Holy Cow! What a fun night. Went with my jr. Twilight fans to a special screening of the latest Twilight offering “Eclipse”. We also dragged the only non-Twilight fan in the house to the show as well.
The theater was filled with mostly guys, which sort of surprised me. There were a few girls there just with their friends but for the most part it was guys or guys on double dates.
Being a special screening there were no preview ads or upcoming features. The movie started right in which is something I’m not used to. And right from the first scene the theater was charged up. It was a pretty intense opening sequence for a Twilight movie and so I was caught off guard right off the bat. The second thing that surprised me was how into it the crowd in the theater was. During the opening fight scene the audience was murmuring approving yah’s and alright and OW.
But when the werewolves appeared on the scene the theater went crazy – loud applause and hoops and hollers. It was also pretty funny in the scenes where Edward and Bella were getting serious the audience would clap or boo depending on the team they were routing for.
Some people would be distracted by all this commotion – some people go to the movies to actually watch the movie. But for us we had a great time enjoying every moment with a packed theater full of enthusiastic fans. And the solo non-Twilight fan in the crowd had a blast.
In an Internet world, where we can do just about everything virtually on our own, communicating with the masses from the privacy of our own home, it was really fun to go out and experience a shared moment with a crowd of people.
These shared moments can be great and surprising when they happen. It is one of the great things about 4th of July parades and fireworks shows. There has been a lot of news lately about towns having to scale down their 4th of July celebrations because of the recession. So, I encourage everyone to support their local Elks or other charity that supports these types of community events.
If you are looking for THE best shared experience for you family this summer there is no doubt where you have to go. Take the crew to Rapid City, South Dakota and be sure to stay overnight because you are going to want to be at Mount Rushmore for the closing ceremony in the evening as they retire the colors for the night (take the flag down from the flagpole).
We were there two summers ago and it was amazing. The park did not seem very packed. There were people all around but it didn’t feel like a crowd. The sun finally started to set and the park began to light up the hillside and illuminate the faces. The outdoors amphitheater began to fill up with people and soon was standing room only. Even though it was in the summer the temperature started to drop rapidly. Many people being prepared for this whipped out blankets. The flag ceremony was beautiful. There must have been over 1000 people there and then there was the singing of the national anthem. It was so amazingly moving. We were standing there with 996 other people I didn’t know, all singing and celebrating together.
Shared moments can be such a great surprise and so much fun.
As Julia Child once said “Life, itself, is the proper binge” Tonight was a little bit of a binge.