Theaters: Now and Then

Posted on July 6, 2008 by kristiane

In the past few weeks the sun has shown us it’s power here in the sometimes polar state of Minnesota. I’m not going to explain why, but I hate this. I’m not a hot weather fan. Though, as I hear so often, the problem here, “…ain’t the heat, it’s the humidity.” There’s many ways to get cold when it’s egg frying on the street weather. I like to go to CVS, the drug store, and loiter by the perfume. That is the coldest area of the store and I sometimes wonder if the perfume there freezes solid. I can hide in my fridge, as I did last year. Then I have to empty it out and I don’t feel much like eating a ton in this weather.

My favorite thing to do is go to the movies, like I did today. Me and The Max have a ritual that we go through when we visit the theater. He gets a kid pack and covers the popcorn with too much salt. After which he asks for some of my popcorn that I embellish with a box of Jr Mints. Today we saw Kung Fu Panda. It was blah. But during the film my mind wandered to the many ways that a movie going experience is far different from what it was when I was Max’s age.

First off, and least important is the cost. Yes. It costs more. I have no idea with inflation if it is more than it was 25 years ago. I now pay ten dollars for a full price ticket. It feels like a lot.


Also, there’s the snacks. When I was a kid, we went to the Anoka Cinema, which is now a community theater with live acting. They offered popcorn, soda, and maybe five different kinds of candy. Now I can get my popcorn in seven different sizes. There are twenty different types of candy. Also: nachos, dipping dots, hot dogs, and of all things bottled water. And all these treats are whisked off the floor in a timely manner after each show. I distinctly remember my velcro sneakers sticking to the floor at the theater from the lack of clean-up in the past.


The seats are the improvement that I enjoy the most. Being short used to mean that you needed to worry about that lady with the aqua net hair-do sitting in front of you and ruining your view. Now, all theaters seem to have stadium seating. The person in front of you is going to have to be seven feet tall or better to block your shot of the screen. The seats are typically more comfortable, as they are made of squishy foam and cloth and not hard butt-bone-bruising wood. The arm rests with cup holders are an appreciated bonus.


Multi-plexes are what we have now as well. There are still the old theaters in the funky neighborhoods with only a screen or two, but it’s rare to see a new theater that has less than 10 movies showing at a time. I suppose choice is a good thing.

The only real gripe I have about the changes in theaters is the ads. I don’t want to go to the theater and see ads for anything other than movies. Previews are great. I seldom sit and watch TV. (not because I am a TV hater, I love the television with all my heart) But not watching television means that I do not really ever see commercials for what is going to be coming soon to the movies. I like previews for this reason. I don’t like watching ads for ketchup before the feature presentation.

So, though I am a sucker for nostalgic things, I am definitely happier with the improvements made to theaters. Most importantly, they are cold.

Posted in Blogroll, family, food, health, home, how to, kids, Life | Tagged , , , , , | 9 Comments

Pink is For Girls

Posted on July 1, 2008 by kristiane

Awhile before today I wrote about my love for vintage advertisements. I am not speaking of those types you find blown up and made into posters that you can buy at Pottery Barn, though I enjoy those too. I more specifically like the ones made when sexism and political correctness did not have a presence in the minds of those who came up with ad campaigns. Here is another of those ads:

This ad is hanging on the wall of my prodominately pink bathroom. I don’t hate pink by any means, but I was a bit set off at the bathroom. It is tiled mostly pink with a bit of black. Placed there, I believe, when the building was built in 264BC.

This lady is obviously feminine, for she chose the most feminine color of shampoos. I assume then that Selsun Blue must be for men. Here is all that jazz at the bottom in larger print for you old folks who remember this ad when it was in your McCalls circa 1969.

I am indeed a girl. So yes, I must find this. My hair will exude wealth and he’ll notice the pink. It’s a win-win.

Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, family, funner, happiness, health, home, how to, Life | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Sleep, Wall-E, and Batman

Posted on June 29, 2008 by kristiane

Vacation was great. Blah blah blah. The only thing I really took with me was that I am becoming disturbingly jealous of those who do not work. Not for the work thing, but for the sleep. I slept nine plus hours almost every day for close to three weeks. I don’t even need the lack of a job thing, I just want that sweet precious sleep back. Also, I really have nothing to write, so I will review the movies that I have seen in the past month poorly and incompletely.

