Everybody's planning to vacate the town. Coworkers are packing up, the Beefcake is driving a different person to the airport every morning, the freeways are empty.
I love when the freeways are empty.
Everybody keeps asking me if I'm going home for the holidays and when I tell them no their eyes bug out and they stare at me, incredulous.
But EVERYBODY goes home!
On Christmas day I plan to go to the mall to see Benjamin Button and I bet there won't be anybody there. Hell, I can go to Target on Christmas Eve and it will be like a regular shopping day. But not Wal Mart. Don't go to Wal Mart on Christmas Eve because the people who don't leave town are the same people who go to Wal Mart.
Anyway, if you drive down the street it is empty. This morning on the way to work I had normal traffic on the streets, then when I hit the 10, NOTHING. Usually it's packed but today it was a breeze.
So while everybody else is crammed up with family visits and packed malls and snowy roads, LA is a ghost town. I love when it's a ghost town.
My family always has appetizers on Christmas Eve then plays a board game, so this year Best Friend will come over and we're going to eat my appetizers and play Wii. She's Muslim so her family won't miss her. Then in the morning after Beefcake and I do a gift exchange he has to go to work so that's when I'm heading to the movies.
Benjamin Button just feels like the perfect movie to watch alone with the Jews and the Athiests on Christmas Day, don't you think?
Anyway, I have a three foot tree and a scented candle so I'm ready. Merry Christmas!
I'll be in the theater next door watching THE SPIRIT (probably cringing, but watching nonetheless).
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing Benjamin Button on Christmas, too! I can't wait...I just downloaded the screenplay made available by MM.
ReplyDeleteI hope you have a good Christmas!
We don't leave town either. No kids being dropped off by their obnoxious parents, next to nobody at Starbucks, and even less traffic. I effffing love Holidays in LA...
ReplyDeleteAnd I never go to Wal Mart. Ever. It's a soul sucking experience, and I can't afford to lose whatever's left of mine.
Merry Christmas!
As for BENJAMIN BUTTON, all I can say is "I hope so", since that's what I'm probably going to see. But if you're going someplace like The Grove, keep in mind: the movie theater will be crowded. Very crowded.
ReplyDeleteNew York is a lot similar in that respect - less traffic, despite being a vacation destination for the holidays. The morning of New Year's Day, after the sun just comes up, the roads a dead enough to shoot a zombie movie in! ;-)
ReplyDeleteBut the movie theaters are another story...
New York has always had the worst ratio of screens-to-population, resulting in the highest ticket prices and many a sold-out show for a movie that's been out for a little while, never mind something new. Top that off with how Christmas is the biggest day for movie watching on the theater owners' calendars, and yeah, it's pretty jammed around here.
Insanely enough, I'm actually going to catch a couple of films downtown with a friend - "Valkyrie" and "The Spirit", probably, though TCCOBB is also a possibility.
Can't do it Christmas day, but I'll see a movie with ya.
ReplyDeleteAlso, expect an invite for next Saturday, our house, drinks, hot dogs and smores.
I'm be seeing Benjamin Button tomorrow. X-mas needs a movie or two to help me forget it is the holidays.
ReplyDeleteToo bad I live outside LA, the movie theaters here are going to be packed after 5:00PM. It always is on a holiday. Every year I end up standing in a long line waiting to get a seat and end up front row looking straight up and spraining my neck. This year there is no must see movies, so at least the crowd should be spread around to the various movies. Maybe I will avoid the neck injury.
Merry X-mas and such. I'm going to go OD on X-mas comedies now(The Ref, Bad Santa, Lampoons X-mas Vacation,..) while partaking of whatever liquid Christmas cheer I can find available.
Merry Christmas.
ReplyDeleteSpirit was Miller-ish, but worth it; if only to piss off every neo-nazi. You'll understand if you see it.
I stayed in town too. But I opted for movies at home. It's my experience theaters in LA are pretty crowded on Christmas. Was this the case for you?
ReplyDeleteI'm hearing bad things about almost every movie in the theater right now.
I'm sticking to TV.
*And I never go to Wal Mart. Ever. It's a soul sucking experience, and I can't afford to lose whatever's left of mine.*
ReplyDeleteI used to not believe in "never-say-never"...
I can't tell you how grateful I was for this post - I live in Austin, and realized a few days ago that this is a town that clears out on Christmas, as all the people who live here leave to spend the holidays with their parents in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, or a ranch somewhere in East Texas.
ReplyDeleteI went to Target on Christmas Eve, and it was just about empty. I hit several other stores, too, with the same result. My wife and I went to see The Spirit on Christmas day, and there were maybe 30 other people in the theater. Oh, and driving on the highways was awesome.
"I went to Target on Christmas Eve, and it was just about empty. I hit several other stores, too, with the same result."
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart SuperCenters were totally slammed.
The stores closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve...after the doors were locked, it took until 7:30 p.m. for the cashiers to check out all of the remaining customers.
Wal-Mart employees?...Are in the right place at the right :(sad:( time.
I'll keep you in the loop as to the profit-sharing bonus the employees will receive February :)