of a "chick flick," period film that cost (to film) close to the Gross National Income of the United States.

But thanks to Joe and his wonderful shop w/a 17 cent per movie/game rental...how can I resist? So, I indulged...dove right in head first and got all soaked up into Titanic...no pun intended. I absorbed it, relished it, tasted it with as many senses and just soaked into it until my brain and fingers got pruny.

Yes, I know; it's trite, it's a chick flick, Rose resembled me at that time, it's visual and mental masterbation with the CGI effects, the costumes are amazing, James Horner's music is mesmerizing, I make costumes, I'm mad for period films especially Edwardian/Victorian era, I'm a history nerd and a sucker for a good love story; Good grief I still get goosebumps from the ubiquitous sound of Celine belting out "You're hear...there's nothing I fear....!" No, I am not tired of "My Heart Will Go On,"

....so "bleh."

As I watched knowing what happened at the end I checked out the deleted scenes, which in my opinion should have been kept in the film I was again, still mesmirized. The part where Rose is running to jump off the back of Titanic? The precursor of that scene was important as she went on about how her society expected her to be. She goes into her stateroom after dinner and called for her lady-in-waiting to help her undress. She thus became frustrated with her life and showed us she was frustrated with the woman she had become; unable to undress herself much less do anything else but what society expected her to do; marry a rich man who will decorate her to his liking, have her eat, drink, think and read what he says and just...live.

There were so many scenes that should have been in the movie, then again the movie would have been a good four hours long.

So what?

Do an intermission type of thing like "Gone w/the Wind" and "Giant," etc.... We need more classic epic films for our era. We spend ridiculous amounts of money at the box office because the bloody box office pays ridiculous amounts of money to the actors so if we want to watch a movie, we either suck it up, go to a matinee or get in on a Groupon/Living Social deal...OR RENT FROM YOUR LOCAL DVD/VIDEO/GAME SHOP. A movie nowadays is only as good as it's box office intake...which in my opinion is manure!

It seems that Titanic is one of the last (well, as of late in my opinion) of the great epic films that not only women can relate to but men as well. As I sat watching Titanic back in the day when it was out for a while as we (me and my husband) wanted to see "Good Will Hunting" but relented for Titanic because Good Will was sold out; we took in the amazing graphics which my husband appreciated and I took in the story of Rose.

(SPOILER ALERT! OK, what rock do you live under if you've not seen Titanic?)

The over-privileged, "poor little rich girl" story who comes out of the foof and fluff to become her own woman....on her own made a small yet important impact on me even then. Even I at the tender age of.....nevermind (well over 21, btw) saw that anything can be accomplished. Despite it was "just a movie" it still moved me to think this adorable old lady yakking about her memories about being on the Titanic, talking about one of the most erotic moments of her life and the images of her and her accomplishments on her nightstand as she slept one last time AFTER she tossed the diamond back into the ocean resonated with me. It was a gentle reminder that what a good friend of mine said is absolutely true; the world IS my oyster.

Now lemmie find that pearl!

Or in this case, the "Heart of the Ocean."