Frank Capra is rolling over in his grave.

I worked earlier today for several hours and came home for some serious couching. So, I can tolerate [I just typed "tolerature" instead of "tolerate", and now feel compelled to construct a definition for the word...hmm] several hours of physical activity. I get sore and fatigued, but I can handle it for 4 or 5 hours without incident. And then there's this wall that I hit where my neck/shoulder region starts to feel warm-- it's not warm to the tough, but it feels like waves of heat going through the muscles-- and it scares the bejesus out of me! I hit that point earlier today at the 6.5-hour mark, and was like, "Aaaaaaand, I'm out."

Cut to me curled on the couch. I must've fallen asleep around 7pm, and I woke up to the sounds of a Hallmark Christmas movie that my mom was watching. The bad acting, like a vivid nightmare, woke me. Here are the images from this "movie" that I found to be particularly vomit-inducing.

• One of the London brothers trying to act. They've both had decent performances (Jason in Dazed and Confused or The Man on the Moon, Jeremy in Mallrats or "Party of Five") but in general, neither are particularly talented. Ok, I did a little sleuthing and I can confirm that it was in fact Jeremy London playing the male lead in this Hallmark piece of shit. And he was trying out some comedic bits-- to no avail.
• Sally Struthers. I am a fan of Sally Struthers-- she was a little gem in Five Easy Pieces, and I loved her performance as Babette in "Gilmore Girls"-- so I feel betrayed when she takes gigs like this. I know that actors have to pay the bills, but I have trouble believing that she couldn't find a better alternative.
• In a "climactic" scene, Jeremy London's James has to shoot a wolf with a rifle. He's supposed to be a "city boy" but he shoots the wolf in the head on his first try, and the next shot is the wolf flat on its side. There is no blood or noise, there is just a dead wolf. I'm not going to begin to dismantle everything that bothers me about this sequence because it would take too long.
• In the denoument, James and his girlfriend's dad are walking through some nondescript Wild-West-ish wilderness, and find a perfectly shaped and sized evergreen tree growing in the middle of rocks and tumbleweeds. They must've been carring an axe and some rope, because the next shot is them dragging it behind them, to present to the female lead. Really, screenwriter? A perfect Christmas tree in the middle of a cattle ranch? Ok. Is the image of your characters dragging a tree behind them a nod to your dragging your now-deceased artistic integrity behind you?
• Since this is a Christmas movie, there had to be something sparkly eventually. James proposes to his girlfriend, and opens the ring box at the perfect angle for the audience to see the "Kay Jewelers" name and logo written inside. "This horrible excuse for a rom-com holiday movie has been brought to you by Kay Jewelers."

I intend to watch one of my favorite Christmas movies tomorrow and reviewing it in my next entry. We'll see what tomorrow brings. I might still be sick from watching the Hallmark schlock.