One Year Later: A Recap (Kinda)
As of tomorrow, it’ll be exactly one year since I started this Substack. How in the world do I commemorate the occasion? I need something clever. Something profound. Something funny. Something people will associate only with Taking Up More Room.
Meh, no pressure there, right?
To say things have changed since this time last year is putting it very mildly. Not only has writing for Substack stretched me as a writer because I’m now publishing on two different sites with two very different dynamics, but thanks to Fandango’s Discount Tuesdays I’ve gone to more theatrical releases in the past year, especially in the past couple of months, than I have in many years.
Naturally I’ve been developing a relationship with the cinema a couple of miles from my house. Seriously, it’s funny how home-y and familiar this place looks now—it’s probably only a matter of time before the staff all know me on sight. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course, but theaters aren’t supposed to look home-y. They’re where we go to see movies.
Anyway, I like this particular theater because the seats have tray tables and it makes note-taking so much easier, although my notes still look as if they were scribbled by a drunken lunatic. Wonder if Siskel and Ebert ever had that problem.
And not to brag, but I already know the concession stand by heart. I can sail in, grab a Tyson chicken sandwich and water all within five minutes, and then spend the rest of the movie wishing I had bought movie popcorn instead.
There’s plenty of overlap in other ways too. I saw Shazam! and His Only Son from seat C-2 in Screening Room 16. Yep. Same seat, same screen. Also, amazingly enough, the same technical difficulties. When I saw His Only Son and Paint a week apart, both times someone had to ask the manager to turn the house lights down. It’s the little things, you know?
I guess the really obvious question is: Have I encountered any annoying moviegoers? No, not so far, although there’s always a first time. My odds aren’t exactly good, though, since I pick morning showtimes usually frequented by older people who probably get bussed in from nearby assisted living centers. It’s very quiet but never dull, because these folks always have something to say once the movie gets out, especially when it’s good.
The one exception was Paint. I was the only person under seventy in a packed row of seniors, all of whom probably thought they were going to see a nice, gentle biopic of Bob Ross.
Heh. Nope. Every last senior sat there in stunned silence the whole time and left the theater in a daze. I guess no one warned them about Owen Wilson. Oh well.
The next really obvious question is, what am I looking forward to in Taking Up More Room’s second year?
Well, I’d really like to take in more theatrical releases, for one thing, and there are a bunch I’m planning on seeing this summer. Among others there’s Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One because of course, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny because it may be a train wreck, White Bird, which looks intriguing, and Oppenheimer, because Christopher Nolan is probably my favorite director working today and I try to see as many of his films as I can. I’m also keeping an eye out for Chris Stuckmann’s debut theatrical feature, Shelby Oaks, which he’s been dropping hints about during the whole production process. Plus I want to keep finding and sharing all that’s quirky and interesting, whether good or so-bad-it’s-good. Who knows what that will be, but it doesn’t matter because that kind of stuff just tends to present itself.
Most of all, I like meeting and interacting with you, my readers and friends, and beginning to build a community here on Substack. I want to thank all of you who have liked posts, subscribed and stuck with me, whether paid or not, although I have to give an especial shout-out to you paid folks because you finance what I do. This is not, however, a hint to you free subscribers, because I appreciate every single one of you as well. Thank you so much for reading my reviews every week, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
Here’s to the end of a great first year and the beginning of a great second one. :-)