Marathon Man

Following my marathon of all ten Mega Man games in one day, you'd think that I'd want to take a break from multiple hours of nonstop dedicated entertainment. Yet, somehow, I find myself writing this during the dinner break between Rocky IV and Rocky V, with the sixth installment of the series, Rocky Balboa, on tap for later this evening.

I got this strange hankering a few days ago to do some genuine exfanding, to educate a certain special someone on a fandom she'd never been exposed to. She'd had at least a little exposure to all my absolute favorites--Star Trek, Mega Man (oh, lots of Mega Man), plus Metroid and Space Quest and...wow, I like a lot of high-tech sci-fi stuff, don't I? Just as I found myself brainstorming ideas of new fandoms to introduce on this blog, I also found myself racking my brain for a fandom my gal had yet to see.

Then it hit me: Rocky. Well, fortunately, Rocky didn't actually hit me, but perhaps you can see my thinking here.

After my Mega Man marathon, I still felt pumped enough to tackle another marathon--the five Game Boy Mega Man games, for example, or the Mega Man X series. I've been half-considering one of these ever since the Big Event, though I admit it's been refreshing and healthy to stop thinking about Mega Man after the marathon and my last Mega Man 5 bonus video began to cement themselves in my past. I began to consider other marathon options, and other forms of entertainment in general.

With Mega Man out of my brain for a little while, I started remembering some of the staggered movie marathons I did throughout college. No, no; there was no alcohol involved. My friends and I tackled the Predator and Alien movies, the Lethal Weapon films, and the ten Star Trek motion pictures over the course of roughly a week or two for each series, sneaking in a double feature where we could. Even if I wasn't so fond of a particular installment, it was always a good time because the company was good and because at least one of us got to exfand our horizons.

Rocky was one such staggered marathon. Considering how (gloriously) saturated my life has been with copious amounts of Mega Man and an episode or two of Star Trek every night for something like two weeks, Sylvester Stallone's classic saga of love, boxing, and the triumph of the human spirit seemed like the perfect change of pace. Plus, it would afford me the kind of marathonish experience I'd need to wean myself off the notion that I should blow an entire Saturday on any one thing so soon.

So, Rocky it was. Then Rocky II and III, once we determined that she liked the first movie well enough to endure a sequel. Now it's Rocky IV, V, and VI, which isn't actually VI but Balboa. No wonder kids have so much trouble with Roman numerals; I, II, III, IV, V, Balboa is completely nonsensical.

...But I digress.

It's a time of marathons, and a time of introductions to new fandoms. I'm excited about what lies ahead.