Something is Missing

There is one thing that doesn't happen at a movie theater anymore and it makes me sad. It's something that most parents do with newborn babies, it's what we do with marriage proposals and it's a large part of the theater to me.

The unveil.
Peek-a-boo, the ring box opening, and the curtains being drawn open at the theater. How I remember it is much more exciting. There was build up. They didn't show you the screen until the movie was playing, and until then, you stared into that thick velvety curtain waiting for it to unveil the magic behind it. The lights would start to dim and the mysteriously controlled curtains would pull from the top, swinging the heavy bottoms with it. The projection would then show you what you paid for.

Awe.

Well, I've taken a little of the "awe" into my own hands by showing people something they don't see anymore. Film. Real, physical film movies. I bought a 16mm projector, a screen and learned as much as possible regarding handling and fixing film and its projector.

I set up as my friends show up. I feed the leader into the projector carefully, which pulls the rest of the film through a variety of spring loaded pulleys and sprockets.

---The Moment ---
The films perferations grab the first sprocket and bends the film like a snake back up, and then down and into the shutters view. The moment when the film hits the rapid scissor like action of the shutter, everyone grins. It's that nostalgic sounds everyone knows, but are now hearing in person for the first time in years.... or possibly ever.

That's what I like. Child-like excitement and the uncontrollable smiles and exclamations from adults of all ages surrounding a machine that is over 40 years old. We gather around a fire, talk and converse until that moment hits, and then get reeled in (pun intended) to the fanfare of classic movie goodness.

Two-thousand Fifteen

It's here. We're in it.

Note to self: Do not bring moonshine to a new years party with expectations to avoid it. I made it, we all survived. Anticlimactic much like the 2012 end of the world scare, or Y2K toasters going crazy.

I think it's very interesting that the world celebrates a single finite moment so relentlessly.  There IS no physical change.  Normally we discuss time in such a general way. "We'll go later". "See you in an hour or so". "See you in a few minutes". For new years eve though, we focus on individual seconds.

In what other moment will you see an entire group of people gather together and anxiously wait for such an arbitrary moment. I wouldn't be able to gather 5 people together to watch me juggle flaming swords, let alone gather them for a moment that has zero actual benifit or gain to anyone. Purely a mentally perpetuated and emotionally driven moment throughout the entire crowd.  That right there describes the entire celebration. Everyone is directly in tune, using their imaginations to visualize what this minute changover might signify for themselves. It's an emotional connection between the masses, and who doesn't want to be a part of an event? It's a simple event to join, and costs nothing to make happen.  At the one moment before the hand strikes 12, everyone is in tune, in sync, and awaiting that sole moment of release.

Funny to realize the the moment is actually rather deceitful too. Such a finite moment, reinacted each hour around the world for an entire 24 hour period. I altered the technique I use to chase the sunrise on Instagram by searching for the #happynewyear tag and repeatedly refreshing. There, were all of the worlds posts as they happened.  Everyone feeling as if their moment was the finite moment to make a change.

None the less, I took part in a celebration and suffered some of the physical consequences.  Our host requested all cell phones to be locked in his safe. An excellent idea, but prevented many photos being taken. So, you will have to do as you likely did last night, and use your imagination for my photo.

How was your step into 2015?