— छह हज़ार इक्यान्वे —
Last night, Action Movie Night returned! Our first one since June 24—a solid three months ago, meaning most of the regulars in this group will only show up twice on the Summer Social Review I'll be posting on Monday next week. The projector that had been giving technical difficulties sporadically for years but much more frequently in recent months is getting replaced, but why it's taking so goddamn long remains a mystery.
The theater has been locked up in the meantime, even to building key holders—the theater door has a new lock on it. But, with Andrew having bought a portable projector just so we could finally all convene again, I was thinking we may have to set it up somehow in the kitchen—but, evidently Alan, our building manager, trusts Tony more than most (Tony was once a Board member, which perhaps makes a difference), because he loaned him a key to the theater. According to Tony, we are "forbidden from touching" any of the equipment in the room, but they were allowed to set up the portable projector and aim it at the screen on the wall.
The picture projection was perfect, actually. Way better than it's usually been with the old projector. I saw the new projector equipment on the floor, and the old one no longer hanging from the ceiling. It kind of looks like it's just a matter of getting it installed. For some time the Braeburn website said it would be back in service by the end of September; now it says end of October (which was why Alexia and I had to watch
Practical Magic in the condo last weekend, even though I had the theater reserved). Annoying.
But, last night we were able to make it work. The projector has its own speaker, which was not especially great—and certainly did not give us the surround sound we're used to in there—but it was serviceable. Better than a couple of the jankier setups tried in the past.
It was Ryan's choice this week, and his choice wasn't great but it also wasn't bad; it worked well for this group, anyway:
They Will Kill You, which I saw and reviewed last March and really wanted to like better than I did. It was easier to enjoy the second time around when it couldn't disappoint, even though the pointless backstory remains painfully thin. The original
Ready or Not, which the premise of this was very similar to, was still way better.
It took me a minute to realize I'd seen it before. Then when I realized it, Daniel, who was sitting next to me, noted he had as well. A third guy in the room, I think it was Jake, also said he'd seen it. Ryan said, "If everyone's seen this I can pick a different movie," but Jake said, "No, I love this movie." And, as I said, it's kind of tailor made for this "Action Movie Night" bunch anyway; it works well enough for pretty much the entire group.
The Will Kill You
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I actually wondered if we'd have a smaller group since it had been so long since the last time we gathered—there hadn't been a break this long since everything shut down for covid more than six years ago now. Even then they reconvened remotely after only about a month, so I suspect this is the longest break that has ever been enforced uppn the group. But, we still had 10 people show up: Tony, Jake, Ryan, Chris B, Derek (whose wife had a baby since we last convened), Andrew, Daniel, Nicholai (Daniel's friend he brought along once before), Shobhit, and myself. This meant only four empty seats in that 14-seat theater, which at least we were still able to get use out of.
Tony has shared with me before that Alen told him the picture and sound with the new projector is way better than ever. I look forward to that, whenever the fuck the thing actually gets installed.
Shobhit was at rehearsal for his new play until 5:00, just as he had been the day before, so he was not able to start on our food contribution before I got home as usual. There's no need to start on it early, anyway; I made pasta, all but about one serving of which got eaten last night, which kind of surprised me. Well, except that this time nobody brought pizza, so I guess our pasta and the Dick's burgers Jake brought were mostly the only options. Daniel did bring two boxes of Trader Joe's seasonal butternut squash pasta, which wasn't half bad; I had some of that, and Shobhit and I both had a bit too much of the Dick's fries. I just ate way too much overall, a common problem for me at Action Movie Nights.
In any event, it was really nice to see the group again—with one or two quasi-exceptions, but whatever, we deal. I think many of them were getting really impatient with the constant delays on getting access back; Jake even emailed a few days ago,
This extended and unwilling hiatus is having a negative effect on my mental health. I'm going to sue the condo for damages.
When the movie was over, I rinsed off all the dishes and loaded the dishwasher; this is something I do almost every time, feeling a bit obligated to as one of the few actual resisdents of the complex and feeling that it should not always fall to Tony, who would have to do it otherwise. Then Shobhit and I took our stuff back upstairs and I had the last of the pasta, which I absolutely should not have eaten but I didn't see the sense of putting just the one serving left in the refrigerator. Waste not, want not!
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[posted 12:25pm]
