Last night I spent watching an old movie (1980’s) I had never seen before.
While the movie was playing I started musing about how home entertainment has changed in just one generation. In my youth, what we consider normal today was only installed in the homes of movie stars and millionaires. Large screens for watching personal copies of movies…My how the world has changed. Our world of big screens was only as large as a 25″ console TV. Nothing like the big flat screens of today.
What really ran through my mind last night was memories of going with my father on Sunday afternoons when he would go to work. Dad had a second job back then as an assistant manager at one of the big movie houses in downtown Houston. So sometimes on Sunday afternoons we would go with him and spend the afternoon exploring, watching movies, or just people watching. There was noting quite like growing up with the run of theater the size of this one as your playground. But Sunday afternoons…those were special. A big brown grocery bag half full of popcorn, a large Tupperware plastic glass of fountain coke, a front row seat in the balcony with 900 plush theater seats rising in tiers, empty behind you, a marble and brass railing to rest your feet up on, and a monster sized movie screen floating in front of you… With your eyes level with the center of the screen. This was real deja vu type of remembering…
Of course, in those days, movies would play at only a single theater in each town. And first run movies would play for months on end before they moved to smaller theaters. So, most times, you would be seeing a movie multiple times. That wasn’t a problem until I got older and started working summers at the theater and had to watch the same show three times a day for weeks and weeks and weeks…
After the movie I decided to wander out and check out whether there were any stranglers from last night meteor shower. The night was much milder than the previous. But the show wasn’t there, so I gave up after about 20 minutes and went to bed.
Today is Post Office day… The day I get to go to the Post Office and stand in line to ship off the package my wife finally loaded with gifts for her best friends family in Massachusetts. They have been exchanging these gift packages for years and years, so I don’t mind the time in line. Traditions you know… But, I do think I’ll take my mp3 player. A little meditation soundtrack as I stan in line should just hit the spot.
