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At The Movies
The last two dollar theaters in New Orleans closed down recently and my other favorite site closed down as well, losing the competion to the new stadium seating theaters which are springing up not everywhere, like weeds, but everywhere that matters, in the market.
In the case of the latter loss, a multiplex venue for first run movies (3.50 for matinees), and the last surviving business at the defunct Belle Promenade Mall in Marrero, I knew I was enjoying a thing which would eventually spell doom for the proprietors, that thing being having the 800+ capacity auditoriums almost all to myself, and in fact the next to last movie I saw there, The Replacements, I did have all that air-conditioned cubic volume to myself and never let it be said that I don't praise the Lord because I do praise the Lord for circumstances like that, Praise the Lord, I don't take gifts like that for granted.
So I cooled on movies for awhile, ocassionally hitting the Palace (in Harrahan) for my first run stadium seated fix. That's where I saw Almost Famous. But I've had to consider alternate venues. And really up until today, "consider" is all I've done. I thought I could go to Movie Pitchers on Bienville to see independent/art films which I haven't done much while here in NO. It's a "multiplex." The theaters though are actually rooms and the seating is more like easy chairs and couches, which is nice but not that nice when you consider the screen is more like something you might be able to hang on the wall of your home. Also, a new grocery store is planning to build around the corner and there is talk that they may level the MP for parking. I don't want to get comfortable with something and then have people suggesting I sign their petitions to save them. I sound so uppity saying I don't sign petitions.
Now Canal Place is a mall near the foot of Canal and shows independent/art films and is across the street from that struggling Harrah's Casino which is whining to our governor that unless they can get a break on their 100 million dollar yearly tax commitment, they will have to shut down. Our governor, God bless him, even though his familial ties to the Klan are not so Godly, has thus far proven to be anti-gambling and is basically telling the Casino people to go fuck themselves. And I like him for that. I should probably add that I also like the loveable ex-Governor Edwards who was corrupt as a public official can be and is mostly responsible for the presence of gambling in Louisiana. He's being punished for that though.
I have for the last few days been power sanding the lead based paint from the cypress siding on the Rocheblave house and even with goggles and mask that powdered material enters the lungs and eyes and so today being Sunday, the day the Lord commands we rest, I took a break from it, and did some piddling on the inside. Until about 11:30 anyway, at which point I decided to head for Harrahan to see a movie. But I started feeling that the Palace (stadium seating) Theater could not be my only remaining choice for movies so I turned right out of my cracked driveway and traveled the block and a half to Canal, turned left there and made the short drive to downtown and Canal Place and becoming confused about the garage parking situation headed back up Canal to find something to eat. I ended up at the KFC on Claiborne, directly across the street from the community that recently became a national news story because of a shooting at Woodson Jr. High. I like that original recipe, and looking across Claiborne I don't know if its the Melpomene or the Magnolia projects (currently known as Guste and CJ Peete) I can see but true enough its not an easy neighborhood and although at first I was pissed off for the media attention, because it didn't seem right that these local children have been killing each other all year, year after year, and now just because school shootings are a hot topic the local and national media does that little frenzied dance they do. But after further review, I'm glad for the attention, no matter the motive, no matter to what purpose our politicians play it, because it needs to be seen, and seen some more, until, I guess, the right people get killed, which then causes the national consciousness to wake up and say, "oh my god, this can't go on, something radical must be done." Our great murdered numbers have no great cause behind them to at least add a sense of higher purpose--be it religious or political--to the insanity that is the killing of your neighbor. Our legacy as a nation is indifference. Our national complacency about casual killing will someday find its season to molt, and out of that will come an outrage which unfortunately will be but a first step. Or not.
I saw the Tao of Steve, it was a love story.