18 Feb 2005
The Movie Stub Book.
Apparently, in October of 1989, I made a crucial decision without really thinking about it: instead of throwing away my movie ticket stub for Sex, Lies, and Videotape, which I saw with Vicki Nelson and two other girls, I kept it. The next time I saw a movie, I stashed the stub with the first. And so on, until the pile had to be given a tiny box, and then a bigger box, and then I compulsively started putting them in chronological order, and then I made a master list in my diary of who I went to each movie with, and then a few years ago I bought a sketchbook and glued them all in there.
The point of all of this is that I have a near-complete record of 15 years of movie-going. After I glued them in the book, adding the date and who I went with, I went back and wrote notes about each movie, usually one or two lines that say whether I liked it or not (I refer to this side of the page as the commentary section). I’m afraid that these notes reveal that I am, at heart, not a serious film critic. Most of the time, I write things like “Gwyneth has the cutest hair” or “This movie blew, but Ashley Judd has the cutest clothes” or “I love Hugh Grant.” Occasionally I will have an actual comment about the movie, but I end up sounding like a poser and those comments are embarrassing to read.
If anything noteworthy happened before or after the movie, I try to make a note of that as well. Now that the book is in place and I dutifully glue the stubs in after every couple of movies or so, it is much easier to come up with something to say (although the book does note that on our way to Sex, Lies, and Videotape, we stopped at a gas station and ran into these two boys, one of whom gave me a penny for some reason that I kept for a ridiculous amount of time).
And because I write down who I went to see each movie with, it is interesting to see the frequency of movies with various boyfriends or friends. Interesting fact: I have seen more movies with Mrs. Floon than with anyone else, even my high school boyfriend, with whom I went to the dollar movie every weekend for years. Interesting fact: I saw some of the worst movies ever made with Ted, my ex-husband (Gods and Generals, anyone?).
I have also noticed that during the cruddiest times of my life, I go to the movies all the time. In 1999, I had a horrible, awful job at an arts agency, working for a tubby, bossy, mean man who used to take off his shoes in our shared, 8′ x 8′ office; this smell was so…specific that I could identify it in a foot smell lineup. Also: I went out with 400 boys. It turns out that I saw 37 movies in 1999. Interesting. In 2003, well, let’s just not go into 2003, shall we? The fact that I saw 35 movies says it all. (2004, by the way, must have been pretty damn good: I only saw 6 movies. 6 movies! That is shameful. I’ve already seen 6 so far this year, and it’s only February.)
It should also be noted that I will pretty much go see anything if I am in the mood to see a movie. (And apparently, I have paid good money to see more Christian Slater movies than I would’ve guessed.)
The rules are that if I lose the stub, there is no mention in the book (I did consider making a list in the back of lost stubs, but for some reason the fact that the book is all about proof made this list seem like cheating). I do have some stubs for movies that I have no recollection of seeing (and therefore I don’t know who I saw them with), or stubs that are unreadable. I grouped them together in a Potter’s Field of amnesiac stubs.
February 18th, 2005 at 09:03
this is so awesome. you’re one hell of a chronicler.
February 18th, 2005 at 09:03
i hate to do this, but i’m not posting a comment to your post. i’m posting to let everyone know, that means you uber-brother, that i got engaged last night!!!
thank you for letting me abuse your space. (i keep all my stubs in the bottom of my childhood piggy bank)
February 18th, 2005 at 09:17
I wish I had done something similar with my concert stubs, btu then I’ve never had the continuing drive to be so well organized, except for my record collection (cue Nick Hornby jokes here). The closest I got was saving the few GBV shows where I ahd tickets and then gluing them to the appropriate album cover on the career spanning GBV poster (no wine bottles on mine) which I had framed at the Chalet. The earliest stub I ahd was fr the Nick show during Icefest 2000(?).
February 18th, 2005 at 09:55
Gosh. Of course there is nothing to say, as I have loved that book for years, and I’ve been wanting you to write about it for just as long. Fantastic.
February 18th, 2005 at 10:28
simpla amazin’.
February 18th, 2005 at 10:47
I notice on the 2003 page you saw at least 4 movies in 3 weeks. Wow. A surprising percentage of those were pretty bad movies, too. Sheesh. Glad I could be a participant / financier in Your Bad Birmingham Year.
I think you and M. Floon are good for the movies. I saw more movies during that same period of time than probably the rest of my life, combined.
February 18th, 2005 at 10:54
There are whole pages where all 4 stubs were from movies that I saw with you (“that I saw with you” = “that you paid for”). Do you not go to the movies every other night anymore?
February 18th, 2005 at 11:26
No, sadly. Going to the movies is more fun when you’re going with someone who is actually excited about the process of going to the movies (not necessarily excited about the particular movie being viewed, but excited about the ritual of going to a movie at a movie theater and buying a ticket and sitting in the dark and eating popcorn and slurping sugary beverages and gawking at your fellow moviegoers while being simultaneously enthralled, disgusted, and annoyed by them).
Speaking of that, you should’ve posted your comments on The Station Agent — possibly the most pissed off I have ever seen you.
February 18th, 2005 at 13:24
What was wrong with the Station Agent? I loved that one!
February 18th, 2005 at 13:34
It wasn’t the movie–I just have a problem when my fellow audience members scream out at intervals, “You go, dwarf!!”
February 18th, 2005 at 14:50
Power to the (little) People!
The Station Agent is one of my favorite movies of the past few years. It was so unexpected that Bobby Canavale could act after Third watch and his bit in Shall We Dance.
February 18th, 2005 at 14:52
Can you put all that into an Excel spreadsheet?
February 18th, 2005 at 15:06
i have to say YUCK to that swimming pool movie, though. i only mention it because i saw it upon sally and sam’s reccomendation (i think–maybe you just told me you went). what were your comments on that movie, sally?
February 18th, 2005 at 15:30
My high school girlfriend gave me a similar book. It had ALL the ticket stubs from our date movies, a straw wrapper from our first “dinner” together(hardees in C’ville!), high school dance tix-stubs and other crapola. There were other overly touchy-feely comments and such. I burned it with a lot of other things from high school in a booze induced frenzy about 10 years ago. I tend to lose a lot of things that way…
February 18th, 2005 at 15:34
I think Sam and I were just impressed with all the French boobs in “Swimming Pool.” I don’t remember much else.
February 18th, 2005 at 16:31
I’m pretty sure any recommendations I may have made on the Swimming Pool movie were limited strictly to the boobs.
February 23rd, 2005 at 15:25
Those WERE some pretty great boobs.