Comfort Stuff
by Russell Fox
So, things haven’t been going too well around the Fox household lately. Melissa is coming to the end of what has been her most difficult pregnancy yet. My professional future has pretty much come down to a single, thin thread. And it’s been grey and rainy for weeks. So what am I doing, as I wait out the weather and wait for everything else to play itself out? I turn to comforting things.Everyone has heard of “comfort food”–the dish that you cook when everything seems to suck and you just need to be reminded of the simple, decent, reliable things in your life. For some it’s spaghetti; for some it’s a casserole; for some it’s a nice frittata. For us, it’s “Anne’s Chicken”–a crockpot dish that we turn to on rainy days and when we’ve just come home from a long trip. Well, I figure that if you can have comfort food, you can also have “comfort culture”–the books and movies and television shows and games you turn to, when you just want to stop worrying and thinking and let some time pass painlessly.
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve found myself doing that. I’ve been watching my Monty Python’s Flying Circus episodes. I’ve been reading novels by John le Carre (right now I’m going through Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for the umpteenth time, and it’s made me realize that I’d really love to see the old British miniseries adaptation again). I’ve been listening to Duke Ellington’s Live at Newport and the Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations. All of these are works I’m totally familiar with, and in other moods might not care to spend much time on. But when I’m low on energy and low in mood, I want to be able to indulge myself in something that I find comforting and entertaining, all at the same time.
Do you have a “comfort culture” box? If so, what’s in it?
Posted on March 10, 2006, in DVD, Music and tagged By Russell Fox. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
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Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Ender’s Game
LotR (book form)
I re-read all the Jane Austen books compulsively when stressed out. Or The Mystery of Edwin Drood — It’s reassuring to know that no matter how bad things are, at least my body isn’t (probably) dissolving in lime at the hands of (probably) an opium-and-lust-crazed bachelor uncle.
My Culture Comfort Box includes:
Pride & Prejudice (book)
disco music (esp. KC & Sunshine band, Earth Wind & Fire, Village People)
but my main comfort passion is movies.
They must either be truly great – Some Like it Hot, Singing in the Rain, Blues Brothers, Princess Bride, Monty Python & the Holy Grail. Or truly cheesy – Real Genius (Pacific Tech’s Smart People on Ice!!), RHPS, Fraternity Vacation, Valley Girl.
I have a major soft spot for teen comedy.
Sorry things are grey for you and yours lately. Us too. My comfort box has:
An old, original copy of Gone With the Wind, read so many times the spine is broken
Tigerlilly by Natalie Merchant
Charleston by Alexandra Ripley- total pulp fiction, but I love it.
Reruns of Northern Exposure; nothing makes me happier than seeing how my friends in Cicely are doing
Cooking shows- especially Americas Test Kitchen
Carlos Santana- anything by him.
The Good ol’ Grateful Dead- when little else will cheer me up, I put on American Beauty and pretty soon I’m dancing. My kids think I’m nuts. No- just happy!
Great thoughts, all: thanks.
Bryce–yes, I’m certain I’ll get around to re-reading (for the 20th time, perhaps?) LOTR here fairly soon, especially if my mood continues. Ditto with Douglas Adams.
Alison–you’ve identified my wife’s “comfort culture”; she re-reads the Jane Austen novels (well, four of them; she doesn’t like Mansfield Park) at least once a year….and then of course, immediately afterwards, has to watch her favorite film adaptations of them!
Jennifer–oh man, those are some fine, comforting films. Who can ever see The Blues Brothers often enough? How can anyone ever exhuast Singin’ in the Rain? (I could watch the film-within-a-film sequence once a week for the rest of my life and never tire of it. The dancing, the choreography, the costumes, the wit, the SPIRIT of the thing: “Gotta dance! Gotta dance!” Just what you need when you’re feeling down.)
Tracy–You know, I have about 40 old episodes of Northern Exposure on VHS; I haven’t rewatched them in years. Thanks for the reminder! That’s what I need to be doing this grey spring break: checking up on Joel and Maurice and Jesse the Bear….
I’ll see your Northern Exposure & Monty Python episodes, and add Seinfeld and West Wing boxed sets.
Any old John Grisham novel.
Tracy’s Grateful Dead mention reminded me: sing-along songs. The kind you can put in the CD player, play really loud, and sing along with loudly, without worrying about hitting any of the notes — Grateful Dead’s perfect for this. Tom Petty, The Cars, The Go-Go’s, B52s, old classics that are comfortingly familiar. (At our house, Flaming Lips or Old 97s fit this category, too, especially the more ridiculously sorrowful songs like “If My Heart Was a Car” or “I Just Wanna Know Where Ya Been”).
That last song I mentioned is actually titled “Wish the Worst.” Whatever.
Allison- The GD is perfect music for singing along with and not worrying about hitting any notes. Heaven knows, they never did!
Chicken noodle soup, REO Speedwagon, A Walk to Remember.