![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xylieThe drive-in is one of the few places I go to forget the stresses of living and working in the Bay Area. Despite the crowds for first-run movies, there's always the escape into cinema; the happy nostalgia for childhoods spent at the local theater returns. And around the 4th of July, fireworks go off in the distance before the movies take place. Behind screen 5, legal fireworks set off in a park in Seven Trees. Behind Screen 4, not so legal fireworks in the neighborhood.
Brave was at Screen 4 last night. Sean was ecstatic for two reasons:
1) Despite the horrible experience we had at the Giant's Game, Jim let him get a hot dog.
2) Outside of the car you could see stars. It's amazing that he found any room to see stars, or the brilliant illegal fireworks behind the screen because the lot was packed with families to see Brave.
$12 for the five of us to see Brave? What budget-minded person wouldn't be stoked? So Screen 4's parking lot was full.
Of course the packed house meant that we started the move 30 minutes late and cars were still doing the sneak of shame to park for Screen 4 well into the previews. One couple was apparently unaware of the sneak of shame and did not turn off their lights, park quietly, and slip into the concession building for snacks. Instead, lights on, they parked into a side pocket space and loudly began arguing with each other. Bottles smashed, and we all looked over to see them slapping each other and screaming obscenities in front of their kids.
I've been going to drive-ins for years now. Not everyone has a lot of money. Some people drink, some people smoke, and some are inconsiderate jerks who jabber on cell phones. However, I'd never seen anything like this. Like other regulars, I was flumoxed by the sheer amount of crazy coming from a well-dressed family in a rather expensive car.
In typical drive-in fashion, the guy in the car nearest to them came over and asked politely that they calm down. "There are kids here," he explained. And in typical angry-drunk fashion they responded by threatening to call the police and getting in his face. I was worried they were going to try to hit him. So was Security. They came up fast and had a police officer with them. Usually the officer on duty spends his nights telling teens no graffiti on the walls, but tonight was very different. He told the couple that they had to leave in no uncertain terms.
The kids in the back seat just looked ashen. Their parents had never turned off the interior lights and you could see their little faces in the car seats, tired and scared. The couple packed up to leave and as they drove past, I heard the woman saying, "I know, I fucked up again."
I spent most of Brave holding Sean or James (Jakob's literally too big for it now)and thinking about those kids. Some people really draw the short straw with parents.
Brave was at Screen 4 last night. Sean was ecstatic for two reasons:
1) Despite the horrible experience we had at the Giant's Game, Jim let him get a hot dog.
2) Outside of the car you could see stars. It's amazing that he found any room to see stars, or the brilliant illegal fireworks behind the screen because the lot was packed with families to see Brave.
$12 for the five of us to see Brave? What budget-minded person wouldn't be stoked? So Screen 4's parking lot was full.
Of course the packed house meant that we started the move 30 minutes late and cars were still doing the sneak of shame to park for Screen 4 well into the previews. One couple was apparently unaware of the sneak of shame and did not turn off their lights, park quietly, and slip into the concession building for snacks. Instead, lights on, they parked into a side pocket space and loudly began arguing with each other. Bottles smashed, and we all looked over to see them slapping each other and screaming obscenities in front of their kids.
I've been going to drive-ins for years now. Not everyone has a lot of money. Some people drink, some people smoke, and some are inconsiderate jerks who jabber on cell phones. However, I'd never seen anything like this. Like other regulars, I was flumoxed by the sheer amount of crazy coming from a well-dressed family in a rather expensive car.
In typical drive-in fashion, the guy in the car nearest to them came over and asked politely that they calm down. "There are kids here," he explained. And in typical angry-drunk fashion they responded by threatening to call the police and getting in his face. I was worried they were going to try to hit him. So was Security. They came up fast and had a police officer with them. Usually the officer on duty spends his nights telling teens no graffiti on the walls, but tonight was very different. He told the couple that they had to leave in no uncertain terms.
The kids in the back seat just looked ashen. Their parents had never turned off the interior lights and you could see their little faces in the car seats, tired and scared. The couple packed up to leave and as they drove past, I heard the woman saying, "I know, I fucked up again."
I spent most of Brave holding Sean or James (Jakob's literally too big for it now)and thinking about those kids. Some people really draw the short straw with parents.
