dual personalities

Do you have a hard time agreeing on what to watch with your co-viewer(s)? DN and I often do, though we’ve found that a solid overlap in our respective interests and attention spans is the detective and/or heist genre. When Valentine’s Day approached, I thought, let’s watch Bullitt, a Steve McQueen film that my mother and father often watch on this holiday. “A 1968 American neo-noir action thriller film” is about as good as it gets for us.

I will admit that I could not follow the plot of this movie in the slightest, but you can bet I enjoyed watching Steve McQueen look annoyed in a turtleneck sweater. DN thoroughly appreciated the long shots of effortless driving and parallel parking in San Francisco, as well as the stunt under a moving jet on a runway. (For my part, that scene just kept making me think “I walked across a f-ing runway…”)

Side note: did you know that DN drove us from San Francisco to Seattle in a Dodge Charger? I’m aware that it was the bad guys driving the Charger in Bullitt, but it still sparked a positive memory of our own coastal drive. DN did plenty of his own accelerating like a madman, emphasis on the “man.”

We were inspired to watch Bullitt in part because we have been watching the Netflix documentary series Formula 1: Drive to Survive. (Yes, I associate Bullitt solely with the driving scenes. I had completely forgotten any actual plot.) We have finished the first season, following the 2018 Grand Prix championship, and I found it oddly engrossing.

I hate competition no matter what, but Formula 1 racing involves everything I hate most about competing. It’s accepted that even the best drivers can be thwarted by a bad car, so you can lose even when it isn’t your fault. Each driver has a teammate but that teammate is also their competition. And, of course, it can actually kill you. I don’t even like driving on the capital beltway, so these races are just a little mind-boggling. In every interview with a driver, they’re like “Yes, I could die. I just… don’t think about it.” And truly, they must not, because the entire point is going as fast as you can toward sharp turns and burning your tires as close to the brink as possible. And yet I am impressed enough to be writing about it. There is something appealingly earnest about all of these drivers, who have typically been racing since they were in go-karts.

Well, men driving fast is clearly an age-old appeal that isn’t going anywhere, and appropriate enough for Valentine’s Day.

This year, we went for family-friendly treats and fun to celebrate l-o-v-e. My mother always threw little parties for us growing up, and I’ve been looking forward to doing the same for Katie.

My sarcastic captions are really not appropriate, as Katie was genuinely thrilled to unwrap Play-Doh and a new set of bath toys. And I got to enjoy seeing her in a vintage cherry dress from my childhood, which she wore happily, along with cherry bloomers from her mamu and tights from her aunt Mary. What else do you need in a Valentine?

*Quoting from the romantic plot line of Bullitt in honor of Valentine’s Day