Grrr!

Twenty Years Ago on FITK

20th Century Fox

The bachelor blues.

The Weaver is with her mother, doing respite care for her father, which is a good thing. I am left to my own devices, told to “amuse yourself,” which can be good. #2 son has the car, no problem. I’ll bike four miles to the cineplex to catch the latest Drew Barrymore flick. (Why does she always get stuck with SNL cast-offs as her leading men?) The wind is blowing in my face, the road is uphill, and for the first time this year it is warm enough that I work up a sweat. Persevere! After being restricted in my movements for 5 weeks with a cracked rib, it feels good to be able to do vigorous physical activity again. I get to the cinema, pay my $8, and find the right theater.

I settle in, watch a half-dozen nearly incoherent previews, and then the show begins. Jimmy Fallon, likeable enough, looks like he’s still reading cue cards. A trimmer, more mature Drew is fun to watch; she usually takes me into her character right away. After Jimmy asks her for a date (he’s still reading cue cards) the scene shifts to a gym, where Drew and her girlfriends are provocatively riding exercise bicycles and discussing her fear of dating.

And then the movie stops.

This theater has an automatic slide show of advertisements that plays whenever the projector is not running. Cheesy Musak starts playing over the sound system. After a couple of minutes the projector starts, but no sound, only the cheesy Musak. The mood is broken. I take my ticket stub, go to the lobby and get a refund.

Motion picture technology is over 100 years old. Synchronized sound is nearly 80 years old. If $8 is not enough to insure a complete performance of an entertainment that hundreds of people spent months making and millions of dollars on, how much is?

Grrr.

I ride home, cool off, talk to the Weaver on the phone and write this post. Oh well, I guess I’ll read a book (Under The Glacier, by Halldór Laxness.) I know that the book won’t be breaking down… hmm… It's almost 10:30. I wonder who's on SNL tonight?

Maybe it's The Best Of Jimmy Fallon!