Wasting Away in Greenville: A Movie Saturday night

It's not that I don't have some work requiring my attention and effort; I do. But it's difficult motivating myself to productivity when my outstanding invoices aren't being paid.

Here's a reality of freelancing: Nobody pays in January. Even my clients, who pay like clockwork, can't seem to pull themselves together after the holidays to pay in January. I don't know whether it's some sort of collective hangover or what, but paying what they owe freelancers in January is just beyond them. A freelance writer stands a better chance of being struck by lightening than getting paid in January.

I learned this several years ago and, like a squirrel hiding nuts for the winter, I keep a January slush fund to pay bills until February arrives and clients begin paying again.

Consequently, although Saturday is often a writing day for me, I pretty much just goofed off on the most recent Saturday.

Saturday nights being "Italian night" at hacienda de Heaps, I typically rent a couple of Red Box movies and hunker down for some homemade spaghetti, red wine and a flick or two.

I make sauce every four or five weeks and freeze enough to get me through the weeks I don't make it. This past Saturday, was a sauce-making day. I usually don't stray far from my crockpot on sauce-making days. It slow cooks, resolving itself for six or seven hours. I want to be close by the final three or four hours so I can stir it every 30 min or so.

A combination of my unmotivated attitude and desire to stir the sauce held me firmly in my recliner watching movies all Saturday afternoon and night.

One of the movies I downloaded from Netflix was "Dead Awake." It was an acceptable time killer. It is a contrived plot that relies on a gimmick or two to get the audience from point A to point B, but it was entertaining enough. Plus, it was basically free.

 

What attracted me to it was Amy Smart as one of the stars. Yes, I have a little crush on her. Had her character been played by Rosie O'Donnell, it would have been nearly unwatchable.

From Red Box I rented "Trouble with the Curve." A Clint Eastwood vehicle, it was in and out of theaters in record time. I didn't realize he didn't direct it. He produced it and was the lead, but he passed directing duties off to one of his production company's troops.

I didn't expect any action or car chases and I wasn't disappointed. It's a warm-fuzzy feel-good film about an aging scout for the Atlanta Braves who, because of some eye-sight issues, is joined by his baseball-enthusiast daughter in scouting his last big recruit.

His daughter is played by Amy Adams. (This blog seems to have an "Amy" theme -- at least so far.) I'm not as big a fan of Amy Adams as I am Amy Smart, but I have a warm spot in my heart for Adams because she had a guest spot on an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

She played Tara's cousin in the episode in which Tara's family arrived in Sunnydale to bring Tara home. It's among my top-ten favorite Buffy episodes.

Justin Timberlake also has a role. This was only the second time I'd seen Timberlake in a movie. In the first, his role was semi-action. He didn't pull that off-- not even close. His character in this film was as a washed-up pitcher who was on his first scouting assignment. Of course, he ended up with our heroine. He was much more believable.

Another reason I'm not fond of Timberlake is that he married Jessica Biel. That upsets me…a lot. But speaking of Jessica Biel, the other Red Box movie I rented was "Total Recall." I saw it in 3D at the theater a few months ago and blogged about it then. I won't bore you with my thoughts on it again. But I liked it and that's why I rented it to watch a second time.

Well that and Jessica Biel and, umm, Kate Beckinsale.

An action movie with two of my favorite female stars: now that's entertainment. A movie marathon with those two, Amy Adams and Amy Smart was well worth the lost day.