When You're Down

I'm sure you all have these things.. you know a song, TV show, or movie that you can watch/listen and it instantly lifts your spirits. Of course anything Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter can put a smile on my face but I want to share a few specific things that just make me happy.

First of all the Harry Potter novels on CD read by Jim Dale. I have all seven books on CD (I also have all seven British version ready by Stephen Fry) and I have listened to them so many times I have lost count. I recently just started over again with book 1 The Sorcerer's Stone. I don't know what it is about those books or Jim Dale reading them but man I listen for five minutes and it can turn any bad day good. It lifts my spirits and puts a smile on my face. I used these alot at work during the my final few weeks when things were really bad. I would take a lunch and my ipod and get lost in the world of Harry Potter. I would come back refreshed and ready for rest of the day.

There are so several movies that just make me happy. I watched two of them today.. They aren't part of my core groups of genre things I love but I love them just the same. I don't want to call them "Gay" movies as they are just movies that happen to have gay characters as the main characters. First one is Big Eden about Henry Hart, a successful gay artist from New York City who returns to his Montana hometown to care for his ailing grandfather. While at home, Henry is forced to confront his unresolved feelings for high school friend Dean Stewart, while simultaneously beginning to fall in love with Pike Dexter, the shy Native American owner of the town's general store. It's a sweet movie set in a very unrealistic world where everyone in this small town has no issue with homosexuals, they all encourage it and accept it. It's a fantasy world but man I would love to live in that world. That's one of the appeals of this movie for me. It's a sweet love story and always leaves me feeling happy.

The other movie I watched today was Guys and Balls, this is a German film that Harry and I watched in the theater and loved it. It's about Ecki a young man who works in a bakery in Dortmund and plays soccer on his local team. Already under pressure for playing badly, his homophobic team-members find out that he is gay and throw him off the team. With the help of his sister and a cranky former soccer star, he forms an all-gay soccer team to challenge his old team in a grudge match. Besides the main actor being adorable the story is fun and sweet and the supporting cast are funny and endearing. This is a little guy beating the big homophobic guys and it just makes me happy.

Life can be difficult at times I'm just happy I have stuff like this that can pull me up when I'm feeling low.. What makes you happy?