So once upon a time, I decided to take two of my friends to the movies. 'The Dark Knight' (aka the new Batman movie which is supposed to be one of the top grossing films of the summer partly due to the fact that one of it's main characters died several months ago and partly due to the fact that it's Batman and it's July) had just come out, so I figured, 'Heck, let's go see that.' The previews had looked intriguing, I hadn't gone to the movies all summer (except for Wall-E, but that was with the family. Not the same as going with your friends.) and I figured I needed a reward for all the intern work/college prep/petsitting/AP English homework that I'd done all week.
So I preorder three tickets, notify my friends via Facebook, arrange rides, and -bam!- we were off to the movies!
We left an hour early, so I figured we'd get decent seats.
And maybe that would've happened, had we not run into so many obstacles along the way.
First, my friend missed the freeway exit. So we continued driving along straight, past the Apple building, past the Donut shop...
Finally she speaks up. "Guys," she says, "I don't know where I'm going."
So after my other friend consoled her that indeed we WERE going the right way, I spoke up. "If you make a u-turn, you can get on the freeway and go that way."
And then they both looked at me like I was crazy, and gave me the whole, "No you can't! What are you talking about!" spiel. But I still coaxed them into taking my route. And naturally once we were actually ON the freeway, they were both like, "Oh yeah. I remember this route now. You were right all along..."
So we get to the theater, find parking (although we avoided the movie lot and parked in at Macy's lot instead), and head up the escalator to guest services.
So side story-- I tried to preorder tickets online yesterday. But Safari wasn't cooperating, and it took me TWO hours-- I kid you not, TWO-- to wait for my transaction to load only to find out that the attempt had failed. So then I called the theaters and after waiting ANOTHER half hour on hold, I managed to preorder three tickets directly through the theater. So the lady told me all I needed to do was go to guest services, give my last name, and we'd be in.
So we waited in another line for guest services (a lot of people preordered tickets). And then we got to the front. I smiled at the lady, gave her my last name, spelled it out because I have a stupid last name that nobody can spell correctly, and the lady frowns.
"Nope," she says. "No order under that last name."
And so I try to silence that inner cynic in me groaning, 'Fuck. I KNEW this would happen if I tried to preorder tickets!' and asked the lady if she was SURE I didn't have tickets, because I DID order them through the theater yesterday and the lady on the phone SPECIFICALLY TOLD ME she had my tickets on hold. Plus, my credit card had already been charged the $30.75.
So the lady asked me who I talked to, I told her I didn't write her name down, and the lady repeated, "I'm sorry. We don't have those tickets available and the show is sold out."
And then she tells me to go stand off to the side, she needs to get through the line of people behind me, and she'll see what she can do.
So we stand off to the side. I'm absolutely fuming at the fact that I might not get into the movie that I'd wasted three hours obtaining tickets for. But finally, the line dies down and the lady draws us back in.
"So now," she says, "we only have one ticket left over. Now I DO want to help you guys get in, but..." she shrugs her shoulders and gives me that obnoxious-as-hell -'Tut-tut' look, "I'm not sure what we can do."
So I tell her, "Are you SURE there's no ticket? Because I specifically ordered them through the theater last night."
"Did you order online?" she asks.
"No," I say. "Over the phone."
And suddenly the lady starts smiling like a fiend. "Oh!" she exclaims. "I'm sorry! You're in the wrong line then! Here, go over to Chris and tell
him."
So I go to Chris, give him my last name, and he hands me three ticket and a receipt. The process took about ten seconds.
But the adventure wasn't over. The guy who rips our tickets tells us the theater is on the left, and the top of the ticket has a number 16. Theater 16 is on the left. That must be our theater!
Interestingly enough, theater 16 was tiny. There were maybe six rows total and four families with little kids watching. So right away we found great seats and commented on how odd it was that the theater would choose to show 'The Dark Knight' in such a small theater on the opening weekend. But we figured it was probably showing in at least five other theaters, so everyone else must be inside of those.
And five minutes later, my friend speaks up again.
"Um, guys?" she says. "I think we're supposed to be in theater 8."
So naturally me and my other friend give her the "No we're not! What are you talking about!" spiel. Then we check our tickets.
Turns out Century 16 is the name of the theater itself, not our room.
So we get up, head out, and realize we had almost walked into 'Kung Fu Panda.' Fail.
Auditorium 8, on the other hand, had at least twenty rows and each one was completely packed. The only available seats were on the far left in the second row.
So guess where we ended up sitting?
But in the end, it doesn't REALLY matter that we went through so many obstacles only to obtain such crappy seats-- 'The Dark Knight' was absolutely epic. Dark, suspenseful and satisfying-- easily the best movie I've seen since 'Fight Club' and 'Princess Mononoke.' And Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker was mind-blowing-- kid you not, I am never going to look at a movie villian the same way. At first when I heard Heath Ledger was receiving Oscar buzz for best actor, I figured it was just because he had died and everybody wanted to make a fuss about that. But after seeing 'The Dark Knight,' I can legitimately say that he's earned that nod, if not the award itself.
So in the end, I got a great movie, and some laughs about how I got there with my friends. Not a bad way to end my week.
That's all for tonight. Peace.
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