Wall-E.
I had been looking forward to this and when tg called up and asked if The Max and I wanted to go on opening night, I was all over that. It was good. I have a hard time judging ‘kids’ movies. My difficulty comes from the fact that 95% of kids movies are bad. I am not referring to 95% of the ones that go to the theater, but instead the ones that go straight to DVD, ones only shown on TV as well as theater releases. But this was in that top 5%. The only problem I had was the humans. They were so dang cartoony. Someone had said that all Pixar movies do that and I guess I never thought about it before, but it is true. Humans in Pixar movies are cartoony. However, in Wall-E there were actual humans along with the silly putty versions of humans. It seemed wrong.

Batman Begins

I watched this last night. I watched the first half hour and it was quite good. I need to see it before I am allowed to join some friends who are more hard core Batman fans when Dark Knight comes out. But then, after that first entertaining half hour I fell sound asleep. Whoops.

Return of Optimus Prime

This is not a movie, really. And I am not going to review it. It’s just funny so press the sideways triangle already.

Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, family, food, health, home, Insomnia, kids, Life, movies, travel | 12 Comments

Montana is all around us

Posted on June 23, 2008 by kristiane

I woke up this morning in Montana.  I drove all day and I am still here.  This state is never-ending.

Posted in travel | Tagged , | 10 Comments

Mob Wars

Posted on June 22, 2008 by kristiane

I haven’t posted in a few days, and it feels weird. Not weird like your biology teacher hitting on your mom. Weird like if you stepped in a pool of toothpaste is more the emotion I have. I had a great time on vacation. Technically I am still on it being as I am in the middle of nowhere at a seedy motel. I have been online the past week, but I have not been blogging. Instead, I have been feeding my newest addiction: Mob Wars.

Mob Wars is an application on the social networking site Facebook. It allows you to buy armored vehicles and deadly weapons to complete jobs such as mugging and armed robbery. After doing said jobs you can buy property that earns you money by the hour. Theres even hit lists with bounties paid for the kill. Today, I killed my first mobster and recieved 1.3 million dollars.

Why am I confessing this addiction? It’s because I need another five brave individuals to join my mob so that I can complete drug smuggling via a yacht. So, if you are my facebook friend, accept the invite already 🙂

Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, family, food, health, home, Insomnia, internet, Life, travel | 19 Comments

Silly Bets

Posted on June 18, 2008 by kristiane

I am now in the leg of my vacation where my extended family will be around me at all times. I do love this. I have a cousin who is marrying on Saturday, and we are all getting amped to watch the girl say, “I do.” Last night as the wine was flowing and the voices became louder and more incomprehendable my sister said to me, “I doubt you could stay off your computer for an entire day.”

I told her I could, but I had no desire. I also retorted with, “I doubt you could not gossip for a day.” So the bet began. About an hour ago she told me what she thought of the town’s doctor where she lives and I easily won before our hangover coffee was finished.

But, I think maybe I should log in a little less often and so I direct you to a new blog written by tg. I have talked about him before, but I don’t think I have ever mentioned that he is an amazing writer. (He recently wrote a play which was published and preformed) Nearly every day I sit here and with poor grammar and atrocious spelling mumble some junk about my life. tg, however, writes brilliantly and skillfully and every time I read something of his, I am jealous of how effortless he makes commentary look.

So, go here and laugh.

And then here’s some more pictures from my cheap camera.

Max and some bar patrons at 10,000 Silver Dollar Saloon. yes, they do have 10,000+ Silver Dollars there.

The Mummy at Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe in Seattle.

My cousin’s tattoo.

I got to eat at Royal Palm, my favorite restaurant.

I am posting pics of food, I think that’s a cue to go and socialize. BYE!

Posted in entertainment, family, food, happiness, health, home, how to, travel | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

My First Job(s)

Posted on June 17, 2008 by kristiane

I moved to Washington when I was fifteen. Therefore, the first real jobs I held were in this great and very green state. In the past couple days of vacationing I ran across all the old buildings where I held employment. Today, I have nothing more interesting to show the world wide web than pictures of those buildings.

This is the grocery store formerly known as Bell”s Supermarket. The same store that my parents bought when I was in high school. I spent many hours there, picking up loose change on the floor so that I could buy a fifty cent can of Mountain Dew for my break.

This is the Peerless Restaurant and Lounge. I was nineteen when I started working here and only legally allowed to tend to the restaurant half. This is the place I developed a love for biscuits and gravy. Also, this would be the place where I realized that small town bars are full of insanity.

