December 16, 2009

ticket stubs

This is a follow-up to my previous post.

I have been saving ticket stubs for several years. I remember starting this habit even before getting into film. I did it for no real reason except sentimentality, deciding once I got home that I did not want to throw my ticket stub away. The pile grew for a number of years before, one day, I cleaned my room and either put my original pile into a corner I have not yet rediscovered or else threw it away. According to the pile I have now, this date was some time in the summer of 2007.

But to the point: I had forgotten about my pile when writing my last post. I am looking through it now. On top is THE RED SHOES 12/4/2009 and FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN 11/18/2009. Digging deeper I find some curious tickets from screenings I can't even remember. Some highlights:

THE 39 STEPS 11/1/2008
MAJOR BARBARA 10/4/2008
MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY 9/16/2008
LA MARSEILLAISE 11/3/2007 (I have seen multiple Renoir in a theater!)
ROOM AT THE TOP 10/6/2007
DEATH OF A CYCLIST 8/26/2007
CRIA CUERVOS 7/29/2007

This is a very strange and scattered history. I am not all that careful about ticket stubs, and frequently tear them (in which case I do not keep them) or lose them or throw them away by accident. And as a film student, I had many theater privileges which need no ticket. Most of my theater history is thus absent from the current record, and it is sort of frightening to think that if I could forget so many screenings that were on the record, what have I missed that is off it?

At the very bottom of my pile, where my current record begins, are two tickets:
BRAND UPON THE BRAIN 7/14/2007
GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933 7/14/2007
I stared at the tickets for a moment before I realized what this meant. "That night was even better than I had remembered." It was a double feature. I listed Brand Upon the Brain! as one of my three best in-theater experiences, and I could not even remember that it was a double feature.

I will pretend this is a comment on how underwhelming my experience with theaters has been.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This olof is curious if you have graduated yet and how life in general is going in the bigger world

Ian said...

Hi Olof! It is a pleasure to have you visit.

Unofficially, I have graduated. There is nothing left for me to do but kick back and wait for my diploma to arrive. Officially, however, disaster may yet await me -- you know how much trouble people have with paperwork.

As for life in the big world, I am avoiding it. Life is fine in the small world. I like to think I am ready for the big world, but secretly I am afraid I am not as strong as I think I am.

I heard a rumor once that you had a blog, but I never found it. Is there any truth to the rumor? Is there anywhere I can read and laugh at your pathetic thoughts?

Anonymous said...

The big world is just countless small worlds Mango, you can wander in and out as you please. Break into one bubble for a couple of weeks and move on to the next. It's beautiful. The possibilities are endless and don't let the unwritten laws of society bind you by such things as permanent or shitty jobs. Don't spend too much time on things that you do not need, the basics are more often than not enough to satisfy the human spirit.

My blog was a temporary thing as a follow-up to the insanity log, I took it down when I felt anxious one day. The log project ends at new years eve, probably replaced by other pathetic projects. Maybe I will create a different blog in the future, who knows.

Ian said...

Sage advice.

If you happen to create a blog in the future, please let me know.

And feel free to stop by whenever.