DH and I have gone back and forth for the last several years, cutting back on and then re-establishing our cable service and pay channels. We've had DirecTV for the past several years, and with the exception of typically rising prices, I think it's pretty good. We still have the occasional "maybe we should get rid of the movie channels" discussion -- usually DH's idea -- and the result is almost always "but we need to have a couple of channels where there are no fucking commercials."

The goofy thing is, we have this really nice TV. We got it when Jacob was a few months old. At the time, we each had both a full-time and a part-time job, and the part-time jobs basically paid for it within a couple of months. Our one main TV had died, and with a fussy, reflux-prone baby who didn't like to sleep, the rocker in the living room had one of our butts in it pretty much all the time. So off we went to Monkey Ward's electronics store to get a TV. DH had been touting the wonders of the Sony WEGA TVs, whose quality he said would offset the fact that we couldn't get a particularly big TV.

We circled the sales floor for quite a while, and both kept moving away from the standard-sized TVs to end up at the shrine of this giant thing. It was a floor model, on clearance with its base thing. We both tippy-toed around the topic for a bit, and then admitted to each other that we'd fallen under its spell. The justification, we figured, was that we wouldn't be spending our weekends at the movie theaters as we'd done pre-baby, so this would be our primary form of entertainment. We put a stranglehold on a pimply-faced, teenaged clerk and basically told him to talk us into the sale. It was pretty sad. We obviously just wanted someone to say "you gotta buy this TV!"

Anyway, we bought that floor model, and the extended warranty (which, in this case, came in handy a few times), and we've had it ever since. So in our fairly small-to-average sized living room, there is this giant TV with a very nice picture. The kids use it plenty to watch movies, Noggin, and the like. But where do DH and I watch almost everything?

On the 27" TV in our room. From bed. Oh, quit that Beavis & Butthead sniggering. It's just that the bed is a super-comfy spot to hang out, and we have air conditioning in our room. When we're in the living room, we're much closer to where the litter box is, which can be unpleasant right after the cats have eaten. And also, when we're in the living room, we tend to get stressy about what a mess it usually is.

So I spend most of my time at home in my room, on what we call Big Bed. Since DH has a tendency to work late almost every night, the TV keeps me company. I can't really watch when I'm trying to work, but if I'm just bored, it's nice to pop it on and find something to watch. And tonight, I scooted through the on-screen guide to find that I'd just missed the first 15 minutes of Big Love, but two channels down there was My Cousin Vinny on one of the HBOs.

In case you lived under a rock in the early 90s, this is a very underrated comedy with Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei. Most people remember it mainly because there is this rumor out there that Tomei's Oscar, won for this role, was a complete mistake. But this is one of those movies I can watch pretty much every time it's on. And I have to see the part where Marisa Tomei's character takes the stand. Uch, it's great.

There are other movies like that -- things I can pick up and watch wherever they are and see over and over. I don't think to go in the other room and put on a DVD, but if it shows up on cable, I'll put it on. (Bonus points if it's commercial-free and uncut.) There are always the basic rom-coms like Sleepless in Seattle, and any Cameron Crowe movie works for me, too. It's sort of like how I re-read books all the time... I know how they'll come out, but I can still enjoy the details.