It Becomes Part of You, Even Though You Weren't Even There

Sometimes, you see an ad for an old movie or you come across one playing on TV, and even though you've never seen that movie you know what it is. For me, the most notable of those is The Last Picture Show. 

When my dad was assigned to Fort Sill, I hung out with a group of friends whose major source of entertainment was the base theater which was within walking distance of where we all lived. Actually, it was within biking distance but we were at the age when biking was no longer cool but walking as a group was. I wrote about this before, and pointed out that the real reason for going to the theater had nothing at all to do with the movie - it just served as a space for socializing.

We were always at the base theater for the late show on Friday, which was shown at 11 PM, and the really late show on Saturday night, which started at 1 AM Sunday morning. The admission was only a buck, popcorn another buck. We, as a group, would share a single soda since refills were free. I can't imagine any teenager now sharing a single soda between five or six people-- somehow we survived.

The base theater mostly showed films that were either B movies, like Chrome and Hot Leather, or anything by Bruce Lee.  But occasionally we would get a movie several years after release, like 2001: A Space Odyssey. Because all of us were seeing the movies together, it was a big part of our shared experience with lines from the movies making it into our conversations. It gave us a common history -- until I got strep throat. 

After spending Wednesday and Thursday at home sick, I wasn't allowed to go to the movies that weekend even though I had begun to feel better. I missed Billy Jack, which I caught on TV a couple of years later – – the other movie I missed was The Last Picture Show.

The Last Picture Show had won two Academy Awards after being nominated for eight to include Best Picture. Critics loved the artistry of a movie being released in the 70s that was filmed in black-and-white with a mono soundtrack. It's a story of people coming-of-age in a dying small town in North Texas. Lots of introspection and the angst at realizing that the blossom of youth was fading into the background and the need to be concerned about what is in front of you. A heavy movie for a group of eighth graders.

Among my male friends, the biggest takeaways from the movie was seeing Cybill Shepherd nude and the scenes where she loses her virginity to a guy she doesn't really care about because the guy she does care about doesn't date virgins. . Yes, it was rated R and junior high schoolers shouldn't have been allowed to buy tickets to begin with but that's the way it works sometimes.

As I said, I didn't get to go to the movie. TV standards being what they were for years after, I never had a chance to see it later either. Life went on, years passed -- then, thanks to things like HBO I was provided the opportunity to see The Last Picture Show in all his glory, unedited and uncensored. I just didn't. I was beyond it. My life had gone on and I put my adolescence in a box up on the shelf like most people. 

Last week I caught an ad for the film showing on a streaming service. Uncut, unedited, and uncensored. I passed. At this point, not seeing the movie has become part of my personal history left unexplored and I've decided to keep it that way. Sometimes, a movie left unseen is a better memory than one that was.

Besides Whoever Slew Auntie Roo? is on.

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Tut Tut Looks Like Rain...and Then The Wind Changed Directions

The theatre in Monterey, now used for concerts and such.

It was long, long ago -- sometime in the 1960s – when I went to my very first movie in a real movie theatre.  My Dad was in Korea at the time and I seem to recall going with some family friends who had kids my age.   The theatre was located in downtown Monterey, California.  Looking back I remember downtown as being large, but at the time I was small so it may have been relative.  We stood in line at least two days -- well I had the time perception of a 6 year old – waiting to get a ticket.  The line of mostly kids and some adults wrapped around the block.  Someone had told me the name of the movie, but I had no idea what the name meant – Merry Popping?  What the heck did that mean?

All theatres of that time looked like this.  Classy, huh?

A few realities that may need to be explained:  TV was still black and white so if you wanted to see something in color you had to go to a large dark room and watch it displayed on a screen.  Also, if you really liked the movie, there was no rewind and start again – or restart button.  You either had to pay to see it again or wait a few years for it to come to TV – AND – if you missed it showing on TV you were out of luck there were no recording devices that allowed time shifting.  So, going to a theatre for a movie was a big deal.

