Geekend Day 3 2001
Sunday starts with getting
George to his Mom’s for a few hours and me spending time with my friend. It was a good start to what seemed to be a
great day.
I picked the kids up at 3 and
headed back to Hollywood, this time to the Cinerama dome.
Quickly, for those who are
unfamiliar with Cinerama, perhaps this excerpt from Wikipedia may help (perhaps
not).
Cinerama is a widescreen process that originally projected images simultaneously from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply curved screen, subtending 146° of arc.[clarification needed] The trademarked process was marketed by the Cinerama corporation. It was the first of a number of novel processes introduced during the 1950s, when the movie industry was reacting to competition from television. Cinerama was presented to the public as a theatrical event, with reserved seating and printed programs, and audience members often dressed in their best attire for the evening.
The Cinerama projection screen, rather than being a continuous surface like most screens, is made of hundreds of individual vertical strips of standard perforated screen material, each about 7⁄8 inch (~22 mm) wide, with each strip angled to face the audience, so as to prevent light scattered from one end of the deeply curved screen from reflecting across the screen and washing out the image on the opposite end.[1] The display is accompanied by a high-quality, seven-track discrete, directional, surround-sound system.
The original system involved shooting with three synchronized cameras sharing a single shutter. This process was later abandoned in favor of a system using a single camera and 70mm prints. The latter system lost the 146° field of view of the original three-strip system and the resolution was markedly lower. Three-strip Cinerama did not use anamorphic lenses, although two of the systems used to produce the 70mm prints (Ultra Panavision 70 and Super Technirama 70) did employ anamorphics. Later, 35mm anamorphic reduction prints were produced for exhibition in theatres with anamorphic CinemaScope-compatible projection lenses.
Back to me and the kids. So we get there about an hour early, I
figured we’d grab something to eat but ultimately decided a hot dog and popcorn
(and maybe candy at the intermission) would suffice. The kids and I found a place to sit and while
they started into their drinks I noticed two very familiar looking people. I was pretty sure it was Denise and Michael
Okuda, two FB friends of mine (who I never met). Michael is a graphic designer who has worked
on just about everything Star Trek for years as well as other movies and TV
shows. There has been some back and
forth between Denise and me, but mostly my enjoying their posts about movies,
NASA, Star Trek, etc. So I tell the kids
that I recognize those people and maybe I should say Hi. This, by the way, is well out of my comfort
zone. I am not big on talking to people
I don’t know (when I’m out of my element, talking with folks I do know is a
challenge), but how often would such a chance occur. The kids were 'like cool', so I Ieft them to
their own devices (well George had his iPod) and went over.
I’m not going to give the
full transcript of the conversation here.
Suffice it to say, she knew I looked familiar and immediately recognized
my name. We spoke about 2001 and Phantom
of the Paradise (I discovered that one of my all time favorites was one of
theirs as well). They happened to be at
the big screen viewing of that movie where Paul Williams and Jessica Harper
appeared. I mentioned how I found out
about it the day after. Bummed. She mentioned 1776 as a favorite and seeing a
screening with William Daniels. I came
close to but did not tell her I hadn’t seen the movie but grew up outside of
Philadelphia. They had been at the previous
week’s screening of Star Trek 2 and 3 at the Aero in Santa Monica (which I
definitely would have been at had I not discovered it was showing an hour before
it started, but at the same time found out about the evenings 2001
presentation). We talked about how
George had seen it but not Victoria (2001).
We discussed the Star Trek VI Teaser that they had recently posted and
how it brought back fond memories for me as I saw it at a Star Trek marathon
back in 1992 (in case I didn’t say it enough back then, thanks Sue for getting
me there). He talked about how that was
originally designed for video and I said how it just moved me when I saw
it. I told them about the Flash evening
and it ends up that he worked on the pilot of the old Flash. He said he got a few Star Trek nods into
it. Next time I watch I will need to
look for the desk of Captain Pike. He
then said what, to me, was the coolest quote of the chat, possibly the whole
weekend. Regarding working on the Flash:
“Well I was between Star
Treks and she wanted a new couch.”
How utterly cool to be able
to use the phrase (so nonchalantly) “Well I was between Star Treks”
I have to say, they were
really such nice people and I could have stood there and talked to them a lot
longer. It was really nice to have a
discussion with people of similar interests.
But I knew they were catching up with some friends and I had basically abandoned
my kids for 10 minutes. We said our
goodbyes, I went to get the kids, and I kicked myself for not asking if I could
take a picture with them.
We got our food and headed to
the theatre and waited for the 5:00 presentation of 2001 in 70 MM Cinerama to
begin. We continued to wait as the
theatre packed itself. We continued to
wait as 5:00 passed. And then 5:15. And then 5:30. Finally at 5:45 someone came out an announced
that the screening was canceled due to labor disputes with the projectionist. A mass sigh of disappointment covered the
crowd as we left the theatre. The first
thing the kids wanted to do was go home and watch it but alas it was too
late. There was mention that it might be
postponed to the following weekend but I didn’t count on that.
I have to give it to the
theatre though. The reimbursed the
tickets, gave us comps, and reimbursed the concessions (even though we had
nothing left).
Even with this, I have to say
Geekend was a success. I had a great
time with the kids, saw some really cool stuff, and met some really nice
people. And it really warmed me when the
kids seemed genuinely more disappointed in not seeing the movie than I
was. As we made plans for the following weekend
to go to see a screening of cartoons (and all you can eat cereal) at the same
theatre George and I saw The Flash at, George told me not to get the tickets
yet. He wanted to wait to see when the
rescheduling for 2001 would be because he’d rather do that. Victoria was in complete agreement with
him. Getting misty just thinking about it. Yep, it was quite a successful Geekend!
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