"They're digging in the wrong place!"

For what seems like the first time in ages, I took today as a lazy day. I've literally done *nothing* of any real interest. I'd intended to do a couple of exciting things this Easter weekend, including clean the bathroom (couldn't be arsed), and get out on my bike for the first time since last September (too cold, maybe next weekend). Hell, I've not even left the house today!

Instead, I finished reading the book that I seem to have been reading since mid-January, and I watched Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I recorded off the telly last weekend.

I've not seen this film in what feels like forever, and after seeing the trailer for this year's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I've been a bit gee'd up about rewatching the first three Indy movies. I should also say that Raiders holds a dear place in my heart.

Years ago, back in the mid 80s or thereabouts, I'd spend every Friday of the school summer holidays over at my grandparent's house. Sparky Ma would wake me and Big Bro up at a ridiculously early time, somehow get us out of bed, get us washed, and dressed, then get us on the bus to our grandparent's house, where Simon and I would watch Wacaday and bemoan the fact that they insisted on cutting half hour episodes of the Transformers cartoon into five minute segments that they'd show each day throughout the week. Anyway, by the time Wacaday finished at about 9:30, Big Bro and I were at a bit of a loss as to what to do, because all our toys were back at home. So, each week we would raid our grandparent's video library. 

As you'd expect, two kids under the age of 10 don't necessarily have quite the same taste in movies as their grandparents, so among the war movies, Clint Eastwood films, and John Wayne collection, we had but one choice: Raiders of the Lost Ark. And this wasn't even a proper VHS - it had been taped off the TV, and came complete with adverts interspersed throughout.

But every Friday, Simon and I would sit there, watching as Marion got herself kidnapped in Cairo, laugh as the naughty little monkey did a Nazi salute, then go "awwww" when it ate the bad date and died, shout along with Indy and Sallah (the dude with the axe in Lord of the Rings) as they gleefully discovered that the Germans were digging in the wrong place, and cheered as Indy once again foiled the Nazi's plans to get their grubby little mits on the Ark of the Covenant. We watched it so often that by the time we started back at school in September we could literally recite the dialogue word-for-word (including the ads).

And today it was every bit as good as I remembered it being; maybe even better, because I actually did reach a saturation point after a few years at after which I refused to watch Raiders ever again. I think this was the first time in at least 15 years that I've seen it. Even better is the fact that I've just recorded Temple of Doom* and I expect Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade will be on next week. This is working very well as a primer for Crystal Skull which comes out in May - let's hope it lives up to the standard of the originals, eh?

*I still can't take the title of this movie seriously since I saw an interview with Josh Hartnett where he said the name of his favourite porn movie was In Diana Jones and the Temple of Poon. I've had a lot of respect for him since then.