A cinematic stroll down memory lane

The Cassitys have got me feeling shamelessly nostalgic. A few nights ago Mike and I were over at his parents’ house and Mike’s older brother Ben announced that one of their favorite childhood movies is now available on DVD. This made the siblings fondly reminisce about all the random movies they loved when they were kids, which in turn led to me recalling my own childhood favorites.

It seems like, to a certain extent, people of the same generation share a similar cinematic background (I think everyone close to my age has seen every animated Disney movie ever made), but then there are those movies that are specific to one’s own childhood and wouldn’t be easily recognized if you mentioned them in a crowd of people. You know, the old black-and-white movies you watched at your Grandma’s house or the campy ‘80s flick your five-year-old self selected at the video store. Things like Labyrinth or Scamper the Penguin.

Because these kind of movies stayed firmly rooted in the realm of my childhood (unlike the more mainstream stuff, which remained a constant via babysitting or other experiences with children), they are usually the ones that evoke that warm fuzzy feeling of nostalgia when I encounter them later in life or-even better-happen to talk to someone else that has seen them. Here are a few movies that have that effect on me:

The Last Unicorn





I must have checked this movie out from the library at least 1,000 times as a child. I freaking loved it. And then I forgot all about it until years later when my little sister and I found a copy at some cabin we were staying at and popped it in the VCR for old times sake. You know that feeling you get when you visit a place you went as a child and it looks totally different than how you remembered it? Well, that was pretty much the feeling Smash and I got while watching this. We kept looking at each other like “did we really watch this as kids? Cause it is seriously messed up.” Apparently in our younger years we were too hyper to pay attention to anything except the pretty unicorn and somehow blocked out all the crazy going on in this ‘70s cartoon. I would be willing to bet that it was made under the influence of some serious hallucinogenic drugs.

The awesome thing is that the Cassity kids also loved this show, so for Easter one year my mother-in-law gave us the special edition DVD in our Easter baskets. Now Mike and I can witness the awkwardness of the “bosom tree” scene together:


Newsies
I swear you have to be either Mormon or from Utah to know about this movie. I only say this because when I’ve mentioned it to anyone that does not fall into either of these categories I am met with a blank stare. And that stare turns into a look of pure confusion when I start describing it: “ya know, that musical about newsboys going on strike in New York way back in the day? And Christian Bale is in it and he sings and dances but you’re supposed to think he’s hard core cause everyone calls him Cowboy? And the red-haired lady from Grumpy Old Men is in it too and for some reason Teddy Roosevelt is involved in their shenanigans? ” If they’re still clueless at that point I start belting out “Santa Fe” and things get really awkward for everyone.

Newsies may not be Disney’s crowning achievement, but it was a downright phenomenon around these parts when I was growing up. Word on the street was that a kid from Olympus High was in it and that might have accounted for all the enthusiasm. I still don’t know if there was any truth to that rumor, but what I do know is that my older sister Elena was a teenager at that time and had the soundtrack recorded on a cassette tape that I listened to over and over. My friend Ashley and I even spent a good chunk of time trying to choreograph dances to the different songs. I’m sure they were awesome. But not as awesome as this bit of internet genius:


Faerie Tale Theater
Ah, another gem that I discovered at the Salt Lake County Library. Faerie Tale Theater is a series from the ‘80s in which the movie stars of that era recreated classic fairy tales on what I’m guessing was a budget of about 50 dollars. This show probably originally aired on PBS or something, but by the time I was a kid each episode was available on vhs. I’m pretty sure I watched all of them, some multiple times. I still remember being traumatized when I saw The Little Mermaid and was first introduced to the non-Disney ending of that story. Sad times.

A few years ago I was at Costco and saw a boxed DVD set of this series for sale. Of course I bought it and have since re-watched most of the episodes. Frankly, I don’t know how I watched this when I was younger cause it can be pretty dang boring. Except I still love The Princess and the Pea. And James Earl Jones as the genie in Aladdin still scares the crap out of me and I still think that whoever thought up the concept for Faerie Tale Theater's take on Sleeping Beauty was out of their freaking mind.



In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m going to admit that my favorite movie when I was a child is one that has probably been seen by very few people in the U.S. See, back when my family lived in Boston we spent some time on a Hare Krishna commune of sorts in Pennsylvania (and you thought your family vacations were weird), where the only source of indoor entertainment was a TV showing one movie. The movie was called Sita’s Wedding, a Bollywood production loosely based on The Ramayana. The whole thing is in Hindi so of course I didn’t understand a word of it, nor could I read the English subtitles, but for some reason both Smash and I loved it. In fact, the good people at the commune sent us home with our very own copy when they saw just how much we liked it. That tape definitely got a lot of use over the next few years. I think I can trace my lifelong fascination with India back to all the hours Smash and I spent watching this movie, then dressing up in makeshift saris with red lipstick dots on our foreheads trying to recreate our favorite scenes.

For a long time I deluded myself into thinking that my family were the only people to have ever seen or heard of Sita's Wedding, but lo and behold the whole thing is posted on YouTube. It is unfortunately missing the English subtitles found on my parents’ copy, but let me save you the suspense by telling you that the lyrics to most of the songs are things like “Lord Vishnu’s countenance radiates with the glory of a thousand suns” or something to that effect. The scene below is probably one of the most boring in the whole movie but Mash and I loved the part where they start chucking the flowers around. For the record, I still think that this movie is quite gorgeous. That’s probably the Indophile in me talking but watching it seriously makes me wish I could wear a sari and pile on the jewels without looking like a complete loon.



Man, this turned into quite the lengthy post. I think my tendency towards wordiness has gotten a bit out of hand the past couple of days, since even a simple post on my recipe blog turned into a novel. Bear with me, friends. Maybe one day I’ll learn how to keep it short and sweet.

A conversation we will have in ten years

“Hey Butch, remember that time we went camping for Labor Day weekend and Lola peed all over everything in our tent at 5 in the morning about twenty minutes after you let her out to ‘do her business’?”

“Why yes I do. Remember how right after it happened you started bawling hysterically and hurling a few choice 4-letter words in her direction?”

“I wasn’t bawling hysterically, I just got a little upset because instead of waking up to the sun streaming in our faces all peaceful-like we had to drag all the wet stuff out of our tent in the bitter cold and wander around like bums waiting for the sun to rise so we wouldn’t wake everyone up. All because our dog is a life ruiner. And as for the four-letter words, Lola really was a little sh*t.”

“She sure was. She was also kind of dumb. I’m so glad we dropped her off at the pound on the way home.”

OK, just kidding on that last part. Butch would never say anything like that about his precious Lola and our spazoid of a dog is still very much a part of the family. Although I did entertain some bad thoughts about her in the bleak morning hours after we left our urine-soaked tent. Luckily they were obliterated by a delicious camp breakfast of pancakes, sweet potato hashbrowns, and bacon. Why is it that food always tastes better in the mountains?

Aside from that little setback, the rest of our campout was fabulous. Beautiful scenery, good company, and gorgeous weather. Thank you, Hanson family, for inviting us. If only we could have stayed longer…

All our stuff laid out to dry. We try to keep it as ghetto as possible while in the great outdoors.
The two Mikes: Butch and Hansol.
Mike sporting his only shoes and socks that didn't get wet. He looks like a German tourist.
Freezing my butt off by the fire.
Beautiful view out the car window.
View from our campsite.


Lola and Jake fighting over a stick. We keep her around for entertaining moments like these.