The answer to my theater rant

Anyone who has ever suggested I see a movie has had to listen to my standard theater tirade. It's a long and colorful litany, laced with metaphors and profanity, revolving around grievances I have with the theater industry and why I rarely see movies on the big screen.  I'm pretty sure I owe apologies to people who have made the mistake of inviting me to see a movie. To me it's a matter of charging a high price for an inferior product just because you have a monopoly.  It's the ticket prices, crowded and uncomfortable seating, GIANT markup on snacks and to add insult to injury, before the movie starts, you sit through at least ten minutes of commercials.  Trust me, I can rant for a half hour just elaborating on that last sentence.
I've always liked going to the movies.  When I was a military brat, the base where my dad was stationed  showed Saturday matinees, I remember going often.  I think we paid a quarter for a movie and popcorn.  Somewhere along the line, we decided it was OK to drop $70 to take the family to the movies.
A few months ago, Tina told me the theater downtown shows kids movies on weekend mornings for a quarter. She had just watched a movie there with a friend and told me she thought I'd like The State Theater.  I was a bit hesitant to go seeing that theater has an owner with some political volatility and  you never know when a new map is coming out. -That had nothing to do with it, I've just been trying to make that joke work for months- We finally made time to go this morning. We left early because I didn't know what kind of line I would have to deal with.  Living in a tourist town has made me wary of "events" and "discounts". They both usually mean standing in a line.  This had the potential to be a double whammy.  We got up early and headed downtown, the box office opens an hour before showtime, if there was going to be a line, I wanted to be up front.  It's been a while since I've been downtown on a quiet morning.  It's very different from the Cherry Festival, Halloween, New Year's Eve mob of people I've grown accustomed to.  Except for a random jogger and the dog walker, the place is deserted.  The bars are quiet, parking lots empty and the air is very still.  It felt a little unsettling at first. When we got to the theater, there was no line.  The nice old woman at the box office seemed surprised to see us there so early.  It still never hurts to be prepared.  We ended up with an hour to kill on a pleasant spring morning in downtown Traverse City without a crowd.  We headed over to The Omelette Shoppe for a bite and a little small talk.We had a pretty detailed conversation about why it's never smart to put jelly in your pocket. After a pleasant breakfast, we detoured around downtown for twenty minutes before we made our way back to the theater. I am very pleased with the experience Anny and I had at the movies.  This theater has nice wide seats that recline slightly and the ceiling was lit up with stars. Not to mention, we were seated in the balcony, that was freaking awesome on another level, When it was time for the movie to start, a nice old woman (maybe even the same one I got the tickets from) got on a microphone and welcomed everyone, talked a bit about the coming attractions and whatever else people may talk about before the show begins, I was only half listening while I played around with my phone.  She said one thing that caught my attention- something about being welcome to use a cell phone in the lobby but they will ban you for life if you use one during a movie...  "Right on" I thought to myself "good policy" and checked to make sure my phone was set to silent before I slipped it into my pocket. The movie was all right, it had a few odd messages but we sipped our cold drinks and munched on reasonably priced popcorn. We found an new weekend adventure for this early bird and his hatchling.

This is what I get when I ask her to pose like a princess

By the way- while we were killing time downtown, I tried out some other settings on one of my camera apps.

This setting makes this picture of The Omelette Shoppe building look like it was taken by French fur trappers in the 1800's.  See how it also simulates the photographer having one leg longer than the other.

I like this one, that B&W effect has changed in the latest update but it's still pretty damn cool.