Sooooperman

An evening of cookie baking, wine drinking and movie watching was nearly thwarted by a mutiny tonight.

The DVD player is flirting with death.

It’s only job on this earth is to play the DVD that is inserted to it. What it has instead decided to do is whir wildly with a false air of industry for 5 minutes before finally announcing that there is no DVD in the machine. Except that there is, I put it there myself. I also opened it back up to make sure that the DVD hadn’t somehow magically disappeared before closing it again to allow the whirring to continue.

Opening the DVD machine and closing it again, blowing on the DVD, changing the DVD and blowing into the machine all have no effect. What will eventually work, if you care to exhibit an endless patience bordering on the maniacal – if you really really really want to watch Iron Giant and the harder it is, the more determined you get – is if you lean on the remote, turning the DVD machine on and off on and off on and off again until it forgets that it’s a jerk and finally plays the movie.

There are lots of movies that make me cry, but The Iron Giant is the only one that’s animated. That’s a lie. “Up” reduced me to a hiccuping soggy puddle of tears. Both celebrate the marginalized and affectionately fold them into the comfort of friendship and belonging. Get’s me every time.

Thanksgiving might be the greatest holiday of them all. It isn’t – Halloween wins by miles and miles, but Thanksgiving probably should be the best holiday. Friends and family without the insane commercialism of Christmas, focus on being grateful instead of craving more stuff.

Except a new DVD player. Definitely craving that. This one’s going to celebrate the holidays in a land fill.

Happy Thanksgiving.