popcorn

I’m old fashioned and I miss the cinema

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Hello my friends, family, and fans;

I’m getting to the age where technology and habits I adopted as a kid are now considered old fashioned. I still like physical media (CDs, Blu-ray, etc), I like having a watch, and I miss going to the cinema.

The older I get, the worse my vision gets, the more I prefer to avoid fancy wrap around screens, or 3D, or that kind of thing. We went to see Taylor Swift’s concert movie (fantastic btw) and it remined me of how much I miss.

Things I miss about going to the Cinema

1. No interruptions

I have trouble sitting and doing nothing for 2 hours. It makes me feel like I should be multitasking and getting some work done. So I constantly stop myself from being able to fully enjoy the movie.

There’s also the fact that I have two kids and they tend to either be completely absorbed or making a racket during a movie.

2. Popcorn

I like cinema popcorn. Its tasty, comes in large sizes, and gives me something to do with myself so that I can relax and enjoy the movie. Even if I do go now, it’ll be a little while before I’m comfortable eating in a crowd again.

Arguably I make better popcorn, but on a regular day with the kids bed times if we have time for a movie we don’t have the 10-15 minutes it takes to make.

3. The feeling of an event

It’s an event to go to the movies. When I was a kid it involved researching in a newspaper, driving over an hour each direction, and waiting in line for a ticket. Now it’s much easier but I still get that joyful excitement and anticipation when I walk into the building.

Things I don’t miss

1. People

I never liked crowds and people are the worst. At the Taylor Swift movie there were several people in front of me that decided to check their phones every ten minutes. They also seemed to have their phones set to the highest brightness level.

2. Travelling

It’s only 15-20 minutes away but it feels like forever and I hate the anxiety of feeling like I’m going to be late for the movie. It’s a small thing, I know.

3. Closed Captions

I wish they put CC’s on all movies. There was a time where radio and cinema was highly influenced by theatre and public speaking. This meant the actors were encouraged to speak loudly and clearly. Now there are directors who prefer mumbling and who don’t care about dialogue, not to mention incorrect sound mixing.

I feel like I miss 10%-15% of the movie because I don’t have subtitles.

I look forward to returning to the cinema, but I’m still not comfortable going as often or in the same way. That being said, I hope to see The Marvels sometime soon.

Later days,

Éric

Abusive Behaviour and Watching Movies

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

An article showed up on my news feed recently and it’s not unique. Every time there’s a big movie or TV show, I see similar articles. Avengers, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, etc. Interestingly it’s usually the male partner making the demands.

If you don’t want to read the article, it’s your usual list of demands that a guy has given his girlfriend for when they go see Avengers Endgame. These demands always include the following things: No talking, No eating, No peeing, and you can leave if you want but I won’t care.

This article even had a clause where she was in charge of the kids if there was an emergency and she couldn’t bother him.

Fandom is rife with bullying. From Gate-keeping which only allows “true” fans; to Taste-keeping which categorizes things into “good” and “bad” forms of media, mocking anyone who likes the latter. These are both commonly used to tease or insult others. Especially others tastes. It’s also extremely common.

Fandom is also rife with abusive behaviours. If your significant other gives you this list of demands, or something similar, refuse to participate in the activity. They are either trying to control you or are so blinded by passion that they don’t understand that what they’re doing is abusive. Don’t let anyone make you feel like you’re wrong for enjoying something differently than them.

If you are the person giving this list to someone, don’t. Seriously, if this piece of media is so important to you that someone shoving popcorn in their mouth will ruin your fun, then don’t take that person. Go alone, pirate it and watch it in your room, or a hotel room. Buy out the cinema. Or just go see it multiple times and don’t care.

This behaviour is not cool, it’s not right, and it’s not healthy. These events, shows, media, etc; are meant to be enjoyed and everyone enjoys them differently. If you can’t respect that, go alone.

WARNING: I have tickets for Tuesday evening at the Cineplex Ottawa on Carling. I plan of getting a large drink and popcorn. I will go pee at least once during the movie. I will laugh (probably before you) at the jokes, and boo or groan at the fat jokes (yeah I know what fucking year is it that there has to be fat jokes in this sort of movie?). I will whisper to my wife and I will exclaim when it’s appropriate. If you have a problem with this, don’t go to the same showing.

Later Days,
Éric

In defence of reading for pleasure

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

In fiction, there is a serious case of classism. Multiple serious cases or classism actually, but I’m going to talk about one that pisses me off personally.

Just because a story isn’t dark and brooding, or doesn’t make you cry at the indignities of life, doesn’t mean that it should be held to different standards.

Fluff, Light, Dumb, Popcorn, Adventure, and Popular are all ways of describing things that are categorised as lesser in quality. As they are automatically lesser, they are then considered immune to certain criticism.

Let’s take Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. It’s a nostalgia-driven love letter to the 80’s. So much so that the plot, politics, and characters are all 80’s stereotypes. That’s not a good thing. The plot is lazy, the characters hateful, the diversity forced and self-congratulatory. I’d go as far as saying the book isn’t just bad, it encourages a level of navel gazing and retro social politics that are toxic.

When discussing this book on panel The Nights at the Round Table, panelists gave it a pass because it was a Light Fun Cottage read. I am not attacking the panelists, they are wonderful people whom I care deeply for!

As consumers we’ve been told our entire lives that there are two classes of writing, the fluff and the serious. Over the years that has changed. Early examples of light fluffy reading is anything by Jane Austin, who is now considered a classic author (Deservedly so she’s fantastic). Shakespeare was the Michael Bay of his time.

#HoldFluffAccountable

Disclaimer: I am an Adventure writer. What I write is considered low-brow fluff even by the most adamant genre writers. I also read a great deal of what people call stupid fun (Urban Fantasy, Supernatural Horror, Genre YA, etc.) so obviously my opinion is skewed.

I hate that no matter how much thought I put into my writing, it will always be considered low-class and fluff. BUT I hate so much more that books and movies that fall into the same categories are immune to criticism and analysis unless they are extremely popular or extremely depressing.

You can read for pleasure and still be immensely touched and even enriched by any form of story. Books by Laura Resnick, Tanya Huff, Seanan Maguire, or Tamora Peirce have worlds as detailed and content a deep/meaningful as anything in hard Science-Fiction or epic Fantasy.

There are themes and stories inside superhero films that are just as dark or just as thought provoking as the latest drama/tragedy.

When you dismiss a story as not worthy of criticism, you are accepting that story’s flaws and normalizing its harm. It’s the popular fluff that will cause the most damage because it’s what more people read or watch. You must hold it accountable for its flaws and its mistakes.

There shouldn’t be two classes of story and you have the power to change that by holding them all accountable and by critically analyzing everything.

 

Later Days,

Éric