After the Peerless, I wound up working at this place, where I was an advertising sales-woman. I was driving when I snapped this photo, and did not get a full shot of the sign. I got paid on commission, but was told I would be paid only after the newspaper was launched. It was not off the ground in the three months that I was an employee. In total, I took home fifty dollars at this job…in three months. There is good reason that I am not mentioning the true name.

At Gold Digger Apple sheds I took apples off a conveyor belt and put them into boxes. The shifts I worked lasted twelve hours. There were people working there when I did that were my parents age and had been doing that same work since they had graduated high school. It is monotonous and painful work. painful because the same motion being made with your hands and arms for that long of a time causes catastrophic inflammation. I would watch as the workers would eat ibuprofen like candy to last through the day. Super nice people work there, but I could not handle it very long.

Fat Boy’s Diner was and is one of my favorite jobs. It’s a restaurant/bar that is frequented by good-old-boys who want breakfast for pennies and coffee for free. Those old farmers quickly nicknamed me Red. (don’t even try it) If money were nothing I would work here forever.

Some day I better be able to look back at Hell’s Kitchen with the fondness that I have for some of these places.

Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, family, Fine Dining, food, happiness, health, Hell's Kitchen, home, how to, job, Life, Oroville, travel | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

I Met Delilah

Posted on June 14, 2008 by kristiane

I am too tired to explain it all. Here’s a shorter version.

Way back when, I did a couple posts on Delilah, from The Delilah Show featured on many soft-rock stations nation wide. Turns out, they read it and sent me an email to let them know when I would next be in the Seattle area so that I might get to see the women herself at her cafe‘.

I, in turn, emailed back to say that I was coming for a visit. Yesterday I received an email saying that she was going to be at Delilah’s Cozy Kitchin’ today, and that was the only time that was gonna work. Oh, and her cafe was six hours from where I was AND it was going to be at 11:30am. So, I woke up at five this morning and made the drive. Totally worth it. She gave me a signed book and a signed photo. Really nice woman, who has TEN KIDS!! Five of those kids were milling around her shop. The man standing sitting next to her asked if I wanted an autograph from him as well. I felt like an enormous idiot, but I had no clue who he was. Turns out he is the local DJ from the radio station where she airs here in Seattle. I did explain to him that I do not live there, and I hope that made me look less like a ninny.

Then, of course I got a picture with her. The woman is much taller than I expected. I don’t exactly know what I expected, but she was taller than that.

Guess which one of us got no sleep last night?

Oh yeah, the best part. When I met her she said, “Oh, yeah, I read your blog last night!”

Now if I could only do the same with Robert Smith…

Posted in Blogroll, family, health, home, Life, travel | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

The Evergreen State

Posted on June 13, 2008 by kristiane

I have made it to Washington.  Currently I am in the teeny town of Oroville.  It’s hot and dry and I love it.  On the way here, my digital camera broke.  I am good at this.  This being breaking photographic recording devices just when I come up to the Billy Burger sign. 

 

 

 

The cell camera version will have to do.  This is in Wilber, Washigton.  Wilber is a very small town that we used to drive to at night time on the way to Idaho to visit family when I was in school.  This sign creeped me out, especially at night when the town was completely dark with the exception of Billy’s haunting face lit up in the distance. 

I am heading to the Puget Sound area tomorrow, meaning Seattle.  But I will only pause there.  Because…in the morning Delilah is going to be at her coffee shop and I am going to meet her…tomorrow…I am going to meet Delilah.  Yesssss.

Posted in entertainment, travel | 4 Comments

Big and Small

Posted on June 11, 2008 by kristiane

I drove across most of Montana today. Montana means mountain. Mountains mean high altitude. High altitude means snow in June apparently.

Blurry, cold, snow. This was at the Continental Divide.

It snowed, and rained for most of the day. I decided to take a short cut given to me by Mapquest. It would have saved me about 45 minutes…if the road had been paved the entire way.

You cannot really tell from the photo, but that is dirt. The giveaway is that there are not painted lines. Montana is funny.

Here’s more big and small stuff:

Small Church.

Big Prairie Dog.

Another small church, possibly smaller than the first.

Big Jackalope. (This could be actual size, I have never seen one)

Big Dinosaur skeleton being walked by a human skeleton. This is on the side of the interstate. I had to pull over to get a picture. Who builds these things?

Big Storm.

Little replica of Mount Rushmore. (We skipped the real one this year, seriously, how many times do you need to see that?)

I love vacation.

Posted in Blogroll, entertainment, family, food, funner, happiness, health, home, how to, kids, Life, travel, weather | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments