Casablanca

Last night (this morning) just before turning out the lights and going to sleep I did something I only do when I know I'm not going to be able to fall asleep right away. I went flipping through channels on TV for a last ditch effort to find something to lull me to sleep. I stopped on a channel where one of my all-time favorite movies was just coming on - Casablanca.

Gary & I just watched this movie a couple weeks ago, from start to finish, so my favorite scenes and lines were still fresh in my memory. I know this movie well. Maybe not better than my all-time favorite movie Moulin Rouge (2001, Nicole Kidman & Ewan McGregor), of which I know all the lines and sing along fervently to all the songs. But Casablanca is a film I've seen many, many times because I love it, and because I wrote a paper on it in college (something like "Introduction to Film 101") a summer class I took for a couple sociology credits.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who let me borrow his VCR (this was around 1992, in the days before Google, Wikipedia and IMD) and I watched that movie over and over and over as I came up with my thesis. In the end my professor complimented me for the unique angle of my paper that few people had ever even written about, and I got an A on it.

So back to last night - once it was on, there was no turning back. The movie is so well written and acted that there's really not a point you can turn it off before the end. Some of my favorite lines: "I remember the day well. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue..." "You do the thinking for both of us. For all of us..." "What watch? Six watch." "We'll always have Paris..." and of course, the slightly over-used "Here's looking at you, kid."

When "The End" came up it was 5:15. AM. UGH!!!!!! I have to say that's the latest/earliest I've stayed up since I've been "off" from work, but it's really starting to become an issue. I feel like I've become a vampire!