Predictable?  Yes.

Cheesy?  Yes.

But as I watch “The Sound of Music” –courtesy of our local ABC affiliate– I can’t help but smile and blink back a couple of tears: how is it possible that there are things that just seem to align so perfectly and so happily and just produce a timeless piece of popular music and culture such as this one?

I mean… pretty much every single song that Maria and the kids sing is a known and beloved children’s song, right?  “Do, Re, Mi”, “My Favorite Things”, “The Lonely Goatheard”, “16 Going on 17″ — I mean, I know that someone somewhere in this world is reading this entry and wondering what the hell I’m gushing about.  But that person is sitting somewhere on a very cold rock right now.

(just kidding– that person is sitting on the couch, blowing kisses at the Redskins right now)

The funny part?  I just looked it up on ever-faithful Wikipedia and apparently the movie was not to the liking of the Maria Von Trapp; she felt it did not tell her real story as the matriarch of the Von Trapp family (Maria’s link on Wikipedia is here, if you should want to look her up). 

Of course, there are always the delightful fallacies that make the suspension of disbelief that much more fun, such as how it is possible that Maria sews up seven sets of playclothes seemingly overnight.  Maybe this was around the same time she taught all the kids to be master puppeteers and sing a cappella seven part harmonies, perhaps?

And how come the baroness is such a villainess?  I mean, she seems okay to me, except for the smoking and the affectation.  She wasn’t exactly a golddigger since she was a wealthy widow herself and really, who in their right mind wants to be the step-mamma to seven children whose reputations precede them?

And Rolfe?  He’s so not hot, Liesl.  I’d personally think you rank about a solid 8, and homeboy is kind of pug-nosed and a Nazi youth to boot.  Run.

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One more thing:  Julie Andrews?  You are one of my favorite things, like, ever.

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Yet one more thing: there’s nothing quite like having a significant other who shall remain nameless insert raunchy remarks to go with every scene.