I Have That Within

While David is busy recovering, I've been spending my down time at home in the company of The West Wing. This isn't my first time 'round the block with the Bartlet administration; four years ago I tore through the entire series at an embarrassing pace. Either I haven't grown much as a person since then, or the show is still really, really excellent, because I've been burning through episodes with alarming frequency. (I'm in good company.)

I have a theory. This theory is corroborated by a few of my dear ones, as well as spurious vanity personality tests on the interwebs. My theory?

I am White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler.

Meet my doppleganger.

Sure, I'd like to be more like CJ Cregg or one of the Barlets or even Josh Lyman. But I have the soul of a middle aged, bald curmudgeon.

I'm mostly cool with that.

List, list, O, list!

As the temperatures continue to climb, I do what I always do in the summertime: hole up in an air conditioned place with a book or movie and wait for the suffocating madness to pass. So, I think a lot about movies.

Most pop culture savvy folk have their movie predispositions. I most certainly have mine. I'm grateful to live in a world where Netflix appreciates and caters to said predispositions--the Taste Preferences section of Netflix gets very, very specific. I love it. One can indicate a preference for films including Singing Cowboys, Evil Kids, Future Dystopias, Mistaken Identities, or my favorite uber specific category of all: Monkeys.

Netflix doesn't go quite far enough for me, though.


Types of movies that I am predisposed to like:

• Period dramas from almost any time period, up until about the 1970s
• Spy stuff
• Films set in the British isles and Ireland--extra points for genuine accents
• Excellent animation, including stop motion but only rarely including computer generated animation (Pixar being the rare jewel of an exception)
• Psychological/cerebral dramas

 
We saw Brave last weekend (predisposition score: 3/5). I really liked it a lot, but it didn't blow my mind or anything. Still, give me a Scottish princess, some gloriously animated Highlands scenery, and genuine Scottish accents and I am a happy camper. Without the actual camping. It's too hot outside.

Brave certainly could have been worse. I love me some Pixar, but that love doesn't spread equally across all of their film catalog. 



Wendy's Pixar Categories

That was a moving, whimsical, transcendent film that renewed my faith in Art.

• WALL-E
• Up

You know what? I really liked that film.

• Toy Story trilogy
• A Bug's Life
• Monsters, Inc.
• Finding Nemo
• The Incredibles
• Brave

Eh. I think I remember watching it.

• Ratatouille (to be fair, it's probably in the upper category . . . I just don't remember it very well)

There's got to be a more meaningful way to sell toys.

• Cars (and probably 2, but I won't see it)

That is all.