Are you saving the enjoyment of a certain movie, book, album, or TV show for some kind of perfect moment? Here’s why I’m asking. Late last week, I was IM-ing my friend Eva about how much I wanted a "your wand’s too measley for ginny weasley" T-shirt, as naturally I would. She responded, "Cute… Had I read the books, I’d be all over them." What?! Knowing how much she loves anything dark and teen angsty, I asked her why she hadn’t read Harry Potter (at least from Order of the Phoenix on), using some language that probably isn’t appropriate to repeat. She said she needed to wait until the final book was published before she started the series because she "has no patience for that kind of stuff." Actually, I think she has incredible patience. Especially after she proceeded to tell me, "I still have a few Smiths albums I won’t buy because I want to wait until I ‘need’ them. I waited like 20 years for The Shining, and then found a perfect Halloween… and hated the movie."
Do you all do this? I used to think only my friend Tamara was this kind of crazy: She received The English Patient audiobook, read by her favorite man, Ralph Fiennes (pictured), as a present in 1997. She told us all that she would save it for the "perfect day." The seal still isn’t broken. That was 10 years ago. What are you waiting to savor — and why?
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That sounds like some serious OCD. I used to have everything RIGHT NOW, meaning that if a movie I likesd was coming out on DVD I would have to buy it the day of release, even if I wasn’t going to watch it for weeks, or months. But, I’d have it. That said, I can’t imagine getting something and distinctly waiting for some type of magical “perfect day”, that’s nuts.
I do that, but not on such a long-term basis. I DVR Lifetime movies or silly comedies and wait to watch them when I’m really, really in the mood for them. I’ll think, I’m not in the mood to watch Meredith Baxter battle an eating disorder right now, but soon there will be a perfect day when I’m feeling misty and emotional and it will be perfect. I guess for me it’s not saving something so much as anticipating need.
OH EVA sounds like my dream woman. I too waited till all the books of Harry Potter were published, so I could read them back to back. Frankly, I didn’t have the patience to wait two years to know how the story kept going (some of my friends say they are jealous of my upcoming adventure). Now, that i have all the books, and reading them, then maybe I can finally watch the movies!!!!
I’m doing that with Battlestar Galactica and 24. During the first season of 24 I missed one episode (due to an emergency, hence the not being able to tape it). Since then I’ve been holding off for the right day to start watching season one (and subsequent seasons) again. Also, with BSG, I got cable (yes, I’m late to the cable game) after the first season. Since I had to get the first season on DVD to watch first, I couldn’t watch the second season when it started. All the DVDs come out after the next season starts. So I’ve never been able to watch it on Friday nights. This works out fine, though, because BSG is best viewed in large chunks (6 or 7 eps at a time). So now I’m waiting until the series is done to watch all of it (probably over a Christmas holiday one year or a summer holiday).
I did the same thing with the Potter books. I will start them now!
I save things that I have already enjoyed, to watch or listen to them again. Sometimes I get a craving for an old favorite, and I wait for a great stormy or raining Sunday…”oh, its a Grace of My Heart/Mambo Kings/Anne of Green Gables day!”. I am weird.
I think anyone with a DVR knows the feeling of making a season pass for an anticipated show and then watching the episodes build up. I recently had a rainy day watching “Traveler” and it was really great to be able to watch eight episodes in a row…almost like having it on DVD.
I’m still waiting to watch the Star Wars series. Never seen one. I was going to watch them when Popwatch had that guest blogger contest, but I didn’t get picked. So here I still am. Maybe one day..
No. I don’t do that. When I want something, I get to it yesterday.
I have a recent example. This weekend, I wanted to do a movie marathon so I chose films that were set to be deleted from my OnDemand menu: Back to the Future, Parts 1-3. The first one is excellent and the others lose steam as the series goes on. However, they are loads of fun to watch in a row.
Another recommendation, my Potterfiles: Read the series backward. I started this after finishing Deathly Hallows. My initial plan was to read 6 before 7 and then try to finish 5 before the movie, but I ended up finishing 6 and getting halfway through 5 before the movie came out. Anyway, reading the books backward explains soooo much. Everything starts to make sense. Pick a week when you have nothing to do and read the books. It will change you life.
I bought the DVD of the TV show “Invasion” and have not watched a single ep. I am not sure what I am waiting for. I also need to watch season 2 of “Lost” on DVD. I thought I would have a chance to catch up this summer, but my DVR is full of gems like “Scott Baio os 45 and Single”, “Rescue Me.; “Hey Paula” and “Top Chef”, so I have no time to catch up on DVDs
After I finished the Harry Potter books, I realized I still hadn’t made it through Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series.
I read the first four, but the last three came out so close together that I was buying them but not reading them. I decided to start from scratch and I’m halfway through the second book. I had forgotten how great they are.
Maybe it’s because I’m reading the two series so close together, but the Potter books really do feel like Stephen King for beginners…
I recently bought the Gone With the Wind 4-disc edition, I’m saving that for a rainy night.
I refuse to buy the Lost dvds until catch all the new episodes on Wednesdays. But even when they did air reruns, I wouldn’t watch. I want to re-watch the show from start to finish because I think the storylines will all come together and finally make sense. Plus, I’ll catch the things I missed before and I won’t have to wait for another season of dvds to arrive. Here’s hoping for a complete series set right after the show’s demise in 2010.
I refuse to buy the Lost dvds until the end of the series. Don’t get me wrong. I catch all the new episodes on Wednesdays. But even when they did air reruns, I wouldn’t watch. I want to re-watch the show from start to finish because I think the storylines will all come together and finally make sense. Plus, I’ll catch the things I missed before and I won’t have to wait for another season of dvds to arrive. Here’s hoping for a complete series set right after the show’s demise in 2010.
Y’all could get hit by a truck tomorrow. Crack it open and live your lives.
The most recent Powell/Pressburger movies released on DVD, Canterbury Tale and The 49th Parallel, I purchased but haven’t watched (and I *never* do that, which should give you some idea of how highly I regard Srs. P&P). I also found an AVI of A Matter of Life and Death, unavailable on DVD in the U.S., that I haven’t opened… I love having chestnuts in reserve like this.
haha, no way! For me, the greatest pleasure of that sort of thing comes from RE-reading, or RE-watching–using your Harry Potter example, the books become exponentially richer and more beautiful upon the third or fourth re-read. Of course, there are not many things I love so much to re-read them or re-watch them three or four times, but most of the time I won’t even say I’ve seen a movie unless I’ve seen it more than once. The only exception to the “getting better with re-views” rule I can think of, that packs its most effective punch the first time, is a movie with an excellent twist, but there’s really no way for that to work perfectly, because the only way a twist ending is PERFECTLY effective is when you had no idea that there was a twist ending, or no capacity to guess what the twist ending was. So “saving” a movie/book with a twist ending is a terrible idea, because the more time you waste before reading/watching, the likelier you find out what the ending is.
I dunno if this counts, but I refuse to watch a movie I’ve never seen before unless I watch it from the very beginning. I hate missing stuff. So even if I really really want to see it, and it only started 5 minutes ago, I wont put it on.
I’ve been waiting until the right time to watch The Sopranos. Still haven’t find that right moment.
Here’s my hugely embarrassing story: I am a big fan of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys SuperMystery series that were published in the late 80’s and 90’s; for some reason, I only liked the stories when Frank, Joe, and Nancy were working together, and not their separate adventures. When the publishers stopped the SuperMystery series in 1998, I decided to not read the last two books until the series was re-launched (it was the only way I knew how to protest the decision). I had to wait NINE years until a new SuperMystery with Nancy and the boys was finally published in May of 2007, but I lived up to my vow and am going to read the two books from 1998 on my upcoming vacation.
Cece, totally agree on rereading HP backwards. I reread HBP before the 7th book came out. I finished sooner than I thought I would so I started book 5. Finished that, read book 7 and now I’m going back to book 4. As far as leaving things go, I still have Felicity’s Junior and Senior years to watch. The cable system at my college took away the WB after Felicity’s freshman year, so I bought them on DVD because I absolutely loved the show. I just haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. Plus, I’m afraid my eyes will get stuck in the back of my head from rolling them every time Ben’s talking. God, I hate him. And yes, I already know how it ends, which doesn’t impel me to watch.
MOZZ, it is I, your dream woman!
I’m going to follow your Potter plan and read the books first, then watch the movies.
Enjoy them!
does anyone else have this problem with albums? i’ve downloaded/bought so many cds that i’ve never given a proper listen to; i bet 70% of the music on my ipod is unlistened to. part of it is my own issue; even when i bought cds, i still ‘waited’ to listen to them. but i think part of it is the ipod itself; there’s only so much time to listen to all that music. too many options!
I bought the huge 4-disc edition of Kingdom of Heaven because I really liked the theatrical version, and I have yet to watch it, even though I bought it a year ago. I’ve even loaned it out to people who have watched it and loved it and told me how much better it is than the version that was in theaters, and I still haven’t made any time to sit down and watch the whole thing.
I TiVo’ed Elizabeth starring Helen Mirren more than a year ago, and still haven’t watched it!
for me, it’s always re-watching, or re-reading, that this happens with. I have such a great experience with a film or a book and I want to recreate it again and again. Thus, every year I wait until it’s an unusually snowy day so I can watch “Amadeus”, but almost every year I never find that perfect day, or it comes but I’m too tired or LOST is on or something else happens, and it doesn’t happen, and I end up watching the film (at least once a year) sometime in April with no snow. And that’s just one example.
Six Feet Under. I’ve never seen an episode, but plan on watch the entire series… when the time is right (haha).
I bought at least 10 DVDs that I haven’t had (or made) time to watch, including The Departed and the Godfather series. I know, I know… I swear I’ll watch them !!
I watched the entire first season of Brothers and Sisters the weekend after I finished finals last year. Its an amazing show, but I’m not sure if I can wait an entire year before I watch Season 2 of the show. I think savings entertainment for a “rainy day” is sort of lame because most entertainment is crap and loses its value as time goes by anyways.
I still have the shrink-wrap on a copy of Goodfellas my once-best friend Mike gave me for Christmas in 2000. The story was that he lent it to me in HS and I started to watch it with my mom who lasted all of 5 minutes and forced me to turn it off because of language. So I never got to see it and I had to return it to him that night and promise to never borrow it again (which I didn’t). So, he got it for me in 2000 and promised we’d watch it together…we lost touch shortly after he stood up in my wedding in 2001 and I just can’t bring myself to watch my copy yet because we said we’d do that together. I miss my friend…