Oh, I completely agree with you on episodes I-III and also VII-IX. When I was younger, I couldn't wait to see what Lucas would come up with for the prequels. TBH I wish he just stopped at Return of the Jedi and not even bothered attempting anything after that. It is however worth watching them to at least see the stories and understand the pain.
At least they aren't the worst Sci-Fi movies I have ever seen...
Well, 7 year old me was content with just the Episode 4. It had the perfect recipe for a movie and the movie could have stood on it's own without any sequels or prequels...
And SciFi is the genre of "oh my god, what did I just watch"
Star Wars was most definitely an Oh my god what did I just watch two hour visual effects fest... And at the time it wasn't called A New Hope, it was just Star Wars Episode IV. So the talk was always why four? What happened to 1-3? Then you find out that Lucas had this idea that the story is going to take nine movies and starting in the middle gives him a lot of creative leeway...
I remember when the movie started with the scrolling intro and didn't even read any of it because I was wondering if there were other movies before this. That sort of occupied my brain for a while. Luckily movies were cheap and 30 minutes of collecting cans and bottles was enough to buy a ticket so I could watch it again...
Movies were cheap back then, but so were concerts. I can remember the $0.99 theater in the Parkade that always had the midnight madness shows that were always showing the Wall, Rocky Horror, The Song Remains The Same, and other classics. And concerts were all around $14...
Concert prices are insane now, and most of the price are just add-on fees.
(saw that picture coming)
I know what you mean about concert tickets. I remember one event with a battle of the bands. There were 21 bands playing at the Agony Ballroom and they had both stages going. I think a ticket at the door was $11.00 or something. This is a good story... A bunch of us head out there right at the end of school. Wait in line for the doors to open around 5pm. Technical issues and compounded highway closure didn't have the first band getting on until 11pm. I remember getting tapped on the shoulder and my buddy is like, we gotta go. It's 6:30am and homeroom is at 7:35am. Yeah, we went to the concert on a Wednesday. I do miss that place...
That was one of the perks to working at Sam Goody. I could call any one of the label reps and they would put me on the guest list, and a lot of times backstage. One time I was in line at will-call for ZZ Top with Juliana and this mouthy B was in a line next to the window. Oh she was annoying (the mouthy B, not J that time)!! She was saying all kinds of crap like "you wont get tickets, I have connections and mine aren't here yet, blah blah.." Whatever. I get to the window, get my tickets and Juliana looks and asks if everything is ok. I said loud enough for miss B to hear, "yeah, here's your backstage pass, you're going to meet them too..." The look on miss B's face was priceless... A lot of times I was running to Boston or NYC to see a show, then getting back home just in time to grab a shower and get back in to work to open up.
That wouldn't happen these days...
I don't have anything as cool as that story. I think the best I have is when I'm up north, we make reservations (required, because it's a small place and the chef only has just enough for one or two shifts of eaters) at this restaurant. When we get there, there's a a fairly good sized crowd wanting to get a seat and being told they may not get one. When we stepped up, one of the people there said "good luck, you probably won't get a table". What surprised me even more was the worker handling the front desk recognized me and the wife and said "Good evening Mr. Blaze, how are you all doing? We have your table waiting. Right this way." (and she proceeded to shoo away the people crowding the entrance)...
Oooh, that's an awesome story!! I love it when you walk into a place and the staff all know who you are. It's like you're Norm on your own episode of Cheers...
This place is just the opposite of Bugaboo. Very quiet, relaxed with some smooth jazz playing in the background. The first time we went there was in the winter and it was like this special hidden treasure placed in the absolute middle of nowhere...
Oh, I dunno, there have been that rare occasion when I have had animals on my plate that were still alive when I dug in...
Well, that one is the exception...
Another J story. During one of our trips to NYC we were in Chinatown and stopped into a restaurant. There was a large fish tank near the kitchen but only one large fish in it. I thought nothing of it, a lot of Chinese restaurants have fish tanks...
So we're sitting down for a while and waiting for our food to come out and I notice a waiter going to another table with a net, shows the guests at the table and then goes away. From my position I couldn't see so I asked J to look at the tank and see if the fish was still there. Nope... It was gone...
Now *that's* fresh!
I'd prefer my clams crispy and served on the half-box...
Oh, I mostly agree with that sentiment. But since moving to the south, I have come to realize that there is a fifth food group, and that includes anything fried...