This week I’m talking again with Brett, my partner in crime.
Emily: Hey boo.
Brett: Hi there beautiful.
Emily: Okay that’s cute ^. It was time for us to do a blog post together, again, no? We blog slightly differently together because we can sit in the same room and giggle as we type at the same time. And drink.
So what are we chatting about today? I suggested that we talk about the fact that I watched a movie with you and one of our teens Friday night. This might not seem like much of a thing, except that 1) I don’t seem to have the mental stamina to watch many movies these days so I generally pass, and 2) it was a Marvel movie… Black Widow.
Brett: I was shocked that you were actually willing to sit and watch it given the fact that you said no to In the Heights which I figured was more your style than a Marvel movie. Maybe Black Widow gave you Wonder Woman vibes?
Emily: Scarlett Johannson is gorgeous, so maybe, haha. I don’t watch much TV or movies these days, which for some reason always makes me sound smug. I’m not smug. I do read a lot (A LOT), but also? I often just make myself laugh like a crazy person by scrolling through TikTok. Our oldest teen and I decided that we both have “TikTok brain” which means our attention span is short. Movies are long.
I think that yes, I have TikTok brain, but also it’s about preserving my mental health. I know that TikTok is a safe thing to look at, and that people’s videos are safe to watch. They make me laugh. Whereas movies (and a lot of TV shows) are full of drama and scary or sad stuff – and I just can’t do that right now.
I get the sense that it bothers you that I don’t watch TV with you. Yes?
Brett: Your TV and movie interests seem to be limited to low-stakes content like stand-up and sketch comedy. I enjoy this too, but only in small doses.
It’s a double-edged sword. I mainly watch TV alone, so I get to watch whatever I want, but I don’t have anyone around to enjoy it with and discuss it with me. When it comes to Marvel and Star Wars shows I get to watch those with our sons and then chat with my friends online about them which is great, but the prestige drama shows for me are a solitary experience.
Thanks to the pandemic we get a lot of quality time together so spending an hour or so a day by myself is fine, though I may start to miss you when life goes back to normal.
Emily: When life goes back to normal, I may have more mental capacity to watch TV with you again. I’m hoping this is a short-term life preservation thing. We’ll see.
Brett: The books you read are definitely not low-stakes, so I’m not sure why this is only a preference with television.
Emily: True. Some of the books are heavy, but I pace them with glorious glorious, light, fun fiction (which is like candy to me). Our family had a lot of laughs at the delightful book I found when we were in Montana – it was in a free/take library. The entire family was invested in the tales of the Scottish Highlander named Rory. HAHA.
This book was delightful!The Black Widow
Did you like the Black Widow movie? Was it worth the wait?
Brett: Black Widow was excellent and such a wonderful gift after having to wait so long for it to finally be released. It felt like a mixture of a Bourne movie with a Marvel movie with a great balance of action, humor and character development.
The action sequences in particular impressed me because they had a visceral feeling that comic book movies often lack without disorienting me.
Emily: I was surprised at the amount of emotion and girl power in the movie. And suspicious. I even asked you if there were more emotions in this one because the lead characters were women, and you said no. They did reference the emotions in the movie and made a reference to the womens’ missing body parts that could cause said emotions. <trying not to spoil it for everyone.> I liked that – it was very clever.
Brett: Emotional scenes that land aren’t the norm for a Marvel movie, but they aren’t unheard of. A few examples off the top of my head: the farmhouse scene in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Yondu’s death in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the endings of both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Emily: Well, you can partially thank my girlfriend Yawa for her strong endorsement of the movie. Without her nudge, I probably would have passed on it. And then I would have missed out on what was actually a great movie. I loved the Jason Bourne movies too (shockingly), so it was great that this felt a lot like one of them. Plus beautiful, strong, women characters.
I’m sure we’ll find some TV shows to watch together, again. I just need to get you interested in cooking shows and reality survival type shows. Tee hee. I also need to finish watching the first season of Ted Lasso so I’m ready for season two. Ted Lasso, which is winning awards for being such a feel-good show. That’s my speed right now, and I’m sticking to it.
Brett: I can’t endorse Ted Lasso enough. If you don’t like that show then you don’t have a heart.
#teamlassoforlife