episode v at afi

hey, stormtroopers like to go to the movies, too

the afi is running an 80s film festival, and tonight they're playing my favorite movie of my favorite saga: empire strikes back. it's almost too good to be true.

dr. w and i had an amazing day: watching world cup soccer, grilling out, and drinking beer (well, just me on the last one) while enjoying beautiful weather in the backyard with the chief and chief chick.

we walked to afi around 6. i had never actually seen this movie in a theater--i wasn't old enough when it came out, and the summer that the original episodes replayed ('98) i was living in hungary.

so this is a BIG night.

imagine my shock when i saw 'sold out' on the marquee sign. every geek in town is out tonight, including this stormtrooper.

mothershitter.

unbeknown to us, afi had just started selling tickets online (they were virtually the last theater in the country to do so, but i kind of liked it--part of the old-school charm of the place).

dr. w had a great spirit about it. she said, "let's go get dinner, and then see if we find a way in." well, we wintermuted our way on to a plane that supposedly had no seats (and for which we did not even have an itinerary that day to fly there) to memphis last week, maybe it could work here.

so we grab some food in awesometown and strategize. our plan centers on buying scalped seats. we agreed on an initial offer of $20 a seat (2x the face value), with a cap of $30 per seat (since had a max of $60 between us). we hoped that some people would have a friend that failed to show and would be looking to unload an unused ticket.

when we get there, there was exactly one person trying to unload a seat, and she sold it right before i could get to her.

fukstix.

well, the one card i had left to play is that i remembered from working in a movie theater in high school and college that some theaters retain some house seats that the managers reserve for special guests, last minute sales, or other reasons. one 'other reason' is that typically, theaters put a seat in every row in order to keep the place looking symmetrical. so a 40' x 60' auditorium might have room for 200 seats (10 rows of 20 seats), however, when the fire marshal reviews the capacity s/he might decide that the safe capacity is less than 200 human beings--say 197. in theory, the theater can't sell those last three seats. so, there is always three unsold seats.

i was at the ticket booth, and sure enough, they have some house seats on hold! they agree to sell three of them at first. the dad and son in front of us grab two, and i grab one.

now we have to find one more seat. dr. w tries telling me that i should go in without her, but i want to see it with her (and our kiddo--this is his / her 1st star wars showing, albeit in utero).

five minutes before showtime, the manager comes out and agrees to sell some more house seats. we're 2nd in line and grab a ticket for dr. wintermute.

there is no try. do or do not.

the force was with us.