I’ve been trying to think up a Valentine’s Day story for you, my dear readers, but couldn’t come up with anything original. So I’ve resorted to offering you cheap Valentine’s Day ideas to make your special day better and/or worse. (You’ll notice that I say “cheap” and not “inexpensive.”) Enjoy!
Cheap Valentine’s Day Ideas #1: Catch Up With Charlie Brown
“As a child, I loved Charles M Schulz… he told truths that every child knows, but too often go unrecognized when adults write for kids: namely, that life is difficult, one’s shortcomings feel insuperable and that, when fate has laid you low, it comes along to kick you again in the proverbials,” writes Stuart Jeffries in The Guardian.
Doesn’t this epitomize good ‘ol Charlie Brown, Schulz’s much put-upon anti-hero? Charlie Brown is insecure, unfit for the game of life, always the one behind the eight ball. Charlie Brown understands suffering even if he’s only a little kid with an oversized head, a cowlick, and a voice that sounds as though he has a permanent cold. I relate to Charlie Brown. Always have, always will.
Charlie Brown: “I’d give anything if that Little Red-Haired Girl had sent me a valentine. Hey, maybe she did send me one. Maybe she did send me a valentine, and it didn’t get here till today! Maybe it’s in our mailbox right now! I’m afraid to look. If I look and there’s nothing there, I’ll be crushed. On the other hand, if she did send me a valentine… I’ve got to look!” (he opens the mailbox eagerly, but Snoopy smooches him on the nose and then vigorously closes the mailbox, leaving Charlie Brown rubbing his nose disgustedly) “I hate Valentine’s Day.”
Cheap Valentine’s Day Ideas #2: Listen to Music So Cheap It’s Free!
In reflecting upon the songs I’ve posted on my blog’s Songbook category, I see that many of them are, well, a little ripe. Ya know, baby boomer nostalgia and all that. So I ripped the following songs from today’s headlines, more or less. I’m really proud of myself!
The following song is new to me. It’s by a group called Thee Sacred Souls. I heard them on NPR recently and really loved their romantic, soulful, big-band sound. I hear they’re getting hot so catch ’em before they get too big for their britches!
Cheap Valentine’s Day Ideas #3: Enjoy a Great Movie
One of my all-time favorite movies, starring the incomparable Cher and Nicholas Cage, Moonstruck is set in a fanciful Brooklyn that in no way resembles the place I grew up in. Director Norman Jewison finds a way to make Brooklyn feel cozy, romantic, and mysterious. Above it all there is the moon: looming brightly overhead, ready to cast its spell. Ready to make people fall in love.
Moonstruck is big, stylish, and, in its own way, glamorous. We follow larger-than-life people coming to terms with themselves and the people they love. They are unafraid to be emotional, both operatically and simply. It is a love story filled with life, humor, and a strong streak of Brooklyn at its most mythical.
The Shape of Water is one of the most romantic and sexiest films I’ve ever seen. Set in 1960s Baltimore, the main characters are a young, mute woman who cleans a laboratory for a living and a fish-man, who is, well, tall, dark, and handsome. The essence of the story is about the love in which we abandon ourselves and discover our true selves in the same moment. Director Guillermo del Toro imbues that idea with an additional insight: to love another person, we must learn to accept the ways they’re different from us as well as the ways we’re profoundly the same
I’d like to close with this quote from Charlie Brown, which I think draws a bold line under the paradox of Valentine’s Day (ya either love it or ya hate it). Speaking to the candy store cashier: “Hi, ma’am. I’d like to buy a box of candy for a girl who doesn’t know I exist. Nothing too expensive — I’ll never have the nerve to give it to her anyway.”
I hope you enjoyed these cheap Valentine’s Day ideas! And now, our final video.
Great ideas!
Thank you! Have fun!
I love your movie choices. In fact we just saw Moonstruck about 3 weeks ago, probably for the 4th time. It never grows old. Matthew and I never bother with Valentine’s day. If every day is devoid of love and kisses, Valentine’s Day will simply not do the trick. I haven’t seen the Charlie Brown special for many years. So maybe that will be our 2/14 treat.
Thank you! I hope you enjoy Charlie Brown! It’s a classic.