Life's a Beach

I realised something last night. Something weird. Back when I was married, my Ex used to ban me from watching certain movies. When I say 'BAN', what I mean is, she'd watch a movie, and because she'd seen it, she wouldn't want to watch it again, so if I had been really wanting to watch it and it came on TV, we'd have to watch something else. Due to this, there have been a lot of movies I've never seen. Even if I'd gone to the video store in order to get something to watch when she wasn't there, if she'd come to the video store while I was choosing, she'd tell me I wasn't allowed to get certain movies out. Of course, once we seperated and I bought a Video player I did a lot of catching up. Since I've moved back home, I've noticed my mother does the same thing. I get movies out from the library, and she won't let me put them on if she's around (and now my video player has died, so I have to use the one in the lounge room). Anywat, I got 'The Beach' out a number of weeks ago [about four weeks ago - I had to renew it]. Last night was the first opportunity I've had to watch it, as my mother kept telling me NOT to put it on, as she'd seen it a million times. As I was watching it, my mother came out and asked what 'THE HELL' I was watching. I said, 'The Beach. I thought you'd seen it before?' She looked at the screen and went, 'No, I must have been thinking of a different movie.' Great, all this time I wasn't allowed to watch it, and it wasn't even a movie she'd seen. I noticed something else in the movie. At the beginning they kept describing the beach ... this idyllic place where people just sit around all day, swim when the want, and don't do much else. I thought, 'Oh, My Goodness! They're describing HELL!' You see, one man's paradise IS another man's Hell. It's not the beautiful beach I had a problem with. It wasn't the swimming. It was the thought of having nothing better to do than lie around all day ... I can't do that!!! Trying to RELAX is one of the most aggrevating things for me. Let me put it this way - when I go to a nice beach, I like to swim, snorkle, surf etc etc. I have never understood the 'lying around' on a beach thing that people do. Lying in the hot sun for hours and doing nothing annoys me. I can't just lie there. If I want to lie down and sleep, there are a million other places I'd rather be doing it ... like in a nice comfy bed somewhere. Doing it on a beach, is not fun for me. After all, you can get VERY burnt while you're sleeping. You can also get your stuff stolen. That aside, I didn't mind the movie. I've always liked Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor. The Director had wanted Ewan McGregor [just to add some trivia to my post]. I think both would have turned in great performances for the part. Robert Carlyle was also in it, and he always turns in great performances. I didn't even realise it was him till Richard [Leonardo DiCaprio] started to imagine he was talking to him and stuff ... then I sudenly went 'THAT's Robert Carlyle!' Actually, at the beginning of the film I admit I was playing Sims at the same time, so might have missed the fact that it was obviously him. It got bad reviews in the press, so I was a little surprised to find the movie wasn't all that bad. [Which also explains why I was playing Sims at the same time as the beginning]. It's not the sort of movie I'd buy on DVD and have in my collection, but if it came on TV I might watch it again (depending on what else was up against it). I wonder if the press (who gave it bad reviews) have ever experienced backpacking? Anyway, the movie drew me in and I stuck Sims on pause. I liked the fact there were lots of different international travellers in the movie. That's always been my experience when I've travelled. I hate movies where almost everyone is English or American (depending on who made the film), I'm surprised there wasn't an Aussie represented in the film (after all, per head of population we are the greatest travellers/tourists in the world), and there are normally plenty of Aussies anywhere in the world that I've travelled. Well, I'd say, if you haven't seen the movie, then give it a go. [I better go pat my dogs ... after all, it is there year!] :-)