Nostalgia Lizard

Nostalgia is defined as pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again.  Friends will tell you that I am heavily into nostalgia, if you hadn’t already figured that out reading this nonsensical blog. 

Nostalgia can be a dangerous thing if not properly pigeonholed as fond memories and not a destination.  While I love revisiting old friends and significant places from my past, life is about moving forward.  I often reflect on the choices made and it wouldn’t be human to think about going back and making different decisions. 

Failing to ask that girl out in high school who I worshipped from afar, a lack of serious approach to studies during my fraternity days, and the big German decision are all aspects of my life I periodically reflect back on and wistfully think how my life would be different now.  Regrets are life’s way of educating you and making you a better person, as long as you take the lessons to heart.  After college and pre-marriage there were very few girls I wanted to go out with that I didn’t ask (talk about your double edged swords!), when I went back to graduate school I was the student I should have been during my undergraduate days, and when I did meet my future wife I didn’t wait around but married her right away (32 years and counting). 

For me nostalgia is all about valuing the past because those decisions determined the person you are and you’ve got to kind of like yourself (only option really).  I like going back to reunions and get-togethers with old friends precisely because they remind me of the good times but at the same time updates the feelings forged in the past into the maelstrom of today.  One of my high school classmates made a very shrewd observation after last year’s class reunion.  He wrote that it was so enjoyable to gather together after all these years with all the nonsensical social trappings of high school stripped away; wise words.

Definitively in the nostalgia department was last night’s date night movie, Godzilla, bringing back memories of the giant lizard viewed from the floor of the YMCA during a rained out summer camp day in the distant past (see, I told you).  This current movie is sneakily very, very good.  I’ve always taken the stance that the name “Godzilla” should always be uttered with a deep guttural Japanese accent.  It was therefore with intense pleasure that the first time it was said in the movie was in just that fashion by the excellent Japanese actor, Ken Watanabe.

This flick is successful because it stays with the human story and uses the huge monsters as a plot device instead of the focus.  Godzilla emerges as natures response (much to San Francisco’s detriment) to two large nuclear feeding monsters called MUTOs.  The monsters are forces of nature and the movie is about the way we would react to this immense challenge.  There are no sinister humans or corporation rabbit holes to explore.  There were some pretty dumb tactical decisions made but this was obviously done to keep the story moving forward.  The young actors were especially good, the Olsen twins’ younger sister and Kick Ass himself, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, were effective as the young couple the story centers around.  You wouldn’t want to stand around his character in a thunder storm though as wherever he happens to be standing is ground zero for something extremely bad to happen.  This is definitely the best Godzilla movie ever made which says a lot, nostalgia wise.