mad max vs. kim jong il

This summer has been huge for movies. When the economy is down people seem to escape at the movies…Movies have made a huge impact on my life…as a kid my imagination was nurtured through them. I have to give credit to my pops…he was a huge movie buff …he didn’t have the most sophisticated taste in films.  But he knew what he liked.  Every so often pops would take us to a double feature at the drive-in…One drawback was that we had to wait a few months after the movie was released to enjoy this perk. By the time I saw the film I heard the story line a hundred times.

Somehow how mom would alter our movie going experience. Funny thing is she didn’t even like movies. Til this day, I think she is the only person that thinks Elvis movies are great.  Elvis movies and the Ten Commandments.  That’s her idea of great cinema. When mom came to the movies with us... She was like Kim Jong il.

1. No buying popcorn.
2. No buying drinks
3. No buying anything!

Now I don’t know about you, but isn’t half the experience of going to movies the buttery popcorn a cold refreshing coke, with some delightful milk duds.  Sure it is! But mom brought her own snacks. To her credit she did try, she actually bought a popcorn maker. But it was used and didn’t work well. So the popcorn was always a little burnt or under cooked.  She didn’t use butter, she used cooking oil. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she didn’t put the popcorn in a big black garbage bag. It was a little much. We never had iced cold Pepsi’s either… it was usually a 2-liter of Shasta. Warm….coffee cups….no straws.

Even with all these Kim Jong IL rules…Pops turned  the other cheek, he never argued or got upset. He loved mom to death… He knew it was mom’s way of taking care of the family.

But one night pops had enough… I call it the “Mad Max”night. There was a double feature of Mad Max movies… It was Sunday night…mom starts to make the burnt popcorn and put chocolate milk in tupper wear…by 7pm we were off . We must of  been a mile away from the entrance when mom tells pops to pull over so she can get in the trunk.  Why the trunk you ask?  So she didn’t have to pay the extra 2 dollars. Pops actually argued and said it was embarrassing.  Mom yelled about how irresponsible he was…I could tell pop’s was pissed. This crossed the line. The movie line… Mom got her way and her free admittance to the drive-in. We pulled into our space…. Pops told my sister and I to follow him…we went straight to the concession stand…the glorious …buttery aroma-d stand of concession delight. We bought everything we wanted. As if the Kim Jong Il waiting in the trunk didn’t exist… Pops face had this tinge; I don’t know how to describe it. It was sinister. That’s it. Sinister! A SINISTER LOOK OF VICTORY! We walked back to the car, we heard a faint knocking from the trunk. “honey…honey”…Kim Jong Il wanted out of her 4x4 PRISON…. Dad finally let her out. Needless to say the evening wasn’t pleasant. Needless to say mom didn’t join in a lot of future movie nights. But hey, I had fun watching the movie and that buttery popcorn was delicious!