After the time in the outside line, and with tickets bought we stood in line again for popcorn.  Up to this point in my life popcorn was either Jiffy Pop or the stuff my Dad made in a little aluminum corn popper on the counter.  The corn popper, when taken apart for cleaning, revealed metal springs on the bottom which somehow magically turned the kernels into puffs.  But today was the day when I found out what popcorn was truly meant to taste like  -- movie popcorn – made with hydrogenated coconut oil and salted with special salt (never been a big fan of buttered corn).  It was and is as unhealthy as you can possibly make corn (unless you also deep fried it) – but it is also the best tasting snack in the world.

Each of us had a small bag of popcorn in hand as we proceeded into the auditorium and found seats together near the front.  Every seat was taken – the only other movie I experienced that with was a 1 AM showing of Jaws at Ft. Eustis, Virginia.   We sat there for a bit and then the lights went down. 

I always say the first movie I ever saw in a theatre was Mary Poppins, but that is not exactly correct. The first feature I saw was actually Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.  Sterling Holloway’s unique voice was familiar, as he was in a lot of movies I had seen on TV, but this was a very different experience.  The images were huge on the full sized movie screen that was only 20 feet or so from my seat.  The sound was full and clear -- the colors bright and vivid.  It was my first experience with that thing called Movie Magic and I jumped in with both feet and swam around in for the 20 or so minutes of the feature.  So memorable that to this day I still recall that you have to be careful because “You never can tell with bees”.

Then came 140 minutes of magic that was more real than animated.  It all came at me in a rush that I devoured and immersed myself in greedily….dancing chimney sweeps, penguins, a wooden leg named Smith, kids with kites, a canon on a rooftop, flying nannies, evil bankers, a talking dog, and my favorite side character Uncle Albert. The story told with dancing and humor and catchy Sherman brother’s songs – the way I play with words when writing is still influenced by their way of twisting words for lyrics.  I was stunned and amazed.

The movie is known the world over as a classic and it made Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke stars. Even today, I would argue that Dick Van Dyke ruled that movie.  He bound it all together and gave it a connected flow that it would have lacked otherwise.

Decades passed and when I had kids Mary again invaded my life.  This time on a small screen via VHS tape.  Technology had changed so when my daughter wanted to “watch it again” all I needed to do was to rewind the tape and hit Play.   Even though years had passed the movie still contained strong magic.  The things I noticed had changed somewhat – anyone not understand what Bert was really talking about when he was on his Jolly Holiday with Mary?   Then consider how much of a dog Bert was to mention all those other women.  Because of repeated viewings, the hidden meanings in the dialog and the lyrics are hard to ignore. 

More years pass and we arrive at today and someone had decided to take on telling the tale of the complicated relationship between P.L. Travers and Walt Disney and how it played into getting the movie made. I wanted to see it after viewing the first trailer for Saving Mr. Banks, but then I like it when the behind the scenes drama is exposed and all of the trivia that plays into getting something massive off the ground is revealed.  Tom Hanks – great as Walt Disney,  I feel he captured the Walt I knew and grew up with.  Emma Thomson – also great but I had no idea who P.L. Travers was prior to the movie.  I loved the snippets of the Sherman brothers working on songs and dialog for Mary Poppins, I can imagine it being just that way.  The movie is well worth seeing if you have not.

After watching that movie, I watched Mary Poppins again for the first time in years.  Considering the fact that the movie is almost 50 years old, it is amazing how well it holds up and is still relevant with family complexities and issues that have changed little in the intervening years. 

As for any haters who can’t find or understand the magic of Mary Poppins, Saving Mr. Banks or even Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, I can only say supercalafragalisticexpialadoshus.  But then they wouldn’t understand that either.

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Be True to Your School

It is probably my nomadic upbringing and adult life that causes me to embrace wherever I happen to be living as my surrogate home.  So, even though I am in an atmosphere and culture that is the polar opposite of anywhere I have ever been before -  I gravitate towards news and accomplishments of Kuwait and feel a contact high in doing so.  The last few weeks have been really good for Kuwait, BTW.

