Life Experiences & Observations

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Tag: Harkins Camelview

Welcome to Scottsdale – The New Vegas!

camelviewDon’t get me wrong, I love Las Vegas. In fact, I even hope to own a condo there someday. But why does Scottsdale have to become the next Las Vegas? I totally understand periodically having to update, change, or even remove old buildings and businesses; but that’s usually due to financial ruin of the business involved.

In the case of my beloved Camelview, even a large theater company such as Harkins is being pushed around by some wealthy developers. Camelview is making money. Camelview is one of the only Indie theaters in the area. Camelview is architecturally unique. Unfortunately, nobody who is involved or has any true power cares. It will most likely be shut down, demolished, and replaced with a spanking new prototype theater. I get that this sometimes needs to happen. I get that this occurs in even the quaintest of towns. But when it comes to Scottsdale, this is happening (more recently) almost all the time with nobody having enough weight to stand up and stop it. It will be sad when it happens and the replacement theater will most likely turn into a Cineplex. With no indie flicks and no unique building, as least they could provide us some entertainment with a huge implosion. Welcome to ScottsVegas!

A Movie, the Laughter, and the Right Decision

Marriage is tough and takes a ton of work, especially to stay married for many years. Every once in awhile, you have one of those nights that after it is done, you know you made the right choice in marrying your significant other. For me, last night, was one of those nights. What seemed like a rare night out with my wife, we decided to do one of the usual things which was to go see a movie. It was the movie “Enough Said” and was at a unique movie theater that plays indie flicks and is fighting for its life due to the moss creeping development around it. At that movie, I felt like we were having the type of fun that makes people think, “what drugs are they on?” The movie was excellent and mostly humorous, although it contained multiple points of unexpected sadness. To add another layer of sorrow, one of the leading characters was James Gandolfini who has since passed away.

I remember at one point in the movie when the sadness flowed liked a busted drain pipe, my wife whispering over to me… “you owe me a happy movie.” It was in a loving tone and made me smile while trying to hold back a tear from the movie content itself. There were other glorious treasured moments. During the movie, somebody’s watch alarm went off not once but twice. When it did, it sounded as if it was coming from right below our seats. It was as if a cloaked seat monster was upon us. My wife looked in her purse, I looked at my phone, and I even looked at my watch. Needless to say it was not from us. Near the end of the movie, when the ending was clear as day, I whispered to her… “here comes the happy ending.” In a movie like this it worked for me even though I tend to prefer the unusual ending. My wife, however, liked the ending as happy endings are her security blanket.

After the movie was over we discussed and laughed about the beeping watch that couldn’t be discovered. When I mentioned that I had even looked at my 60s windup watch that I got from my grandfather’s estate, we busted up laughing so hard we were crying. As I was wiping the tears of joy from my cheeks I could see patrons passing through the aisle looking at us. The first few were wondering what was going on while the rest seemed envious. They had just seen a movie and we had just seen the joy of life and marriage.

It’s nights like this that I understand clearly why I married my wife. We ultimately drove home from the theater and while I didn’t get lucky that night I definitely felt lucky.