July 29, 2014

Movies At Dog Farm Remembers . . . The Dixie Theater In Staunton, VA


     When I was growing up, my hometown of Staunton,Virginia had three theaters: the Plaza Cinema (now The Staunton Mall Cinema 6), the Visulite Cinema, and the Dixie Theater.  All three were still open for business until Sunday, July 27th when the Dixie Theater presented a final showing of Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1980) and then closed its doors.  This historic theater that first opened over a century ago was forced by a weak economy and rising operational costs to shut its doors for the last time.

The New Theater, 1913
     The Dixie, originally known as the New Theater, first opened those doors in 1913.  It was gutted by fire in 1936, after which it was remodeled in Art Moderne style by architect John Eberson and rechristened the Dixie Theater.  The Dixie was reconfigured into a four screen multiplex in 1982, and then slowly fell into disrepair over the course of the next two decades.  That's the era in which I visited most often, and I actually liked that it seemed just a little seedy.  The Dixie was slated to close in 2009, but it was instead taken over by Adam Greenbaum, who still operates the Visulite Cinema just a few blocks away.  Only last year the Dixie converted two of its four projectors to digital formatting at a cost of over $50,000 per projector.  Sadly, it seems that wasn't enough to boost attendance.

     At least the Dixie went out with a flourish this last weekend by screening the classic blockbusters Jaws (1975), E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Back To The Future (1985), and the aforementioned Raiders Of The Lost Ark.  Of course, any one of these titles would have been a treat to see again on the big screen, but I opted only for tickets to the last showing of Jaws on Sunday.  It was the only one of the four I'd never seen in a proper theater.  As great as it was to see Jaws on the big screen for the first time, I found myself preoccupied with the ghosts of movies I'd seen at the Dixie in the past.

Time Walker (1982)
     In the early eighties the Dixie was a haven for the kinds of movies that more often turned up on the bottom of the bill at the drive-in.  I distinctly recall seeing The Grim Reaper there, which was a retitled and heavily edited American release of director Joe D'Amato's infamous cannibal flick Anthropophagus (1980).  For some inexplicable reason I have a very clear recollection of seeing future Mystery Science Theater 3000 fodder Time Walker (1982) at the Dixie, as well.  At the time (I was only twelve years old) I thought the defiantly B-movie conceit of an alien "mummy" buried in King Tut's tomb was pretty clever. 

     I also recall a few screenings made memorable primarily by virtue of who accompanied me.  My first apartment was in downtown Staunton within walking distance of the Dixie.  My grandmother crashed at my place while visiting from Minnesota one summer, and we walked to the Dixie together to take in a matinee of Pump Up The Volume (1990).  The R-rated story of an angsty teenage loner (Christian Slater) broadcasting a pirate radio station from his parents' basement was a bit of a shock to my grandmother, who professed to have no idea how difficult things were for the youth of the day.  We then spent the evening back at my apartment bonding over one of our first real adult conversations with one another, an evening that defined the tenor of our relationship from that day forward.

South Park: Bigger, Longer, And Uncut (1999)
     Of course, not every trip to the theater was fraught with such heady import.  I remember seeing South Park: Bigger, Longer, And Uncut (1999) with my dad at the Dixie.  My father is the kind of moviegoer who sees whatever happens to be popular at the time, but I'm pretty sure he had no idea what to make of this particular bit of bawdy pop culture.  I ended up watching his reactions more intently than I watched the movie.  I nearly lost him when Saddam Hussein, in bed with his lover Satan, whipped out an over-sized dildo.  Whereas Pump Up The Volume brought my grandmother and I closer together, the South Park movie only served to illustrate the generational divide between my dad and me.  Curiously, our bonding moment came later in the same year when we both had to remain seated long enough to regain our composure as the credits rolled at the end of American Beauty (1999).

     Not surprisingly, though, my most vivid recollection of the Dixie actually involved a horror movie screening nearly fifteen years earlier.  You see, the Dixie is where I saw Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984).  The first two Friday The 13th movies had been seminal viewing experiences for me, and at the ripe old age of fourteen I actually believed that The Final Chapter would be Jason's swan song as well as the end of the Friday The 13th franchise.  I hadn't yet become the cynical and jaded curmudgeon I am today.

Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)
     Despite the popularity of the franchise, The Final Chapter had been booked into one of the two tiny theaters upstairs, each of which were one half of what used to be the balcony.  It was opening weekend, standing room only, and the crowd was rowdy and animated.  Everyone hooted and cheered for each successive gory demise.  The audience erupted when Jason slid slowly down the length of a machete planted deep in his head at the movie's climax.  There was no way in hell Jason would recover from that deathblow, right?  Of course, we all know better now, but at the time it seemed pretty definitive.

     Now, some thirty years later, I found myself watching a movie at the Dixie Theater for the very last time.  It didn't really hit me until the shark had been vanquished and the end credits rolled.  The capacity audience broke into applause at the end of Jaws, but in this one instance I'm pretty sure the applause was for the Dixie Theater itself rather than the movie.  A friend had teased that I would probably cry when I saw my last movie at the Dixie.  She was right.

A few more disappointing snapshots of the Dixie Theater in Staunton, courtesy of my crappy TracFone.

     Please visit Cinema Treasures for a gallery of fifteen higher quality Dixie pics as well as a street view of the Dixie you can manipulate to get a closer look at the arches, terra cotta tiles, and laughing theatrical faces that adorn the front of the building.  The property is owned by the Staunton Performing Arts Center, which has plans to restore and renovate both the Dixie and the adjacent Arcadia Building.

     At least the building itself will be restored to an approximation of its original glory.  Sadly, however, the Dixie Theater I knew is gone for good.

The Dixie Theater
1913-2014
R.I.P.


July 21, 2014

Horror Movie Advocacy - You've Gotta See This Movie Because It Earns My Own Personal Seal Of Approval

Vintage VCR magazine ad
Slightly better than a rooftop antenna . . .
     While shopping for a few new Blu-rays to order in anticipation of Pre'Ween, it occurred to me that I rarely ever purchase movies on disc anymore.  I view movies almost exclusively by streaming or media server.  That's not really news, because increasingly, that's how most people view movies at home.  What was interesting to me was how my criteria for what warrants a "buy" rather than a "stream" has changed along with my altered viewing habits.

     Like many movie aficionados, I am by nature a collector.  I'm just old enough to remember a time, though, when even movie fans rarely owned their own copies of their favorites.  The tech wasn't as widely available, and the movies themselves - because they were exorbitantly expensive - weren't as commonly purchased to own.  We rented instead.

     Once upon a time, Mom and Pop video rental stores were almost as ubiquitous as Redbox kiosks are today.  The good news was that the cost of rental was well within most families' budgets provided they could make the initial investment in a VCR.  Even better, all of those video stores (and their customers) were so eager for new content that store shelves overflowed with movies of every stripe.  Of course, such a wealth of choices was a movie fan's dream, but rental did not scratch the itch to collect one's favorites.  If you were really enterprising you could purchase a second VCR and dub copies of your rental tapes, but it was only a matter of time before the movie industry plugged up that hole by widely adopting Macrovision copy protection.

LaserDisc magazine ad from 1990
LaserDisc - It's Portable!
     All things must eventually pass, however, and the arrival of new format called DVD eventually drove the last few nails in the VHS coffin.  I'm intentionally glossing over LaserDisc because it was never widely adopted in North America - or anywhere else save Japan and South East Asia, really.  DVD was the giant killer, and the format popularized the idea of sell-through pricing so that many of us were finally able to start our own movie collections in earnest.  Many of us went a little ape-shit on that point, too.

     Throughout the first decade of the new millennium I purchased an absurd number of DVDs.  Curating my own collection even took precedence over actually going to the theater, since for the cost of a movie ticket and some popcorn I could actually own my own copy of each new release just a few months after it was in theaters.  My rule of thumb:  if I entertained the notion of venturing out to the theater to see a new release, I just bought a copy of the DVD a few months later instead.  My DVD collection grew exponentially in a very short period of time based upon this somewhat specious reasoning.

Suspiria Limited Edition dvd cover
My first Limited Edition DVD purchase
     Of course, new releases were only the tip of the iceberg.  It was the catalog titles that really broke the bank.  Distributors like Synapse, Code Red, Anchor Bay, and Blue Underground were releasing old favorites at a brisk clip, and I was buying most of them.  Not only was I finally able to own my own copy of movies like Lucio Fulci's Zombie (1979) and Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), but I was awash in a sea of special features that augmented these releases.  Now even the most obscure titles were getting the Collector's Edition treatment.  It was truly a wonderful time to be a movie fan.

