Watergate, what? Isn't that green with marshmallows?

I've been lying to myself for a long time, but it's time to come clean. I do not have a politically set mind. I have never realized (or probably more correctly admitted it to myself) until I went to see the movie Frost/Nixon. I guess it makes me feel really stupid how much I don't retain when it comes to political or historical things.

During the movie I actually thought to myself, "I must have been told at least once in my life that Nixon resigned from presidency", but there I was shocked to hear him resigning (albeit fakely) on the big screen. There has to be some disconnect between these subjects and me because I've never done too well in history (in my opinion). I got good enough grades to keep getting me through, but in the back of my mind I thought that all these teachers were crazy because I have no idea what I am talking about.

My favorite history class experience was in High School when our class was studying World War I and World War II. The entire class broke into groups and had to take different topics of interest to present on: weapons, troupes, etc. Lucky for me there was one topic that I could actually identify with. I convinced my group to do the impact on media. I got to see the impact of the wars on the film industry and clothing and whatnot. Our presentation was the best because we dressed up in more 40's inspired garb, an Andrew's Sister and Charlie Chaplin, and got to show movies and listen to records. It was sooo much fun, but I didn't REALLY learn anything about the wars, if I'm completely honest (except now I know the approximate dates they occured, I guess that's something).

Okay, so why did I go see this movie? First of all, I just wanted to finally hang out with my friend again. He told me what the movie and I would lie if I didn't say I judge a movie by it's title. My mind went, Nixon?=boring historical stuff. Then, I gave it a chance and watched a preview for it and thought it looked kind of interesting and wanted to give it a try. So I went and for a while I thought, "What the crap did I get myself into?" They were throwing out issues and words right and left and I had no clue what ANY of it meant. I felt like I probably needed to do some research and studying up before I went to see this movie.

Finally, I was just gave up trying to make any sense of the things they assumed I already knew about (because what normal college graduate doesn't?) and looked at the film-making, the acting, the makeup, lighting, editing, everything. It's an amazing film looking at it that way. I was truly impressed by how amazing this film is. Yes, I tuned out during every long monologue they had (which was almost every line), but was deeply moved by the passion that went into playing the part of Nixon, played by Frank Langella, and the final part of the interview with Frost when he was completely broken and admitted the wrong he did in office. That was brilliant. Frost, played by Michael Sheen, was alright, but I was more distracted by his eyebrows and how much they made him resemble Jack Nicholson. That kind of overpowered his performance. A shout out will be made for Kevin Bacon. He played the silent, brooding Jack Brennan who is Nixon's chief of staff. There was such loyalty shown in this portrayal that it was endearing (plus, he looked quite snazzy in his suit vest, yup).

Anyway, sorry this turned into another movie review, but honestly I'm better at that then pretending to be politically interested. Yes, I have debated politics before, but if you pay any attention I always stick to logical things and not delve into past issues for my rebuttals. I would also be lying if I wasn't somewhat relieved when I never got my out of state voting stuff for this past election. On the important things (to me) I know where I stand, but I did not know who I was going to vote for, I had an idea, but it was never actually finalized. I knew that when I voted I would have to read up on the issues and whatnot and so when it never actually came...yea, I was angered at first. Who are they to deny me my right to vote? But when I really thought about it...

Basically, politics and history are completely foreign to me. I don't get it and maybe never will. But I already put that on my list of qualities my husband needs to possess because if he doesn't, our children will never have a chance. But hey, at least I learned something today about our former President Tricky Dick. And people think the media is bad for us, hah!