Movies I can watch over and over and over again

Like most of us (I assume) there are a few movies that I get sucked into watching every time I come across them on TV. They might not necessarily be the best movies in the world, but they do the trick for me.

1. The Fugitive. Holy crap, I must have watched this move 527 times. "I didn't kill my wife." "I don't care!" Gets me every time!

2. Hellboy. The second film is superior in some ways, but the first one grabs me every time I see it. Unrequited love, father issues, painful destinies, big guns and bigger monsters. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

3. The Quick and the Dead. Oh baby, Sam Raimi at his finest. Sharon Stone at her all-too-rare best. Gene Hackman at his sleaziest and edgiest. Bang, bang, bang. (The only downside to this flick is that Lance Henriksen dies too early. Alas.)

4. Trading Places. A near-perfect comedy, except for the really awful gorilla suits. I think I saw those same suits in a Bowery Boys movie from the 1930s. Painful.

5. Anchorman. The jazz flute. The news team rumble. "I killed a man with a trident." Musk. A comedy that stays classy all the way through. And yes, I still quote that line and you can't stop me. I'm already in line for the sequel.

What about you? What movies keep you coming back over and over again?

Cash Mob!

I attended my first cash mob a few nights ago and enjoyed the hell out of it.

If you haven't heard of them yet, cash mobs are kind of like the old flash mobs only less flashy and far less prank-oriented. Instead, they're designed to help the local community.

Here's how a cash mob works: A bunch of people find out about an event though social media and show up at an appointed time and place with the expectation that they're going to spend about $20 at a local independently owned retailer. The store isn't announced until everyone gets there, so there's a great deal of mystery wrapped around it. Once the crowd gathers the store is announced and off we go, $20 bills in hand. It's a cool way to meet local people and support local retailers at the same time.

In this recent cash mob case, the store wasn't the best choice for me (Etc. in Bath, a gift store that serves a fairly narrow clientele), but I had fun. There were about 35 mobbers, and if we each spent $20, then the store made a good $700.  (I actually spent $17.89, but I'm sure things averaged out.) I have heard of other cash mobs bringing in tens of thousands of dollars for retailers!

You can find cash mobs in your area here: http://cashmobs.wordpress.com/ Many of them have Facebook pages, Twitter feeds or other ways you can sign up to get notified. Keep an eye out or start one of your own!