    Not surprisingly, though, I soon found myself with a sizable collection that housed far too many disappointing catalog releases and watch-it-once-and-forget-it new releases.  I had to institute some buying parameters to insure more judicious purchases.  I stopped buying new releases sight unseen, and I began to be far more selective about my catalog purchases.  A DVD did not warrant a purchase unless I was certain it was a title I'd watch multiple times.  Catalog titles did not warrant a purchase until after reviews hit the internet to tell me whether or not it was a quality release.

The Manitou dvd cover
A bigger priority than Jaws
     Perhaps most importantly, obscure titles, long out of print titles, and titles that rarely aired on cable or satellite were always the priority.  For example, to this day I don't own a copy of Jaws (1975) on disc.  Jaws is always on television and will never be out of print in my lifetime.  It's a brilliant movie, but it's not a priority purchase.  I do, however, own a copy of The Manitou (1978).  What the f**k, right? 

     Since my purchases were now required to be titles that were previously difficult to obtain,  or difficult to see elsewhere, or - in my own humble opinion - worthy of multiple viewings, it almost goes without saying that the discs I did purchase were usually titles that I would enthusiastically recommend to others.  One more parameter, perhaps more important than all the rest, began to govern my purchases:  if it's a title that I want to share with others, it's a buy.  It was the birth of my horror movie advocacy.

     At the same time, it was essentially the death of my spend-crazy ways.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, I guess, but it did mean that my purchases became fewer and far less frequent.  Since by that point I already owned copies of most catalog titles worth owning, my buying began to revolve only around newer titles that made the grade.  When I consider now my purchases over the course of the last several years, I find that there have been distressingly few of those.

     I've been vocal here at the Dog Farm with my advocacy of Pontypool (2008), a movie I still frequently loan out to others.  I continue to share Trick 'r Treat (2007) with as many people as I can every Halloween,  because I'm determined to do my part to make it a perennial staple.  I frequently loan out [REC] (2007) because it kills my soul that American audiences are still more familiar with the inferior English language remake.  Attack The Block (2011) is one of my more recent causes.  I just can't understand how this relatively big and wildly entertaining release managed to fly beneath so many radars.  There have been others - Laid To Rest (2009), House Of The Devil (2009), John Dies At The End (2012) - but still too few to warrant more than a trickle of new purchases.  I still see plenty of movies that I enjoy, but I don't see that many that inspire my whole-hearted advocacy.

My Pre'Ween choices for 2014
My Pre'Ween shopping list for 2014
     For what it's worth, every movie I've chosen to purchase for Pre-Ween this year is a catalog title.  The Director's Cut of Nightbreed (1990) is a must have, as is Without Warning (1980).  I'll also be picking up Sleepaway Camp (1983) and Curtains (1983), neither of which have previously enjoyed decent releases.  I'll probably also purchase Blue Underground's bargain priced release The Complete Blind Dead Saga since I never purchased The Blind Dead Collection Limited Edition from 2005.  That's it, though - not a new movie in the bunch.  It looks like this horror movie advocate is stumping exclusively for the oldies this year.

     Which newer movies have you really gone out of your way to recommend to others recently, and what makes them deserving of special attention?  If you consider yourself a horror movie advocate, what qualities are most likely to earn a movie your own personal seal of approval?


July 18, 2014

Noteworthy On Netflix - 7/18/14 - Digging A Little Deeper Than Usual

Noteworthy On Netflix banner

     I'm watching movies on Netflix less and less now, as the diminished frequency of these posts attests.  For my own purposes I decided to dig a little deeper than usual this time.  What I came up with was - different.  There were a couple I was surprised to find, a couple that are actually really good, and a few that are only entertaining if you're in the mood for an undemanding, brain-dead B-movie. 

     Remember that availability changes often, but all of the following titles were available from Netflix at the time of this posting.  Each movie's capsulized description is taken from the its Netflix listing.  The genre listed after the title (Horror, Cult,
Thrillers, Classic, Action & Adventure, or Sci-Fi & Fantasy) indicates where you'll find each movie in your onscreen groupings.  Try doing a manual search if one seems to be missing, which is more likely than usual this time. 

     If you have recommendations of your own, please share in the Comments section below.  You can watch a trailer for each movie by clicking its title, though a few are pretty rough looking this time.


____________________________________________________________________

Wolf Creek 2 posterWolf Creek 2 (2013)
Horror / 1hr46min / NR

     A couple's dream vacation turns into a nightmare when they run into a bloodthirsty serial killer with a penchant for sadistic games.

