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Chili Size When I was growing up in the Los Angeles area and in the Eisenhower era, my dad was …
03 Wednesday Dec 2014
Posted Eating out, Family, Food, Friends, Games, Memoir, Memories, Movies, Sports, Uncategorized
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Chili Size When I was growing up in the Los Angeles area and in the Eisenhower era, my dad was …
05 Wednesday Dec 2012
One of my favorite movies of all time is the early Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan Sleepless in Seattle. I can’t help …
31 Saturday Dec 2011
I swore I wouldn’t do this. At least not today.
I’ll bet that this day will produce a record number of blogs, the vast majority of which will be utterly useless lists of Things I Did This Year, Things I Didn’t Do This Year, or Things I Might (or Might Not) Do Next Year. What else can you expect on New Year’s Eve?
Of course, right behind those will be Greatest Movies of the Year (or of all time), Greatest Songs of the Year (or of all time), or Greatest–insert word here–of the Year.
I swore I wouldn’t do this.
Okay, I can’t help myself. It’s just that, at 70 years of age, I’ve had longer than most to choose favorites. Funny thing, most of my favorites, especially in movies, are at the far end of my memory. Is this typical of old folks, or is it truly that the mere presence of special effects doesn’t guarantee quality as much as story content does? I do have to admit that acting, these days, is much more natural, thanks to technical practices that can catch a feeling with just a glint of a tear rather than the vaudeville-spawned hand-on-the-heart dramatics. But some of the flair is gone; too many of the films are so alike that you can’t identify with a character.
Did I identify with Katharine Hepburn? Heavens, no! But even today, I will encourage friends to watch African Queen and know that it will delight them. What, you don’t know that one? You couldn’t imagine a less-handsome man than the grungy Humphrey Bogart as a romantic leading man, but there he is, in all his glory, next to the prudish Miss Hepburn. The special effects are laughable by today’s standards, a toothpick boat dancing on a whipped-up “river” and, well, I won’t tell you anything more. Take a chance and find it, maybe on eBay.
Other things on my obligatory New Year’s Eve list? Roman Holiday, pure romance, with Gregory Peck and an enchanting Audrey Hepburn. Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail! The pairing of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan was impeccable casting. In another vein altogether, try The Longest Day, a war movie with an huge and incontestable cast apparently chosen with care to portray the essence of the characters.
I’m well aware that my list won’t match anyone else’s. Each of us brings his own experiences with him to the theater, and for all that the nitty-gritty might be set out there for us in Megavision and Octophonic Sound, your eyes and my eyes see different things in the same film.
Books are even more personal, and personalized in the reading, but that’s a story for another post.
I’ll see you again, after the commercial.
31 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted Fairy tales, Humor, Movies, Writing
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It isn’t easy, you know, being on this side of things. Do you think I actually chose to be, always, the bad guy? Of course not. It just happened that all the good parts were taken by the time I came around. Maybe it was my appearance; for some reason the casting agent wasn’t very optimistic.
“Well, we’re pretty sure we’re going to go with the girl in the red suit, and that little old lady knitting in the corner is perfect for the grandmother-type. And I’m sorry, but you have to admit you’re just not the right image to be a courageous hunter. We have a couple of those already, anyway, although I think the one in the brown suit will have to go. He seems to be getting a little too familiar with the kid; George says he saw him trying to untie her cape, and we sure can’t have that kind of thing going on.”
The agent checked out some papers on the table in front of him. “We do have one major role available. We haven’t quite decided on the type of character we want here. The Brothers Grimm beat us to trolls, dwarves and evil stepmothers. We need a little different take on the bad guy. Do you suppose you could handle that?”
Well, work was tough to come by in those days, so I agreed, especially when the guy promised that if this one worked, he had another property regarding a boy and some sheep that might have a part in it for me.
So, there you are. I’m a major player in a lot of stories now, but I never get any closer than second billing. I did suggest some small changes in story titles, but they didn’t seem inclined to accept “Wolf!” the Boy Said, or Wolf and the Kid in the Red Cape.
Ah, well. You take what you can get. At least it’s a living.
I’ll see you again, after the commercial.
27 Tuesday Dec 2011
I went to a movie this evening. Not a big deal, you say? Well, the last movie I went to was Fantasia at the Cerritos not-quite-in-the-mall Theater. I believe it was 1977, and I took my daughter to see that marvelous animation in re-release. The tickets cost more than $2.00 each, but you did get seven cartoons and you could watch the movie over and over if you wanted.
That same daughter, now (harumph) years old, took me tonight to see War Horse, quite a nice movie but not at all like the last one we saw together. The tickets cost $11.50 each ($9.00 with my senior discount, which for some reason they didn’t even question) and as we walked in the door with at least one of us suffering from sticker shock, Betsy laughed and said, “Wait until you see what they charge for popcorn!”
We ordered 2 small popcorn and 2 drinks. The young lady behind the counter suggested that we consider the Number Two, which consisted of one large popcorn and two large drinks for $16.50. Sixteen-fifty! It doesn’t sound any better when you write it out. Nevertheless, Betsy treating all the way, a Number Two is what we ended up with. As we turned to leave the popcorn counter, the smiling young girl handed us another gallon-sized bag of popcorn.
“You get a free refill,” she told us. “You might as well take it now, so you can each have your own.”
My daughter, who has apparently been to the movies since I have, led me to a condiment bar, where we drenched our popcorn with some oily substance that was nowhere identified as butter. On top of that we sprinkled various flavored salts: Ranch, Nacho Cheese, Caramel. There was probably plain old sodium chloride there, too, but I didn’t spot it.
Laden with all our goodies, we set off to find our particular theater, no small undertaking in the maze that housed more than a dozen of them under one roof. We made sure we were in the right place and found seats which were surprisingly comfortable.
The movie screen covered one entire wall, and apparently the other three contained gigantic hidden speakers, because we hardly had time to arrange our popcorn and drinks before the walls shook. This was not The Big One we’ve been told to expect in California, but merely the first half-hour of the presentation, namely COMING ATTRACTIONS at your friendly neighborhood theater. The decibel level was such that I seriously considered forgoing the movie and preserving my hearing in some other venue. Happily, just as on television, the volume diminished when the actual movie began and it turned out to be quite enjoyable.
Who knows, I might go again one day. I’ll know enough to take earplugs and a fat wallet, and I’ll call my daughter to go with me. . . just as soon as Fantasia comes around again.
I’ll see you again, after the commercial.