Docu Night V!

Due to poor scheduling, I wrote what is probably my favorite blog entry ever only 2 hours before Docu Night. Now I'm forced to relegate it to the second position so that I stick to schedule. I've been weighing the pros and cons of delaying the posting Docu Night all day.  

Pros-I don't think any of my readers other than Megan and Nicky actually care for Docu Night postings, thus no one would miss them

Cons-If I don't stick to the schedule then I'll feel guilty. And I'm already feeling guilty about too many other missed deadlines. 

Moral of the story? If you haven't read my one act play, please continue on down after you're done with this post. If you have read my one act play, please read it again. You're not getting gold like that for a lonnnnnnng time. Also I apologize for the formatting. I don't know how to fix it.

On to Documentary Night V! Tonight's choice? Spellbound, the 2002 flick that follows 8 contestants in the 1999 Scripps National Spelling Bee. What you should know before reading this? Megan used to do spelling bees. She never made it to the big show. This is quite possibly the most defining failure of her past. It made watching this movie that much more fun.

10:00-Lets go! I give my speech. Quite possibly the best speech ever given at a Doc night. I playfully pretend that we're going to watch the 1945 classic Spellbound starring Gregory Peck. I then make everyone participate in a spelling bee. No one spells correctly, not even Megan, spelling bee extraordinaire.

10:04-Paige announces that her future husband is in the movie. We throw a few pedophile jokes around...even though these people are actually older than us by now.

10:06-It starts with some facts on spelling bees. We all start teasing Megan that she was never good enough to go to the national bee. This teasing will not stop.

10:08-Someone tries to passive agressively take over the tv by standing behind us and calling her friend mentioning that "she's in the common room but Top Chef isn't on the TV even though they reserved the TV room". Nice try, we've reserved it for every Wednesday night

10:10-An old couple comes on TV, hilarious. The room decides that's me and Nicky in 70 years. They're being offensive to Mexicans. Apparently not ALL Mexicans are bums and trannies. 

10:12-There is a teacher on the screen holding without a doubt the LARGEST teddy bear I've ever seen.

10:13-They're at the regional spelling bee right now. Bitter Megan over here, speller 1 I should mention, went to the regional spelling bee in Arizona. She lost. If you can't even win the Phoenix regional spelling bee..that says a lot about you. Megan is clearly having flashbacks to 'nam everytime they ring the bell. This is going to be a long night

10:15-Megan brings up an unfortunate 8th grade spelling moment. I question her and she snaps. 

10:16-I should mention that there is a giant cardboard and tin foil model of sputnik sitting behind the TV. We don't ask questions. 

10:19-They interview the three boys that Nupur (spoiler alert, she wins) beat in the school bee. Three CRAZY nerdy guys standing by a fence. This might be the highlight of my life. I'm pretty sure I saw all of them at Haverford the other day.

10:20-The Hooters restaurant in town puts up a Congratulations sign for their speller. Irony of ironies...they spelled congratulations wrong

10:21-Paiges future husband appears. His names Ted. He looks like a douche. But so is Paige...so it'll clearly be a happy marriage. We decide to Wikipedia him. To our horror we discover that he died in 2007, possible suicide. Oh. Paige is distraught.

10:26-This movie now takes on a whole new tone now that we know Ted committed suicide...one of those "how did we not see this coming" situations.

10:29-We're on the Emily.  She's from Connecticut. She was appalled that her mom didn't invite the Au Pair to the spelling bee, then was so surprised that she actually enjoyed hanging out with her parents. Oh Connecticut. 

10:36-We meet Ashley from Washington. Not too memorable but Wikipedia tells us she had a teen pregnancy but later went to Howard. We all consider making a teen pregnancy joke before deciding against it.

10:39-Now we meet Neil. His Dad has a creepy smile. Neil is very into physical fitness. He's apparently 12, he looks and sounds like he's 40.  He discusses seeing white flashes for a day after the regional bee....he said it was excitement, that sounds like a stroke to me. His house has hypoalergenic trees. That's too cool

10:40-Nicky's laughing at other people's religion. She's been shunned

10:44-Now we have April, she's from Ambler...that's not too far from here

10:46-April likes to ride Roller Coasters and is a vegetarian. Her dad works at a pub, we decide to search it out soon.

10:48-Nowwwwwww here's the star of the movie, Harry from NJ. He's the poster child for ADHD. We all want to be his friend...immediately.

10:53-We're in Washington now. Let's watch them interact

10:54-Alex Cameron, the announcer for the spelling bee, makes an appearance. He is VERY full of himself.

10:55-Nicky and I discover that we have BOTH stayed at the Embassy Suites that the participants are staying at

11:00-Paige want's to know how they knew to follow the girl that's going to win (we cheated and wikipediaed it) I suggest that they rigged the spelling bee. Ted just got out, we're all depressed. I love his family. 

11:01-The word Wheedle has just been given. Megan declares it to be a "classic spelling bee word". One more reference to her former glory days as a spelling champ and I'm going to punch her in the face.

11:02-"Thank YOU Dr. Cameron". I can see that becoming the quote of the night

11:04-Nicky makes fun of the same kid's religion...again. She does not learn.

11:05-Megan made another reference to her glory day and tried to spell the current contestants word. Unfortunately, like the contestant, she spelled the word wrong. Says Paige "HA! Now you both lose!" I decide against punching her in the face due to Paige's comment

11:06-We wonder if any of them ever drop the F-bomb when they lose

11:10-Nicky makes another inappropriate reference to a contestant, different from the last one though. I give up. 

11:13-We meet former contestants. Says Megan of one "He's covered in children!"

11:14-We take this time to razz Megan about how any of these people "could have been her". Wow, what a failure Megan is. 

11:15-Nicky's still talking about the time she spent at the Embassy Suites

11:16-Poor Harry. He's being yelled at to turn towards the microphone. He fails. Megan empathizes with him. 

11:23-The remaining spellers have made it to the ESPN live broadcast. Marking the only time they will EVER be associated with anything sports related. 

11:28-The girl who brought us "Thank You Dr. Cameron" just brought us an over done bow. We've decided she goes to Bryn Mawr, she's just that kind of girl. Tomorrow we will find her.

11:30-They've thrown a new kid into the mix. His name is George and he pronounces his R's funny (I've been there buddy, I feel ya). We're now on the edge of our seats whenever he spells hoping they give him a word with an R in it.

11:32-The girl from CT is finally out. We did not like her. No reason given, we just didn't.  Paige thinks it's because she acts like she's 40

11:33-Nicky notes that one girl is a Lefty. Nicky can tell you the names of every left handed person ever.

11:34-Our favorite is out. She got 4th. Not too bad

11:36-George gets a word, he pronounces it Coodle. I get upset because there are no R's in that word. Turns out the word is Curdle. He gets it wrong.

11:37-Our last view of Ted. We all sigh.

11:38-Dr. Cameron is giving us a speech about the American way. I don't like his tone

11:40-Nupur wins. 

11:41-Nicky: I would like to apologize for my actions tonight.

Next week Ari will be presenting "My Architect" a look into the life of architect Louis Kahn. I will be late, but hopefully will make the second half.