Scary Movies Scare Me

I blame my childhood - watching Creature Feature featuring Dr. San Guinary on Omaha's KMTV channel 3 (one of 3 channels we SW Iowa folks got). 

Dr. San Guinary

The goofy, somewhat scary character hosted a show that ran old horror movies on weekends in the early 1970's through 1982. The early seventies were when I was home weekends - staying with my baby sister Betsy, guarded only by our faithful doggy Jud. Those old black and white movies, like "The Blob" were creepy! Suddenly the noises houses make took on a new meaning! I'm sure every light in the house was on when Mom and Dad returned from Poker Club.

Jud the dog

In high school, we were sometimes desperate for entertainment - and the only movie was a horror movie. I spent more time with my eyes covered than not. I love to read suspense - but do not like suspense in movies! I always scream like a little girl. One movie involved a lady's head - her eyeball and a paper spindle. I still have spindle trust issues!

I blame peer pressure in a weak moment for causing me to go to the original Halloween movie in Ames while I was a college student. My friends and I were so freaked out after the movie we had to get a guy friend to check out the back seat of the car before we drove back to our apartment.

This was about as scary as our Halloween costumes got

When I became a mother I wisely chose to avoid scary movies - though they were on TV every Halloween. I'm sorry to say I passed my weakness of heart for scary movies over to Jud. He'd get one glimpse at Chucky and have bad dreams for weeks! We avoided scary stuff at our house - we didn't want the poor kid scarred for life. Amy was a bit bolder, but preferred mystery movies over horror.

Today - I still avoid horror. I still scream when surprised in suspense movies - and gory ones. Though I must admit - I'd still rather see a human get it rather than the horse or the dog... Confession - I did just watch one of my all-time fave kid movies last Saturday when I caught it switching between football games - "Goonies". It was filmed on our beloved Oregon west coast area by Cannon Beach. 

Big Vic and Baby's Birthday

Corey and Amy came all the way from Denver for the Iowa State University Cyclones vs. West Virginia football game. A Clemson grad, Corey is a bit spoiled as a fan. His team won the national championship two years ago - he was there! Our team...finally made a bowl game last year after a drought. Corey is a good sport about being a fan of our team. He's even got his wife somewhat interested in football - never her fave sport. 

They flew in Friday evening and we took them to the Cheese Bar on Ingersoll in DSM. It's a small joint that specializes in - you guessed it - cheese. We started with a lovely tray of meats and cheeses with nuts. I had a yummy specialty drink - and they have beer and wine on tap. We finished up splitting a grilled cheese sandwich and some ribs - not made of cheese. I saw some others eating fondue. You sit at long tables - so it's easy to spy on other's food. Din din was a success! 

The Cyclones didn't play until 6 PM on Saturday, but we had some tailgating to do - so we left just after noon. Amy and Corey had to go to Scheels and get some Cyclone gear first. It was a brisk day - nice in the sun, but we were glad Kari and Kevin put the side on the tent. Our tailgating neighbors provided entertainment - dressing in authentic Octoberfest lederhosen with hats, swigging beer from steins. Later they played musical chairs. Is that a German game? 

Paul grilled up burgers and brats. Amy and Corey got to see plenty of pals including Conovers and McKims. I'm glad they got to meet Ehreckes. Fireball shots sent us into the stadium for the game. Things didn't start out great. Our QB threw a pick and our kicker got a field goal try blocked for a touchdown. Despite those setbacks, our defense was marvelous. 

Corey didn't know why we weren't going crazy before halftime!?! We've seen this before - only to see our team fold. But no! The Clones came out strong after half, holding the Mountaineers to very few yard and points. In the end, the crowd rushed the field - celebrating a win over #6 West Virginia. 

Sunday was our baby girl's birthday! Wow. I've been a mommy for 33 years. I joked that Amy should come lay in bed with me so I could tell her the story of her birth - like I used to every year that we lived together. She loved that! It was a special day - overdue by a week. She was born a little after 7 PM, just after the Cardinals beat the Dodgers - Ozzie Smith homered. Yes, I had a labor plan with lovely music on cassette tapes I brought to the birthing suite. But...baseball....for my husband and doctor. It was distracting. 

Amy with Rachelle, Jenna - college? 

Making the phone calls to our parents (long distance ya know) was so joyful. She was beautiful and perfect! Just like she is today. Once the nurse wheeled me into my hospital room - and put her in the nursery, I thought I'd sleep. Nope. I was too pumped up. I was a MOM. And every part of me hurt like a little 9 lb 7-ounce truck had run over me. Even my fingernail hurt. We had a bundt cake at the football game - it was delicious. 

Amy attended a baby shower for her college pal Rachelle - due to have a baby boy in a few weeks. Later she and Corey spent the evening with friends. Paul and I recovered from Saturday. Being outside all day is exhausting! 