     I'm sure you've probably already noticed the prominently displayed Wolf Creek 2 on Netflix, but maybe you've skipped over it thinking it was just a lazy rehash.  I understand.  Though I enjoyed director Greg McLean's 2005 original, I really didn't see any likelihood that this belated sequel would be anything more than a cash grab trading on name recognition.  Luckily, McLean's directorial skill and an incredible performance by a returning John Jarratt as charismatic serial killer Mick Taylor combine to make Wolf Creek 2 one of the most unexpectedly entertaining horror releases of the year.

     As much as Wolf Creek 2 is a showcase for Jarratt's performance, the tense game of cat and mouse played out by Mick Taylor and would-be primary victim Paul Hammersmith (Ryan Corr) wouldn't be nearly as engrossing if  Corr didn't contribute such a fine performance himself.  It's been a while since I found myself actually rooting for the protagonist in a slasher movie, and I'm sure it wasn't easy not being steamrolled by the larger-than-life Jarratt.

   As a bonus, Wolf Creek 2 blindsided me with easily the funniest and most cinematic use of indigenous wildlife in a high speed car chase that I've ever seen.  Only in Australia...

____________________________________________________________________

Never Sleep Again (2010)
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010)
Cult, Horror / 3hr58min / NR

     As Freddy Krueger is reborn for a new generation, it's time to return to where it all began. Join star Heather Langenkamp for a rare journey down Elm Street, with film clips, rare photos, storyboards, and more treasures from the entire series.

     If you've ever enjoyed any project involving the Bastard Son of 100 Maniacs, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) is sure to give you sweet dreams.  This impressively exhaustive documentary covers every movie in the Elm Street franchise and then some.  Its intimidating length notwithstanding, Never Sleep Again is well worth your time.  If it gets you fired up to watch one of the movies afterward, franchise black sheep A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) is currently available to stream, as well.

_____________________________________________________________________

The Mighty Peking Man (1977)
Mighty Peking Man (1977)
Action & Adventure, Classic, Cult / 1hr30min / PG-13

     Captured and brought back to the big city, a mysterious, giant apelike creature proves he can never be chained as he runs amok in Hong Kong.

     You could have watched Mighty Peking Man (1977) with us at the first Movies At Dog Farm Virtual Drive-In.  If you missed that opportunity (and most of you did), then here it is for your own shameful private delectation.  It's not hard to imagine why Quentin Tarantino is a big fan of this. 

     Mighty Peking Man was produced by Shaw Brothers Studio with the intent of capitalizing on the success of the 1976 remake of King Kong.  You get a hot blonde jungle girl in an off-the-shoulder animal skin, "natives" that are actually Asians painted brown, a televised event featuring a guy in a giant ape suit chained to toy trucks, and big game hunters stomping through the jungle in polyester leisure suits.  It's almost indescribable, so I'm not even going to try. Mighty Peking Man is the cubic zirconia of giant ape movies.  Only you can decide whether or not that constitutes a recommendation.

___________________________________________________________________

Gothic (1986)
Gothic (1986)
Cult, Horror / 1hr27min / R

     The poet Lord Byron turns his estate into a haunted and horror-filled playground in this film that purports to tell the story of the night that inspired Mary Shelley to write Frankenstein.

     Gothic (1986) is yet another movie on this list that's almost impossible to describe to someone who isn't already familiar with it.  It was directed by Ken Russell, the same visionary lunatic who brought us The Devils (1971), Altered States (1980), and The Lair Of The White Worm (1988).  Though I strongly suspect that Russell's tale of hedonism and debauchery takes more than a few liberties with the actual facts, it does make for a breathtakingly screwy piece of cinema.  I find it amusing that the Netflix capsulization describes Gothic as a film that "purports to tell the story..."

     It's worth noting, too, that Gothic has only ever been released on Region 1 disc in a spectacularly awful, sub-VHS full-screen transfer.  The stream on Netflix is at least presented in the proper aspect ratio.  Maybe someday we'll see an HD box set of Russell's entire filmography, but I'm not holding my breath.  Russell's adaptation of Salome by Oscar Wilde, entitled Salome's Last Dance (1988), is also currently available on Netflix - and also long out-of-print on DVD.

__________________________________________________________________

Ravenous (1999)
Ravenous (1999)
Cult, Thrillers, Horror / 1hr40min / R

     In 19th-century California, soldiers at an Army outpost treat an injured man who tells them horrific tales of resorting to cannibalism while stranded.

