We didn't have a
huge selection of videos in our home library when I was young. We
mainly got movies that were in bargain bins or on sale or copied from
video store versions. When you are looking at the ten or so
selections we had on a long winter night you would get desperate and
watch most of them even the horrible ones. We had, 'The Princess
Bride', 'The Jerk', 'Critters', 'The House of Long Shadows', 'The
Sound of Music', 'Father Goose', The PBS Miniseries 'Anne of Greene
Gables' and almost finally - Two Nova documentaries on one tape the
first and by far the favorite was about sharks and the second watched
but not loved was one about Chernobyl. The outsider in this motley
crew was a critically acclaimed and horrible boring bargain bin find
that my mom brought home from a sale that a video store had as they
went out of business – 'The Milagro Beanfield War'. It was
resisted, it was fought against, it was shunned but on a night that
had seen most or all of the rotation already there would creep in a
desperation a little creeping need to suckle at the flickering
electronic teat or be forced to cease vegetation and do something
productive. That is something we couldn't do and so on occasion, rare
occasion the tale of the old beanfield war would be inserted in the
machine and we would power through another viewing. Sometimes it is
about sacrifice and when you are willing to watch some awful Mexicans
versus the Developer drama you find out something about your
character and your personal commitment to avoiding productivity.
