![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today, as I'm sure many of you know, the Nintendo dropped the SNES. I spent a good portion of my morning attempting to get one, always arriving as the cashier said, "Sorry, my last one just walked out the door." The worst part being that I could have stood in line at GameStop, which opened later, BUT I had a press showing of Professor Marston and the Wonder Woman to get to at 10 am at the Lagoon Theatre, which I got to go to as part of my gig as a comic book reviewer for Twin Cities Geeks.
I can't talk about the movie until my review goes up, but I can tell you about my movie-going experience.
At first, I didn't think I was going to make it. OMG. Lately traffic HATES ME, PERSONALLY. In between darting into various Target Superstores and Gamestops between here and Uptown, I managed to screw up my exit. Instead of taking 94 to Hennepin like I'd planned, I was thinking so hard about the SNES that I ended up on 35 W, which local folk will know, is under deep, deep construction. The exit at 36th was blocked so I had to drive WAY OUT of my way at get off at 46th. I managed work my way back, fighting Uptown traffic now, to park in the parking ramp behind the Lagoon (which ended up costing about as much as a ticket) and then it looked like no one was going to let me in to the actual theater. It was dark. The doors were locked. But, eventually someone came and opened the door. He still looked dubious about letting me in, but, apparently, the magic words were, "Press screening at 10?"
I checked in with the "woman with the clipboard" as instructed and was directed to theatre 5. I haven't been to the Lagoon in forever. The theaters are small and dim. The seats are old and squeaky.
But it was just me and two other people...
...and that was really f*cking cool.
When I used to review movies for focusPOINT back in the late Cretaceous, I had a really hard time not loving everything I saw. I might be one of the only professional, paid reviewers on the planet who gave a positive review to the Matthew Broderick remake of Godzilla. Probably the thing most people remember about that movie, besides how (nearly) universally it was panned, was its poorly executed "Size Matters" ad campaign.
Anyway, part of the problem, I realized later when I found myself gushing about the Avengers remake (another film all my sensible colleagues panned, and I don't mean the Marvel one, obviously, I mean the one based on the TV series) is that it's just SO SUPER COOL to be the first to see a movie, ANY MOVIE, and it's free, right? So you don't have this whole "Jeez, I paid how much for THAT???!!" thing going on in your head, like, ever.
Plus, did I mention how super-secret you feel, getting in to somewhere no one else does? Way ahead of the official release date? And, I realize there are people who do this for the Star Tribune, the New York Times or whatever and they've seen it all, and they're all so jaded, but even after a year of doing it for focusPOINT, I was like 'STILL AWESOME, SO, SO AWESOME. I LOVED THIS FILM, I LOVE ALL FILMS!!!"
Yeah, so, I'll have to remember to temper that impulse when I finally sit down to write my actual review.
I drove home still attempting to find the SNES, but, at this point it was after noon, so all hope was lost. At one Target they looked up to see who might have SNESs and I called around. The Roseville electronics department just answered the phone without even a hello, only saying, "We are sold out of the Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems." As sad as that was to hear, it still cracked me up.
Such a classic nerd day, though, don't you think?
I can't talk about the movie until my review goes up, but I can tell you about my movie-going experience.
At first, I didn't think I was going to make it. OMG. Lately traffic HATES ME, PERSONALLY. In between darting into various Target Superstores and Gamestops between here and Uptown, I managed to screw up my exit. Instead of taking 94 to Hennepin like I'd planned, I was thinking so hard about the SNES that I ended up on 35 W, which local folk will know, is under deep, deep construction. The exit at 36th was blocked so I had to drive WAY OUT of my way at get off at 46th. I managed work my way back, fighting Uptown traffic now, to park in the parking ramp behind the Lagoon (which ended up costing about as much as a ticket) and then it looked like no one was going to let me in to the actual theater. It was dark. The doors were locked. But, eventually someone came and opened the door. He still looked dubious about letting me in, but, apparently, the magic words were, "Press screening at 10?"
I checked in with the "woman with the clipboard" as instructed and was directed to theatre 5. I haven't been to the Lagoon in forever. The theaters are small and dim. The seats are old and squeaky.
But it was just me and two other people...
...and that was really f*cking cool.
When I used to review movies for focusPOINT back in the late Cretaceous, I had a really hard time not loving everything I saw. I might be one of the only professional, paid reviewers on the planet who gave a positive review to the Matthew Broderick remake of Godzilla. Probably the thing most people remember about that movie, besides how (nearly) universally it was panned, was its poorly executed "Size Matters" ad campaign.
Anyway, part of the problem, I realized later when I found myself gushing about the Avengers remake (another film all my sensible colleagues panned, and I don't mean the Marvel one, obviously, I mean the one based on the TV series) is that it's just SO SUPER COOL to be the first to see a movie, ANY MOVIE, and it's free, right? So you don't have this whole "Jeez, I paid how much for THAT???!!" thing going on in your head, like, ever.
Plus, did I mention how super-secret you feel, getting in to somewhere no one else does? Way ahead of the official release date? And, I realize there are people who do this for the Star Tribune, the New York Times or whatever and they've seen it all, and they're all so jaded, but even after a year of doing it for focusPOINT, I was like 'STILL AWESOME, SO, SO AWESOME. I LOVED THIS FILM, I LOVE ALL FILMS!!!"
Yeah, so, I'll have to remember to temper that impulse when I finally sit down to write my actual review.
I drove home still attempting to find the SNES, but, at this point it was after noon, so all hope was lost. At one Target they looked up to see who might have SNESs and I called around. The Roseville electronics department just answered the phone without even a hello, only saying, "We are sold out of the Super Nintendo Entertainment Systems." As sad as that was to hear, it still cracked me up.
Such a classic nerd day, though, don't you think?
