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Braaaaains, Rock Salt and other bizarre ways to cope

 Monday, 11 April 2011

Yea you read that post title correctly, I promise you I've not gone totally barmy but I reckon some folk might think I'm slightly touched in the head by the end of this post. If you've not seen my In My Mailbox post from Sunday then you might not know that my Grandfather died suddenly last Thursday and instead of taking time off from blogging like saner people might do, I'm gonna be blogging through my grief as it were as I think keeping my mind occupied on something I love is better than being sat ruminating on how bleak life seems right now.

In explanation of the post title; last night I watched the first episode of The Walking Dead on Five. I know this series was shown in the US several months ago but it's taken it's sweet time in getting over the pond so when I saw the adverts for it I got majorly excited (this was maybe over a week ago).
Now you'd think that after a death in the family that you'd want to avoid any and all TV shows that involve death and gore, me... well I'm a little odd and I love shows like that so I sat myself down last night and revelled in the serious creepiness of the spectacular zombie SFX in The Walking Dead. Oh and maybe drooled a wee bit over Andrew Lincoln cos I really rather liked him in Love Actually :P

I also have been binging on another TV show recently and just this morning may-have-kinda-sneakily ordered the third season boxset off Amazon. Yea I'm talking bout them Winchester brothers in Supernatural :P
Normally I consider myself to be pretty wussy when it comes to horror films and other scary shit like that but with Supernatural there's enough humour and non-scary stuff to balance out the terrifically creepy beasties that Sam and Dean come across every episode. So I get the thrill of being scared without being so terrified that I have nightmares for weeks afterwards, plus the added bonus of Jensen Ackles & Jared Padalecki being adorably bitchy with each other and suavely wasting ghosts like the bad-ass pros they really are.

I realise that my choice of comfort TV is probably rather disconcerting (at least it is to my parents) but my reasoning is that the more shocking and scary it is, the smaller the chances of me bursting into tears at some random moment. If I watched some fluffy rom-com I'd most likely spend half the film getting misty-eyed and to be perfectly honest I look hideous when I cry and it exhausts me like hell so I'd rather avoid a crying jag if possible.

I wonder if I'm the only person who has turned to seemingly "inappropriate" TV shows or films in times of grief - I'm hoping that if I drown myself in vivid imagery of things worse than I've seen it'll overwrite the memories that at the moment are seared onto my mind. I would love to have nothing but pleasant reminders of my Grandad and to have that Thursday night erased from my visual memory but I reckon it will take more than a few zombies and demons to shift it.

So I'd like to know, has anyone else got a bizarre choice of movie/tv show/book that they turn to when they need comfort whether it be merely after a bad day, or after the loss of a loved one, that other people would consider as odd?

I swear I'm only half-mad
LadyV

6 comments:

Unknown 12 April 2011 at 03:46  

I don't think you are mad at all! Everybody deals with the manure they are handed differently.

Jess 12 April 2011 at 12:38  

Ah I watched The Walking Dead too! It definitely creeped me out right before bed! As for the scary stuff when I was going through hard times I read a lot of Stephen King books and got into Jodi Picoult. Just because those characters always had it worse off than me and it was something I could relate too. I didn't want to read about things being all hinky dory when things felt so wrong in my own life so your not alone there! And as for Supernatural I may have to check it out :P xx

Magnus 12 April 2011 at 15:11  

I <3 Supernatural, it always has a good balance between absolutely terrifying and jolly good fun :D I don't think it's too weird but I generally watch things that are going to make me cry about what's happening in the movie rather than real life. Homeward Bound is the current one for that. I also like to just slog through a T.V show, which is why I have a lot of boxsets. like Friends, Bewitched (I know AWESOME) and Scrubs. If you like off-beat, try The Smoking Room, it's WONDERFUL if you're feeling slightly off. :)
Much love! xxx

Alayne 12 April 2011 at 17:07  

I highly recommend Alias, it's always a comfort show for me. I have all 5 seasons on DVD and go through them every couple years or so. :) A great show to just cuddle on the couch with a blanket and escape.
Alayne - The Crowded Leaf.

Ellie 14 April 2011 at 20:37  

When I'm feeling really miserable I definitely try to stay away from rom-coms. I just end up in tears when they get to 'happily ever after', feeling all lonely and even worse than I did before! Rom-coms are best for happy times... I stick with all-out comedy or more exciting box sets usually - Blood Ties is pretty good (you should try it if you like Supernatural, plus they're based on a series of books, yay!), maybe a dose of The Big Bang Theory or something cartoony like American Dad. Or go re-watch Stargate SG-1! Gilmore Girls is funny and bookish. Or if I feel like I really NEED to cry, I go for a proper drama-type weepy film that will make me bawl and get it all out of my system ('The Notebook', I'm looking at you).

So, should I go find 'The Walking Dead' on the Channel 5 website (we suck here, we don't even get Channel 5!)???

Ray 14 April 2011 at 22:53  

Ellie - firstly YES go watch The Walking Dead online or I *will* set the zombie penguins on you :P
Second - I have to be careful with watching certain episodes of Stargate cos I have cried (mostly when Daniel dies :P) but there are a lot of fabulously hilarious eps. Maybe this summer I'll rewatch a few seasons although I did watch all ten last year lol

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