Is It Safe To Go Back Into The Water?

Today marks one week since our central air shit the bed.  Or as I like to think of it, “Day 7 in Satan’s Butt Crack” with only eight more to go.  We had some rain this afternoon which help cool it down a bit, but only for a few hours.  I have the boys home with me this week, so they have the TV constantly running heating up the basement.  They will play nicely together for a few hours and I won’t even know they are there.  And then they start to bicker and then fight and then I have to lock them in separate closets.  They started to mellow out around 4 PM, and wanted to watch a movie, my 6 YO picked out Jaws.  I vetoed that choice until I could have a chance to sit down and watch it with them.

It was an odd choice of movie for them, especially from the 6 YO.  They know that it is my favorite movie, but they have never seen it.  It was interesting coincidence because July 20th marks the 35th anniversary of the movie’s release.  There are so many great things about Jaws, the dialog, the perfect soundtrack, cinematography, and I think it would only be fitting to celebrate its 35th birthday by introducing it to my kids.  So tonight we sat down and began watching it together.  I had to constantly remind them that it was make-believe and that real sharks are not like this.  I had to tell a few (great) white lies and tell them that there are no sharks where we will be going next week.

We only made it up to the part where Chief Brody and Hooper go out and find the abandoned boat before it was time for them to head up to bed.  They haven’t even gotten to see the shark yet.  They didn’t seem scared at all.  It will be interesting if they want to continue watching it after they see the shark for the first time.  I doubt that will happen.  Kids today seem so jaded to violence.

I was doing a little light reading after everyone was asleep and I saw an blog post about the release of “The Shark is Still Working,” a documentary on the making and impact of Jaws.  I have been waiting for this to come out for several years and it is finally here.  So far there is no news of when it will be shown around here or if it will go straight to video after all of the planned screenings.  Either way, I want to see this.

I will let you know how the rest of the movie turns out for the kids when we finish it.