Over and over and over again

Once is enough.

I always felt that reading a book once, or seeing a movie once was generally enough.   If it was bad, it was more than enough and if it was good I was usually so engrossed I didn’t miss much the first time.  I will admit to sometimes rereading and with the advent of vcrs, rewinding things during that one time.

But as time has passed I am discovering that there are some books and some movies that not only merit being watched again and again.  They almost demand it. 

Small children will watch movies, or read favorite books an almost infinite number of times.  I didn’t have that option as a small child.  Television could not be replayed and no one read to me, but I am beginning to understand it now.

I didn’t get it as a younger person because I don’t think I saw enough of the right kinds of movies, or read the right kinds of books. 

Just as everything is new for a young child, not so much is new for adults.  But when it is and when it is well done, it pulls me in and makes me feel like I am in a room with people I admire very much and want to get to know better.

That happens less with mainstream stuff and more as I branch out into areas I hadn’t really ventured into before.

If I can “get it” in three explosions or more and the music blasts me off into outer space with sheer decibels and the picture on the screen is dark and murky instead of intricately creative, once will do it.

But when the characters and the plot and the story line are intricate and detailed and layered and reach out to weave me and my thoughts in and out of what is going on?

Then I am like a little child.  I can’t get enough.  I want to see it and hear it and read it, again and again.