The Silver Screen Edition

It is starting to snow again. Apparently Sundays in February are a good time to have buckets of snow dumped on your town if you live in the GTA. At least that is what I've come to believe. Luckily, there are no more Sundays in February. Today is Academy Awards day and for the first time in my memory I'm completely indifferent to the event (mostly because I haven't seen any of the films nominated- another first in recent memory). I won't bore you with my predictions, as I've already bored others online. I did however want to reiterate in this post my love of movies, lest you think I've gone completely over the edge. The first movie I remember seeing as a kid was 101 Dalmations. I'm pretty sure we were in Germany at the time- my parents would have to confirm this of course. Later, when we returned to the States it was of course the heyday of Drive-Ins and my folks took us quite often to see Peter Pan, Herbie the Love Bug, the Escape from Witch Mountain series, the other great old Disney features with Kurt Russell etc. When my Dad was out to sea, and I was slightly older, my mom would take me to see the Planet of the Apes movies. I still remember crying when I though they had killed the little talking ape in Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Of course the Drive-In was also the place I saw the movie that most people of my generation still have a soft spot for- Star Wars. (Little did I know then that my future wife was obsessed with Star Wars as well and our first meeting, and a 3-hour plus conversation about Star Wars would be something that helped bring us together). Back in those days in the 70s B.C. (before cable) I'd stay up late on Friday nights and watch the Late Show on one of the local stations. That's where I saw all the old Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes movies, where I became awestruck by the Marx Brothers, and where I fell in love with Ginger Rogers and wished I could be as cool as Fred Astaire. Every month would be a different theme- one month the Bogart-Bacall movies, another the old Tracy-Hepburn films. They'd show The Thin Man series, Hitchcock's classics, and some of the old Capra movies all of which at one point or another starred Jimmy Stewart in small to large roles. I loved Jimmy Stewart. He was never too cool that he didn't screw something up, but he always had a good heart and tried to do the right thing. So Stewart and Ginger became my favorites so much so that I one night saw "Vivacious Lady"- the only movie my idols ever appeared in together. It instantly became one of my favorites. Stewart plays a professor who meets Rogers while on a trip and they have a whirlwind romance and get married. When Stewart returns he can't figure out a way to tell his university President father to that he's married, so Rogers poses as a student and screwball comedy at its best ensues. I love movies. I took my brother to see The Muppet Movie, I took my little sister about 9 times to see Who Framed Roger Rabbit (I think to this day it is still 'our' movie though we haven't seen it in a long time). My best friends and I have shared movies as well. Scott and I saw many of the Star Trek movies together and several times we watched all 3 Godfather movies in a row, while Dave Andrews and I had a standing agreement to see the latest Woody Allen movie together (I can't even venture a guess as to how many we saw). There were the trips to the NARO to see all sorts of double features and the occasional Rocky and Bullwinkle festival. The NARO itself played a huge part in my life growing up. The old style, art house theater in Norfolk that had a balcony was my favorite (still is) place to go to see a show. Their double features were legendary. I saw The Maltese Falcon and Citizen Kane together on the big screen (I could go on for days about Citizen Kane but most of you have probably already heard it- right?). I saw a double feature of JFK and The Doors. I saw the 4 hour version of Branagh's Hamlet in 70mm there. I saw the reprint of Touch of Evil there. I saw The Manchurian Candidate there. I saw The Godfather there. All favorites. I even once fell down the stairs from the balcony into the lobby once (something I've tried to forget but never could). I was lucky enough a few years ago to take Shelley there on Christmas Eve to see A Christmas Story and It's A Wonderful Life- still one of the best dates I've ever had. When I was in Utah I had a great place to go that showed movies for $1.50. When I was lonely, no longer married, living in a strange place with almost no friends, I'd go there on Saturdays and see 3, sometimes 4 movies in a day. Movies kept me sane. Tammi and I saw Topsy-Turvy in downtown Salt Lake and we were pretty close to the only people in the house. I dragged my friend Nikki to see Bring It On and I was pretty close to the only male in the house (okay I was but let's not daudle on that). Now that I'm here in Canada I love going downtown TO to the Paramount. Sure it's a modern multiplex but it has enough interesting design to make it an experience. It has the highest escalator I've even seen (though it does not as some people think go all the way to heaven...it just seems like it does). The Paramount was the scene of my longest movie going experience (yes even longer than 4 movies in one day at Sugarhouse in SLC). This was the day that my wife and I went to see the Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2003. Extended versions of Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers each covered about 4 hours plus. Then the premiere of Return of the King. All in all it was 11 plus hours of movie-going in one sitting. Now THAT is dedication. Well I can't of course leave a TGIF without a few photos and I've got a new little wrinkle in photo posting so if you click on any photo now you'll get a nice larger version of in a separate window (yeah, I know my computer geek friends are yawning but it is cool). Dixie and Willow have discovered a new sport- snowball catching. Here are a couple of pictures of them waiting for the glorious frozen ball of goodness to lose the battle with gravity. Shelley is feeling slightly better though still having some bouts of nausea. 2 more weeks until the next midwife check-up and 5 more weeks until the next ultrasound. Today we bought a few little baby things at the store as well. Last night we went to Chapters as I was searching for a book for one of my classes, and I was stunned to see how little there is for new fathers. Tons of stuff for new mommies, virtually nada for daddies. Well I guess that sums up this week so until next time... bahdee bahdee bahdee that's all folks Cheers