I like to think that I have had a pretty good “career”. And I use the term “career” a little lightly, because, if I am honest, I have mostly just had a series of pretty good jobs, in which I’ve gotten to work with some really good people while doing work that I mostly enjoy. And despite being of average intelligence (I come to this conclusion based on the fact that I have been called a “smart a—” and a “dumb a—” roughly an equal number of times), have managed to make a decent living with these jobs. And yet, despite these “successes”, I can’t help but feel that there are some people who have just done it better than me. Now I’m not talking about CEOs, VPs or other big wigs. Those people (at least most of them), have worked hard to achieve their success. Key words being “worked hard”. Props to them, but I’m not looking for hard work. Instead, I am talking about people who have managed to outsmart the system.

At some point in time, long ago in the past, somebody was sitting in their office/cube thinking “This work stuff sucks. How can I do something fun but make it sound like a job so I still get paid for it?”. And after stewing on it for a little while, they walked into their boss’ office and proposed (apparently while keeping a straight face), their new job responsibilities, which were as follows:

• I will watch movies
• I will write reviews of those movies based on my personal opinions
• I will attend award shows and mingle with the stars of the movies I watch

Now, I’m not sure if said boss had just returned from a two-martini lunch, or if the individual in question had quality blackmail on the boss, but somehow this job description was approved and thus was born the movie critic. Can you imagine how that person felt walking out of that office – they had to be thinking “Holy crap . . . . it worked!”. Even better, can you imagine them then going back to their co-workers and telling them what their new job was? “Sorry, I won’t be in to the office for a couple of weeks . . . there are 6 new movies coming out and, as you know, it is my job to watch them now. Have fun in your meetings!”

Every now and then, I try to imagine the daily “work” day of a movie critic. In the old days, it must have been a little tougher when you had to actually go to the movie theater in order to see the movies. I imagine the more diligent critics would arrive promptly at noon so that they could get in at least three movies that day. Heaven knows how much popcorn they must have consumed on a weekly basis. But outside of having to suffer through Sharknado, Scooby Doo The Movie and The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, I have to think it was a pretty good job. Anyways, I just want to give a sincere tip-of-the-hat to the first person who came up with the idea of being a movie critic. You, good sir or madam, won at life.

While the movie critic is “hard at work”, I am sure they frequently enjoy a nice glass of wine to go along with their movies. If I were a movie critic, I would be enjoying this week’s Wine of the Week, Kiona Wine’s 2022 Lemberger. This is a very approachable and affordable wine ($22) that pairs very well with fruit. It has aromas of raspberry, cherry and black currant that transition to flavors of red and black berries on the palate, with a savory, subtle finish. It is extremely easy drinking as you sit back working hard watching a movie! Cheers!

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