my life in film

My mind is like a sieve I tell you... How could I have forgotten...I got an award..You know I love them! The awesome Vicki who loves frogs over at glitterfrog thinks my blog doesn't suck ...that's so cool Vicki, thanks heaps. Vicki's blog is great,always a fun read,and funnily enough not about frogs! Go take a look, tell her Bee sent you....she won't give you anything, either will I.......... but tell her anyway ....now back to the blog post....

Movies have been in the background fabric of my life and probably say as much about my upbringing and who I am today as much as anything else.

The first time I remember seeing a movie was in 1967, I was 4 and my sister was new .I was with another child my age but cant remember who now, the two mums went shopping for the duration of the movie and were there again before the end of the movie.I remember them coming in and thinking NO NO NO NO ...NOT GOING TILL ITS OVER!!! It was Snow White,the german dubbed english version from 1965 .It was magical, the dark room was scary but when the movie started OOOOOHHHH.

Mary Poppins about 1967ish. I remember a scene with Dick Van Dyke drawing on the footpath with chalk and then the magic to get to the place he drew.

The Love Bug 1968 at the drive in for my birthday. It was very exciting both the movie and the drive in !!! Blankets, pillows, eating food in the car.

Bedknobs and Broomsticks 1971 for my 8th Birthday, I got my one and only birthday party that year too...I must have been a model child in my 7th year!

Herbie rides Again ..Drive In,1974 ..........I hope this was for my sisters birthday but knowing Dad "when you're on a good thing stick to it"..... It was probably for me.

Freaky Friday 1976........This was for my sisters birthday, I still liked the movie.

Muppet Movie 1979. I was 16 and babysitting for my neighbours kids,they were so cute and I used to drag them everywhere,It was a good excuse to see the movie. Kermit on a bicycle !

Meteor 1979...saw this one night with my friend Vicki, we caught the train in and I was convinced we had to leave before the end of the movie to catch the last train back.So I dragged Vicki out, got to the station to find there was an hour and 20 minute wait for the train. I had read the timetable wrong. I never did see the end of the movie until recently.

The Rose vs Amytyville Horror debacle of 1979

My 16th birthday with girlfirends at the time D and L, we decided to go see The Rose for my birthday. L's mum had booked the tickets over the phone for us as it was the first day it opened.We had to get there by, say, 4pm to pay and pick them up but didn't get there till 5. We lost our tickets. There was then "what to see?" For the time we had before getting the train back there were 2 choices, Amytiville Horror or Black Stallion. It was my birthday so I chose Amytyville Horror,which was the wrong choice apparantly as L' spat the dummy and high tailed it home vowing never to speak to me again.(she did for a couple more years). My other friend and I watched the horror movie, but it was hard to enjoy thinking I should have agreed to the horsey movie.

Vic and I again this time 79/.80 and not a birthday ....I think we'd read the book and decided to see the movie The Champ at the drive In. By this time I had a car , a 68 Morris mini 1100 that didn't like rain. It rained. We got 5 minutes into the half hour drive home when the heavens opened and Ethel...that was the said minis's name......stopped.Late.At. Night. No mobile phones in those days. We had to wait for it to stop raining, dry the distributer and spray it with WD40.We weren't worried about being attacked we were worried about getting home by our agreed time. Our parents were fearsome.

This is the movie I didn't see. Dressed to kill. My aunt had hired the movie .The movie starts with a shower sex scene,my Dad say's we're not watching this rubbish, get's up and turns the TV OFF!! We are all just sitting there.......... This 1980.. I was 17! My aunt waited for him to go to bed and watched it later!

1981 Dating my now husband, we headed to the drive in .. double feature ,Cheech and Chong Still Smokin' and Life of Brian ...do de do de do de do de do All..ways look on the brigh..et siiide of life de do de do de do de do........

'83 now a new bride..an all night dusk till dawn marathon at the drive in....Friday 13th 1 2 3 and a couple of other movies...I lasted 3 movies, think I slept through the third......and it got cold and we ran out of food.......and we went home.

Not long after that we got beta video machine and hired movies to watch at home. shhh some we taped off the TV,back then there was a huge hue and cry of it being illegal to do. We bought a big rear projection tv in 1986 and I remember the first movie we saw on it was Neverending Story.I think movies didn't go to video until at least a year later back then. We rarely went to the movies unless it was to take the kids....I really like Aladdin....hmm Little Mermaid wasn't bad either...

Kids getting more manageable so in '97 took them to the Drive In, George of the Jungle was showing on one of the twin screens,the other movie was My Best Friends Wedding, Gem and I tried watching both movies, Gem kept asking for food and drink so we could see more while getting food .We took them to the Drive In a few times ,wanted them to experience it before they all disappeared. I think to this day there is one....only one...drive in left in Australia.

Harry Potter series.. I think 2005 is the last time we "took" the kids to the movies, taking them to an old ,and I mean old theatre in Cowra NSW. The seats were the hard old brass sides and flip up cushion ones where you need the muscle of Conan to push it down ,hold it down somehow with your knee while you flip and sit, if you miss the seat flips back up. The kids take themselves now and have taken me(how did that happen??) once or twice!!

My hubby thought it was a great idea to buy a set of these seats to use for the projector screen, so we have a row of 3. He recovered them in black ,stained the wood and they look gorgeous....but why would you want to sit in them for 2 hours? So we made him put the lounge back and the movie seats look pretty under the window.Useless but pretty.

So.. I haven't been to the movies for ages,last one was The Women, with Gemma..bloody hell I just googled, that was 2008.....

I need grandkids so I can drag them to the movies with me so I won't look like a loser watching kids movies.