No, I haven't seen "Casablanca"

That's my confession.  I've never seen that movie.  Now you say, "But I thought you were a film major!"  It doesn't really matter what movie it is, from time to time I have to figure out a decent response to this accusation.  Usually, it's classic Hollywood movies from what many consider the golden era of film; although, once or twice it's been about some random 90's action flick (which is also the reason I lose points in Scene It).  Whether I studied it in film class or not, I haven't seen every movie...nor do I want to.      

There's a big difference between movies I think I should see and movies I want to see.  Looking through my Netflix queue I can see this problem represented right in front of me as certain movies seem to just float in the middle for months and months, never actually reaching the top but never being deleted either.  For a while J was giving me trouble for never watching "The Pianist" and I told him I just hadn't been in the mood for it.  To which he responded, "Abby, you're never going to be in the mood for the Holocaust!"  Touche.

So while I finally did get myself to watch "The Pianist", which was totally worth it by the way, some nights I just want to watch an entertaining movie that I know and love.  While on the one hand I get incredibly frustrated when films like "Transformers 2" and "G.I. Joe" dominate the box office, the need to just escape with a film isn't a totally foreign idea to me.  I just don't happen to do it through ridiculous toy-based action flicks.  

My cup of tea?  "Anchorman".  I have no idea how many times I've seen it but no matter what, it always makes me laugh.  I think there's an unspoken rule among film majors that no matter what, you DON'T admit you like "Anchorman".  It's much more acceptable to make pretentious jabs at man-children like Will Ferrell in front of the entire class- a slam that is always well received with jaded snickers.  Instead, we're supposed to say we enjoy watching Buster Keaton on a Friday night which makes us just die from laughter.  I don't find Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin particularly funny.  I can watch it, write about it, and appreciate the significance but that doesn't mean I'm going to run out and rent "Modern Times" when I want to laugh.  I'd go as far as to say that anyone born after 1965 is a total liar if they tell you otherwise.  Or, they just have a really crappy sense of humor.

So in an effort to combat the dreaded "I thought you were a film major!" accusation, I've started lying.  Because even though I haven't "seen" "Casablanca", I've SEEN "Casablanca".  I know the entire plot, the famous line, and the mix-up of that famous line.  And I've found it's much easier to flat out lie and reaffirm someone's idea my film expertise than to explain everything I just wrote to them.

Now if I could only get "Schindler's List" to the top of my queue...

At least he thinks he's funny.