On Monday, Paul and I got to each lunch with Corey and Amy in the East Village. They worked at our house that day - before their flight that evening. We'll get to see them at Christmas - still it was hard to say goodbye. What a fun weekend of having them around. Special times. 

Amy's birthday - not this year

Big Screen Memories

Do you remember the first movie you ever saw? For me, movie memories are similar to songs - who was I when I saw this movie?

One special movie memory is from 1967, when I was ten years old. Gone With the Wind was re-released and our mother took my sisters and me to see it in a big city - Des Moines? The theater had a curtain that closed at intermission. Mom cried during the opening credits - she'd seen this show before. The saddest parts of the movie to me, even then, were when Scarlet rode the horse to death. And when Rhett shoots the pony.

I have many more wonderful memories of "going to the movies". My movie love affair started even before age ten. Our school and the local theater had a summer movie deal. We could buy a sheet of summer movie matinee tickets - giving our parents (moms really) a break from the kids during the endless school break. We saw movies like Frances the Talking Mule and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Don Knotts Y'all).

The tickets were valued at something like $.25 each. The real money for the Atlantic Theater came from concessions. Popcorn and candy! Back then, soda pop came from a machine in the lobby - a thin dime for a small cup that would shoot out, be filled with some crushed ice and Coca-Cola. It was fun just to watch the machine make the magical mixture! But wait...there's more! If you got the "lucky cup" you got to go to a movie FREE.

Face it, in small town Iowa, there aren't a lot of options when it comes to activities. So we went to "the show" a lot. It was exciting to see the movie marquis - to see what we could go to next. One theater in the whole town of 7,000 people. Comedies, RomComs, Horror - we went to them all. I went with girlfriends. In junior high, I met my boyfriend Mike Carlson there. We held hands. It wasn't all it was cracked up to be. My hand got hot and cramped. I wanted to move it, but was scared to....that boy/girl stuff was hard. In the balcony at the theater there were actually twin seats - with no arm in between. Sweet! My high school boyfriend, Mike McCauley and I went to Funny Car Summer - a movie about drag racing. Hmmm, must have been teen love - that movie sounds horrible to me now.

I saw a few more movies with my mother that were important in my life. I was in high school when the movie Summer of 42 came out. It was rated R so I needed an adult to take me. Sally's mom Anna Day and Mom took Sally and me to that show - a coming of age story about a teen and an older woman who loses her husband to the war. Mom and I cruised over to Omaha to see the movie Jaws. She left to go use the restroom and didn't appear until much later - after I began to get worried about her. She said she ended up sitting down in the back - because she didn't want to miss the action. I also saw John Travolta's Staying Alive with her. She became a huge BeeGees fan after that movie. These memories of Mom make me smile.

Okay - when I said there was only one theater. That is true. But in the summer there was one other movie option. The Drive-Inn! I don't remember our family going there. As a teen - you can bet my friends and I went. With beer! We saw all sorts of crazy movies - like Death Race and Blazing Saddles. It was easier for me to go to horror movies at the drive-in - I could distract myself there - not as scary. Wednesday night was Buck Night - we'd all pile in one car. Lots of good Drive-Inn memories.

College was another great movie memory time. There were some classics from that era. My college pals, Sally, Vicki, and Jane loved Rocky so much. We listened to the soundtrack endlessly. We had the poster. Adrian! One Saturday, after a long week, we attended a sobfest The Other Side of the Mountain - the Jill Kinmont Story". It's about a skier who becomes paralyzed. Then we went to a party and drank beer. Oh, college. Ghostbusters, Animal House, Halloween, Monte Python, High Anxiety, Kramer vs. Kramer, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, Goodbye Girl. I could go on...Halloween scarred me for life against horror movies.

We've come a long way from buying sheets of movie tickets for summer school break. Paul and I went to the new "A Star is Born" Friday night. I loved it. Stefani Germanotta (Lady Gaga) was perfect in her role, as was Bradley Cooper. Lady Gaga's voice has it all. I really appreciated a chance to see her without all the glamour of makeup. It was her first acting gig and she nailed it.

We live right by a huge theater complex. We used to look up movie times, arrive at the theater and buy tix. No more. There's a new way to buy movie tickets - it's complicated! I miss the days of real people. Yesterday I got online to buy tix on the Cinemax website. I needed to login with a new password and select the time and seats. Then I needed a password for Visa. Sure it may be less complex next time I get tix. If I remember my password. And my seat did recline - even better than those twin seats at the Atlantic theater!

Paul and I like to re-watch some movies - sometimes over and over again. We especially like comedies. I tease Paul about his go-to movies. Gladiator, Twister, Shawshank Redemption. He just can't seem to flip by those on the TV Guide without watching. We must watch Animal House, Caddyshack, Vacation and Ghostbusters every few years.

Paul and I don't to nearly as many movies as we used to. We have Netflix. There aren't as many that we wish to see. Movies are expensive (and tix are complicated). But I'm glad they still keep making them. Movies are important in our culture and as stated in this blog, they help make up the framework of our lives.