Surfergeeks

First – I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo out of shape it isn’t funny. Helping Tracy move yesterday there were a couple times when I thought my body was just going to go on strike. Sigh. Need to get in shape…sooo lazy….get in shape…sooo lazy….

After the move it was decided that we would go to the drive-in. Actually, that’s not quite true. It had been discussed earlier in the week about going to the drive-in. The final decision, in spite of some last minute whining, was made over the yummy pizza Tracy bought us for helping her. Now, our options were somewhat limited – we could either see Shrek2 & Harry Potter (both of which we’d seen) or Dodgeball & The Day After Tomorrow. Obviously it would be the latter that won out. Nic wasn’t too thrilled about seeing Dodgeball, and, to be honest, I wasn’t very excited about it either. I’m not, by any remote stretch of anyone’s imagination, a Ben Stiller fan. In fact, I’m rather ashamed that we share a birthday. Regardless, we both wanted to see Day After Tomorrow (DAT).

So, we get to the drive-in about 4 minutes before the box office opens. There are maybe 30 or so cars waiting to get in. There’s only one money-taker working so only one lineup. Naturally, there are two lineups of cars though (one east-bound, one west-bound). The first half dozen cars or so in the “line” that actually led to the booth wouldn’t let any of the other cars in but after that everyone started behaving properly and each car would let one car in front of it. Apparently this made a “customer” (and I use that term in the loosest way possible. A customer would generally abide by the rules set forth of the establishment – namely – wait your turn to pay) upset. He pulls out of line, pulls up to the booth on the other side, hops out of his “oh so cool” white 4 door pickup goes around to the money-taker, literally throws the money in the window, goes back to his truck and spins the tires taking off into the parking area. The manager guy (who is at least 70) shows up, gets the story then takes off for the parking lot. He eventually makes it to where the truck was. Yes, was. While the old guy was making his way over about 5 people got out of the truck and the truck drove out. They were there with another truck full of people (family/lovers/both – who knows). A short time later the truck returned – maybe he went back to pay properly, apologize, who knows. The manager guy talked to everyone and then went away. It was very disappointing that they didn’t get bounced out. They would have if it were my drive-in – if for no other reason than they treated my staff poorly.

So, the first movie, Dodgeball, was sorta funny. Nic laughed a couple times but thought it was a stupid movie. I laughed more than that but she’s right – it was a stupid movie. Certainly not something I would ever buy. Ben Stiller’s characters do nothing but make Stiller look like an idiot in real life.

After the first movie there was a slight pause – and Nic & I are both in agreement here – they really really need to bring back the animated ads for the snack bar that features dancing hot dogs, pop, popcorn, etc.

The second movie, DAT, was better than the first – on an entertainment level. On a scientifically accurate level – pfft! – Jen’s kid Bri could turn in more scientifically accurate results. I had numerous issues with parts of the movie. I won’t even mention the above science-fact aspect. There were lots of small continuity problems or “couldn’t happen” problems. One we thought was a MAJOR fuck-up turns up that we just don’t know much about US Geography. Oh well.

The only other thing to report about the drive-in is disappoint in their website. On the website they indicate that the concession stand has a BBQ pit, diner-style seating, new playground equipment, and also mentions a 3rd screen. It appears as if the third screen is forthcoming but the website implies that the others already exist. Not quite true – the only thing that is new is there *IS* new playground equipment. But no new concession stand, or BBQ pit…Maybe those are planned updates as well. But wouldn’t you think they would work on this BEFORE the daily drive-in season arrives???