Right now a delegation from Kuwait is meeting with the Olympic Committee to reinstate Kuwait as a full participant in the Olympics and hopefully they will be successful before this summer's London games.  No matter how that turns out,  Kuwait will have its first female Olympic swimmer: Faye Sultan.  Other competitors are:

Shooters:

• Fuhaid Al-Daihani in Double Trap (men)
• Abdulla Al-Rashidi in Skeet (men)
• Talal Al-Rashidi in Trap (men)
• Maryam Erzouqi in 10 meter Air Rifle (women) 

I am not surprised a the number of competitor here,  there seems to be gun shops and clubs all over the place.

Runners:

• Mohammad Al-Azmi in 800 Meters (men)
• AbdulAziz Al-Mandeel in 110 Meter Hurdles (men)
• Salsabeel Al-Sayyar in 100 meters (women) Table Tennis:
• Ibrahim Al-Hassan (men)
• Ali Al-Zankawi in Hammer Throw (men)

With only one athlete competing ,  who has he been practicing with?

Swimmers:

• Yousef Al-Askari 100 meter freestyle/backstroke (men)
• Fay Al-Hussain in 100 meter freestyle (women) 

With Kuwait's pearl diving heritage,  I am surprised there are not more swimmers.

If the delegation cannot get Kuwait reinstated, the Kuwaiti athletes will be competing under the Olympic flag.  I will be watching for men and women listed and wishing them well.

Hollywood Part 1:  The movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter was premiered to the American sailors on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and to soldiers at a few of the bases in Kuwait before it hit US theaters - the movie's stars even showed up to sign autographs.  I will admit that I saw the movie myself (in Abu Dhabi) and thought the premise was silly but the story wasn't too awful.  I suspend reality when I enter a theater but this took it way too far, I mean everyone knows it was Grover Cleveland who was the Vampire Hunter President.

CNN covered Kuwait in their Daily Snapshot feature:

"Kuwaiti sailors fix the old Kuwaiti flag on a dhowa during preparations in Kuwait City on July 11, 2012, for the upcoming annual Pearl Diving Festival, meant to honor the nation's former trade mainstay."

I missed the festival, but I see dhows tied up along the coast on my way to and from work every day. 

Regardless of what P.T. Barnum said, not all publicity is good thing... It was reported that Kuwait is the second fattest country in the world, behind the United States.  Average weight is  approximately 170 pounds, which is 34 lbs heavier than the global average, according to a research report published by BMC Public Health.  I notice that the report also said ""Increasing biomass will have important implications for global resource requirements, including food demand, and the overall ecological footprint of our species." 

Giving this a little thought,  I wonder if the increased biomass would be enough to upset the spin balance of the planet.  If that is the case then Kuwait will not be enough to offset the entire United States to keep things spinning correctly.  Perhaps we need more McDonald's and Burger King's throughout the region to keep this humming just right.

FoxNews had a feature about the hottest places in the world, because of the recent heat wave in the US.  Kuwait City was at the top of the list of cities mentioned.  Most of the locales mentioned as the hottest in the world where unoccupied sections of desert and wastelands.  I heard on TV that society seems to be falling apart in some US cities due to 3 or 4 days of over 100° temps.  Sorry, I have no pity - I can't say for sure but I think we have not been under 100° for at least 6 weeks and most days are over 120°.  Rain? Not a chance.

Hollywood Part 2:  (I saw this on 2:48AM )  I am going to see The Amazing Spiderman later today and I will be looking for the building's appearance.  On the right is the Al Hamra Tower which sits in downtown Kuwait City, the building on the left is the Oscorp Tower in the Spiderman movie.  Nothing like seeing bits and pieces of the familiar cast for parts in the movies. 

I wonder if the popcorn will come with camel milk butter? 

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