Hey, PopWatchers — wouldja look at your calendars? Why, today marks the summer solstice! It’s the longest day of the year. The day on which most Alaskans and Scandinavians and, er, Greenlanders won’t see the sun go down. (A fact I was reminded of when I heard this sweet little story on NPR this morning.) How about that? As the folks on the long lost 3-2-1 Contact used to say, Science is fun! So, anyway, in honor of this special day, here’s a small tribute to that under-appreciated 2002 Al Pacino/Robin Williams (pictured) gem of a thriller, Insomnia, which is just as cool as its 1997 Stellan Skarsgard-fronted Scandinavian predecessor — and about five times as amusing.
Now, the folks up in Anchorage are spending most of today outdoors, enjoying the endless sunshine and the balmy 70-degree heat (that is, when they aren’t logging onto PopWatch). Bully for them! But what if they had to stay indoors for the full, 24-hour day? What if, like, it were raining? How would you recommend they spend their time? Perhaps they should watch all the Star Wars movies, followed by all the Lord of the Rings movies, followed by two thirds of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Or maybe they should attempt to read James Joyce’s Ulysses cover to cover. Or listen to "My Humps" about 472 times. I, for one, might be tempted to watch 48 consecutive episodes of my current cable obsession, HGTV’s House Hunters. Heck, I might even throw an episode of The Simpsons in there for good measure (or, on second thought…). Man, oh man, so many choices! What would you do if you had to pull an "all-dayer" indoors?
what any hormonal teenage boy does in his spare time
While I would definitely incorporate Anon’s suggestion into my 24-hour regimen, it would be awfully hard to spend my entire day doing only that. I would probably also watch the Die Hard trilogy, followed by the Indiana Jones trilogy, and then cap it off with a few select Bond films.
Hmmm…well at this moment I’d probably make a marathon out of Gilmore Girls. I bought all 6 seasons. So June has officially turned into Gilmore month. Otherwise, I’d totally love to have an Office marathon. I was planning on it when the third season came to dvd. I’d probably be able to watch all that in 24 hours. Although an HGTV/TLC/Discovery Channel all dayer does sound delightful.
Thanks for the shout out to “House Hunters”…by far the best and most addictive show on HGTV…great stuff!
I’d probably pop in “24″s Emmy-winning, outstanding Season 5 (and try to forget the brutal Season 6 didn’t happen)
My husband and I, and his friends did the original Star Wars trilogy marathon in college. It was well worth the sleepless night. I would NOT recommend including the newer movies, however!!!
I would pick a tv series that I never saw, but everyone talked about when it was on, find the entire series on DVD, and begin watching from the beginning. Personally, I would choose Sex In The City, because I don’t have HBO, and watching in syndication just isn’t the same. I wouldn’t worry about there being more than 24 episodes either. I could finish the rest of the episodes in the future.
I may also re-visit shows that were cancelled way too soon. They include My So Called Life, Freaks and Geeks, and Dead Like Me.
Finally, I would watch the great first few seasons of Moonlighting, and disregard the really bad last few seasons.
Since I just started watching “The Office” this year, I would buy the first 2 seasons and watch all episodes and laugh for 24 hours straight.
Easy. I bought the 2nd Season of Beverly Hills 90210, so obviously I would be tuning to ti recapture all the tumultuous moments in Brenda and Dylan’s relationship
Three words: Golden Girls marathon
I’d do what I do everyday, watch the Food Network non-stop!
I’d break out the musicals: West Side Story, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Singing in the Rain, Oklahoma, the Wiz, The Wizard of Oz, Grease 2, The King and I, etc…etc…etc…
If I was lucky, my “all-dayer” would coincide with a 24-hour marathon of ‘Black Adder’ on BBC America. That would be a dream.
The original Norwegian version of Insomnia for me seemed to be the better of the two because it showed how conflicted the cop really was plus there were scenes either changed taken out probably because the MPAA felt that they did not mesh well with American film standards. Ie- in the Norwegian version, Skasgaard feeds a German Shepard a sausage with a hidden bullet, then shoots and kills the dog. The cop then removes the bullet. In the US version, the dog is already dead.
As for an all dayer,watch Mythbusters season 1, the complete episodes of The Young Ones, and probably seasons 1-2 of Newsradio.
I loved the American version, too, but now that I have an insomniac son, not so sure I find the topic quite as amusing.
As for my all-dayer, Twin Peaks marathon works for me!
I would absolutely definitely watch all 9 seasons(most anyway) of Startgate SG1 and then round it off with tonight’s Finale. Heaven!!!
I would re-read Lord of the Rings or something fresh and new like The Unexpected and Fictional Career Change of Jim Kearns by David Munroe. Then finish off the day with My Cousin Vinny and a few episodes of Freaks and Geeks which I just recently discovered.
LOST. All LOST.