     Ravenous (1999) was one of the first indications to me that the 1990s hadn't completely squeezed all of the life out of the genre, and though it has since built a solid fanbase, I'm still at a loss to explain why it has never garnered wider acclaim. Ravenous is a truly unique and well executed gift to genre fans, and you should move it to the top of your Netflix queue immediately if you've never seen it.

     Ravenous is bolstered greatly by fantastic performances from all involved, with Robert Carlyle as the cannibalistic Colonel Ives and Jeffrey Jones as Colonel Hart being particular stand-outs.  The unusual score, which features banjo, squeeze-box, and mouth-harp, is fittingly eerie, as well.  It's in the same league as Goblin's score for Suspiria (1977) insofar as how integral it is to the overall effectiveness of the movie.  A welcome pinch of pitch black humor is sprinkled liberally throughout, and the late director Antonia Bird does a commendable job modulating the disparate elements so the delicate balance of pathos, horror, and humor gels perfectly.  Highly recommended.

_________________________________________________________________

Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Fantastic Voyage (1966)
Action & Adventure, Classic, Sci-Fi & Fantasy / 1hr40min / PG

     A group of medical experts miniaturize themselves to enter the body of an ailing scientist, but a traitor seeks to undermine their dangerous mission.

     Fantastic Voyage (1966) is a fine example of what used to pass for an "event" movie back in the day, and it still stands up pretty damn well as a solid popcorn movie.  All of the youngsters familiar with the movie's gimmick by way of pop culture osmosis or Joe Dante's comedic reworking of the premise in Innerspace (1987) should find plenty to like here.  Even the once cutting-edge FX - which earned Fantastic Voyage the Oscar for both Best Art Direction and Best Effects back in 1966 - still hold up well today.  Add in the presence of  film icons like Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, and Donald Pleasance, and Fantastic Voyage emerges as one of the more entertaining streaming options on Netflix now.

______________________________________________________________

The Evictors (1979)
The Evictors (1979)
Horror / 1hr32min / PG

     Shortly after moving into a quaint Louisiana town, a couple experiences disturbing events suggesting that someone -or something- wants them dead.

     If you enjoyed director Charles B. Pierce's The Legend Of Boggy Creek (1972) or The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), then you might be curious about The Evictors (1979), the last - and least financially successful - of his ad hoc seventies horror trilogy.  But is it really horror?  The twist at the end effectively transforms The Evictors into a Scooby Doo mystery that ultimately renders all suggestions of a supernatural reading moot.  Still, Pierce does succeed in delivering convincing forties era period detail, and he uses his locations to good effect, as well.  You've got to love a movie that was made back when "old-timey" was still depicted by shooting in sepia tone.

     Your curiosity may also be piqued by the movie's cast.  It stars Michael Parks, most familiar to younger viewers as the foul-mouthed Texas Ranger Earl McGraw who appears in a number of movies by Quentin Tarantino and/or Robert Rodriguez.  It also gives us the lovely Jessica Harper just a couple of years after Suspira (1977), as well as Vic Morrow (Twilight Zone: The Movie) playing a shady realtor.  As a bonus, you'll see character actor Dennis Fimple, whom you may recognize as Grampa Hugo from House Of 1000 Corpses (2003).  That's not a bad who's who for a lazy Sunday afternoon, the perfect time to watch a movie like The Evictors that functions more as a curiosity than anything else.  Seriously, I just used some form of the word curious three times in two paragraphs.

________________________________________________________________


July 10, 2014

Why Is Horror Underperforming At The Box Office? Should I Be Scared?

The Green Inferno (2013) poster
Could this be the savior of  the horror box office in 2014?
         Horror on television has never been more popular, and what horror fan isn't happy about that?  The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, Bates Motel, and scores of other genre shows are consuming cable and broadcast like creeping dread.  Horror shows are everywhere, and even more are coming.  In addition to the shows already airing, the coming year will most likely see new ones based upon the Friday The 13th and Scream franchises, as well.  I recall a day a couple of years ago when I read online that new episodes of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story were the two highest rated shows on cable the preceding week.  I never imagined I'd see the day that horror was the most popular thing on television.  I actually got a little verklempt about it.

