“Tyrone Tanic”

When I saw there was a Titanic-related entry on DCBlogs yesterday, I burst out laughing—I too had succumbed to the awesome power of Titanic on Sunday.  It was on during my run at the gym.  I thought it was the perfect movie for the second entry in the Gym Shorts category (2008 was a bad year for watching movies at the gym, wasn’t it?).  However, I must sheepishly admit I was too sucked in to make fun.  Perhaps it’s because I missed the cheesiness that is the first half of the movie—the heavy-handed lessons about class struggles, the sickly-sweet moments of Jack and Rose falling in love, the hilarious dance party.  I tuned in at the point where the ship begins to sink.  I did get to see a ton of “Jack!”  “Rose!” back and forth, though.

That movie is Sunday afternoon movie crack.

When I finished my run and met IP at the door, I confessed I had been watching Titanic throughout my run (which made it go by fast!).  I then found myself in full-on confessional mode by admitting that, in 1997, my sister Dorkus and I had seen the movie . . .

Drum roll, please . . .

A total of . . .

Drum roll again, please . . .

Seven times at the theater.  Yep, that’s right.  We paid seven times over for the privilege of seeing a historical romance take on the R.M.S Titanic’s 1912 sinking.  At one point we took our mother with us, who was horrified by the movie.  “Why do you want to watch people dying so many times over?” she gasped in disbelief.

It’s less about the sinking than the love, Mother.  True love!  That we hold to, dammit.

Thus ensued some Titanic-related nostalgia.  Hey, Dorkus, remember when we saw it at the theater seven times?  And we each had a copy of the soundtrack?  And we each bought the collector’s edition of the VHS release (mine was tragically stolen by nefarious thieves—who I caught red-handed, by the way, but they were never pursued by UM’s Department of Public Safety because DPS never has suspects)?  Memories of watching the 1997 Academy Awards surfaced, remembering how shocked and angry we were that Leo didn’t get a nomination for best actor, aghast when neither Gloria Stuart nor Kate Winslet won the Oscar in their respective categories (for the record: Go, Kate, go! in 2009).  Delighted that the movie won Best Picture.  Woot!  Vindicated!

And how, slowly but surely, embarrassment began to creep in with regards to our Titanic obsession.  We were so embarrassed that we felt we must eclipse the number of times we’d seen this movie at the theater with another, higher quality film.  We found that film when Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone came out.  You know us, we just upgrade!

However, mulling over Titanic for the past two days led us to watching the brilliant MST3K clip from the Academy of Robots’ Choice Awards Special held prior to the Oscars. Observe its awesomeness:

And don’t forget Titanic: Two the Surface (which I would so watch):

It also led us to realize that, you know, it’s been a while since we’ve seen the movie together. And you know, I’ll be in Michigan very soon, so it’s the perfect opportunity to re-watch Titanic in all its Best Picture glory. So we’re getting snacks, drinks and plopping ourselves in front of the television to watch Titanic when I visit. Best part is that I’ll be there on Valentine’s Day, so we’ll watch some tragic romance mixed with history that day. Ah, twue wuv . . .

My heart, it will go on.  I just need to get some Dr. Pepper lip gloss first.