Birding and "The Big Year"

On Saturday, after an intense few hours of outdoor work, we settled in for a movie, along with blue cheese, crackers, and red wine.  We had torrential rain, which made being indoors with a movie--after doing some outdoor work--especially wonderful.

Even better, we had a good movie.  I don't know if it's something about the movies being released or something about me as a viewer at midlife, but most movies just don't seem worth the time anymore, even if it's just to kill a few hours on a Saturday.  For example, last week-end, we watched The Descendants.  Even the presence of George Clooney and the beauty of the Hawaiian setting couldn't relieve my persistent feeling of boredom.

On Saturday, we watched The Big Year.  It showed up on some end-of-year lists as a movie that was surprisingly good.  I was doubtful:  a movie about people watching birds?  Really?  But it has a great cast and a quest theme, and I thought it was worth a risk.

It was a delight.  I loved the idea of seeing how many birds you can see in a year.  I wish I had the kind of life where I could just take off to the opposite side of the continent because a big storm will scare up lots of rare birds.  The adventure aspect spoke to my inner 19 year old who would rather be biking to California or hiking the Appalachian Trail.

I didn't expect the characters to be as engaging as they were.  I didn't expect some of my favorite themes, like redemption and living an integrated life.

In fact, the movie was so wonderful, I'd watch it again.  These days, I rarely find myself thinking that.  I'm usually looking at my watch and saying, "How much longer?"

I'm hoping for a calmer week at work.  Otherwise, I'll find myself plotting my own kind of birding get-away.