My First Advanced Screening

"What are you doing?"

"I'm turning off my cellphone."

"Why?"

"Cuz I don't want it going off during the movie."

"Well, just put it on vibrate."

"No, I can turn it off."

"Dude, there's no point in turning off a cellphone. It defeats the purpose of having a cellphone."

"Please. I'm not that important. The world will get along fine if my cellphone is off for a couple of hours."

"God, what's with people like you? The whole point of having a cellphone is to stay in constant contact with the world! If you're going to turn it off, well then, you may as well just have a phone at home. Cuz turning off a cellphone is like leaving home and hoping no one calls. JUST PUT IT ON VIBRATE!"

"...I'm turning it off."

And that's the conversation my co-worker and I had as I turned off my cellphone, and we settled in to watch the special advanced screening of Next.

How this all came about was my boss entered a contest at the Edmonton Sun for tickets to the advanced screening. She couldn't go, so she gave them to my co-worker and me. Since it was all boss-sanctioned, that meant leaving work early and getting the company gas card.

This was my first special advanced screening, and I've got to say, my mind was blown. My co-worker's mind was blown, too. We're both graduates of NAIT, and the campus station where we cut our teeth, NR92, occasionally got tickets to these advance screenings. I never partook in those at NR92, mainly because I was still living in Entwistle, and the long commute at night made it...prohibitive. The closest one I got to seeing was the special advance screening for the new anime classic Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence. I didn't go to that one because it was in the morning, and it would have meant skipping resume writing class.

Hmm...most of my classmates at NAIT routinely skipped resume writing class, and they got hired right out of school. I had perfect attendance, and it took me a year to find my first job. Damn. I really wish I saw Ghost in the Shell 2 now.

Anyway...I was totally geeking out the whole time, cuz I managed to catch a glimpse of Colin McLean. For those who don't care, Colin McLean has been the movie critic for CBC Edmonton forever. One of my earliest conscious memories of watching the 6 o'clock news was watching his review of the one with the whales. My co-worker was telling me I should go say hi and shake his hand, but I couldn't, cuz I'm just a big ol' chicken.

As for the movie itself, well, there's a review up now. Go read it!