     You see, I grew up at a time when horror shows on television were watered down and doomed to cancellation.  Unfortunately, even the handful of horror themed shows that stuck - Tales From The Crypt, Monsters, Tales From The Darkside - were of little interest to me.  They were either crippled by poor production values and censorship or, in the case of Tales From The Crypt, just too hokey and simplistic to actually be scary.  Crypt, in particular, always irked me.  Most episodes of that long running anthology were built on the same hoary framework utilized in the old EC comics the series was based upon.  It was a labored set up for a horrific punchline telegraphed far too early in the proceedings to actually be scary or surprising.  Why bother? 

Shane from The Walking Dead
Why, Shane?  Why!?!
     At least now the anthology format has largely been abandoned in favor of ongoing stories with recurring characters and complex narratives.  That sturdier dramatic framework makes it a lot easier to actually care enough about what's happening each week to return for the next.  Both The Walking Dead and American Horror Story whiff the ball almost as often as they knock it out of the park, but I'm sufficiently engaged by both to keep coming back for more. I was actually incensed when The Walking Dead killed off Shane at the end of season two, and I was little bit tickled when Lori bit the dust in season three.  I'm not always happy with the narrative choices the show makes, but I'm not indifferent, either.

     Why, then, when horror is so healthy on television, has it been failing so miserably at the box office?  Granted most wide release horror aims for the lowest common denominator, but even a slow year generally  yields at least a couple of flicks that somehow manage to be financially successful and not blow monkey nuts.  So far this year, Oculus is as close as we've gotten, and even that ended its domestic run with a relatively modest $27 million.  That's a great return on a $5 million dollar budget, but it's chicken scratch compared to the $137 million The Conjuring scared up last year.  What's even more disheartening is that I don't see anything on the horizon likely to turn the tide.

Dracula Untold (2014) poster
Why, Dracula?  Why!?!
     The Purge: Anarchy (releasing July 18th) seems like a sequel no-one really asked for to an original that, though financially successful, left many viewers underwhelmed.  Annabelle (October 3rd) seems promising, but am I the only member of the audience getting a little burnt out on all the ghost stories?  That's precisely why I couldn't care less about Jessabelle (August 29th) or Paranormal Activity 5 (October 24th).  I'm not very enthusiastic about yet another retelling of the Dracula tale, either, so Dracula Untold (October 17th) is also a pass.  I'm more interested in Eli Roth's cannibal movie The Green Inferno (September 5th) than anything else scheduled for release in the back half of 2014, and that's mostly just because I haven't seen anyone take a stab at a cannibal movie for a while.

     If it turns out I'm wrong about any of these upcoming releases I'll gladly eat crow, but things are looking pretty grim to me.  I know better than to fret prematurely about the death of the horror genre, because that particular passing has been predicted - and then failed to materialize - too many times in the past.  We will always be scared of something, and some enterprising young filmmaker will always be willing to exploit our fear in hopes of making a splash with an inexpensive first feature. Horror does go in cycles, though, and I'm convinced we're heading for a fallow season.  What do you think?


July 2, 2014

Fancy A Drive-In Movie With The Dog Farm And Eight Other Strangers?


     How would you like to watch a drive-in movie with me and eight other drive-in movie fans right in your own luxuriously appointed living room?  I'm all in favor of any plan that has the potential to go disastrously wrong, so here's the first Movies At Dog Farm Virtual Drive-In!  Follow the three easy steps below to get a front row seat!

     Step 1 - Sign up for Google+ to gain access to Google Hangouts.

     Step 2 - Send an email to bwearly8888@gmail.com telling me you'd like to participate.

     Step 3 - Log on to Google Hangouts 1/2 an hour before the scheduled showtime,
                  put the selected movie in your Netflix queue, and wait for your invite.


     I'll be choosing a movie readily available on Netflix streaming this time since there's not yet a good solution that allows me to stream my own movies to you.  Using Netflix also allows everyone to watch the flick on the big screen instead of in a pop-up window on the laptop.  We'll sync playback once everyone has checked in.

     Google Hangouts can only accommodate ten individuals per hangout, so don't miss your chance to participate.  In the unlikely event that more than ten people want to participate, I'll be maintaining a "stand-by" list.  If anyone that registered in advance doesn't respond to their invite at showtime, I'll issue an invite to the first name on the stand-by list.

     Our first movie selection, the day, the date, and the showtime will be posted soon under the Movies At Dog Farm Virtual Drive-In header in the sideboard.

     EDITED JULY 3:  The movie for July will be Mighty Peking Man (1977) on Sunday, July 13 at 8:30 pm.  That info is now posted under the Virtual Drive-In header in the sideboard, as well.


+
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...