Thursday, October 20, 2005
I've been interviewed on the latest episode of the MyMac.com Podcast in a twenty-minute segment during which we (mostly) discuss the Macintosh. It was a privilege because it just so happens to be one of the few Podcasts that I actually subscribe to. MyMac is unique in that it's been publishing for ten years, which on the internet is more than an eternity; it's almost the whole internet. When MyMac first began publishing, Mike Spindler was the CEO of Apple. The fact that most of you had either forgotten or never heard of that name merely serves to emphasize my point about longevity. If you're not reading MyMac, you should be, and I'm not just saying that because they interviewed me.
So I saw Audioslave in concert last night at the Hard Rock Live (you can read my review here), and it turned out to be a rather unique evening beyond just the show itself (which was fantastic). Hard Rock Live is essentially a glorified nightclub with a stage, all tucked behind the actual Hard Rock Cafe restaurant, on Universal Studios property. They've done a rather clever thing in which, in order to get to the theme park entrances, you have to walk through what they call Citywalk, which is a collection of theme restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and of course the Hard Rock with its built-in concert venue. And while it works quite conveniently as a tourist trap, it also serves as a portion of Universal Studios that works well for the locals. I had an annual pass to both Universal parks when I first moved here, but after awhile you can only take the same eight rides over and over again, and I didn't renew. But Universal still gets into my pocket now and then I make it a night out at Citywalk (Disney has its own similar creation called "Downtown Disney" complete with a House of Blues).
I arrived for the concert earlier than I should have, so I took a seat at the bar in the Hard Rock Cafe and had dinner while I watched some of the baseball playoffs, and then finally headed into the venue for the show. Afterwards, as I was heading out with the intention of heading home, I glanced at the movie theater and saw that "Serenity" was starting in about five minutes as a midnight showing. I've had enough people tell me that I needed to see this movie, so I thought why not and walked up to the ticket window. The guy's machine wasn't working so he was sending people inside to Guest Relations to buy their tickets. But I get in there and it turns out that none of the machines are working. And in of the best displays of public relations savvy I've seen in awhile, the manager comes over and says "just let them in" without hesitation.
If he'd sent us away, or made us stand there and wait while they fixed the machines are caused us to miss the opening of the movie, I'd have left with a bad taste in my mouth. Instead, this guy turns it into a win, because as we all know, all the money is made from the concession stands anyway. The funny part was that none of us knew which theater we were supposed to go to, because that information is on the ticket itself, and of course we didn't have any. So the poor ticket taker is flipping through a printout telling each of us where to head to. I was the only person he said "sixteen" to, but it didn't quite dawn on me until I walked into the theater that I was literally the only person there. Talk about creepy. You can't help but get the feeling that all time has stopped except for you and the showing of this movie. You laugh at a joke, and your laugh is the only one you hear, echoing off every wall.
When the movie ends I walk out and the upstairs cleaning crew is staring at me incredulously, either because they didn't know anyone was in there, or because they'd never seen just one walk out of a theater before. It was a unique experience, I'll give it that. Only trouble was that the concert left me just a bit hard of hearing, making some of the movie dialogue a bit challenging. But oh well, I didn't pay for it anyway. And getting both a concert and a movie in on the same outing was nice, as the local (two-screen) theater here in town is in a rut at the moment, and Citywalk (or Downtown Disney) is a long drive just for a movie.
Busy concert pace I'm on here, with Our Lady Peace earlier this month, Audioslave this past evening, Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age early next week, Lifehouse late next week, and U2 two weeks after that. You gotta love it.
So I saw Audioslave in concert last night at the Hard Rock Live (you can read my review here), and it turned out to be a rather unique evening beyond just the show itself (which was fantastic). Hard Rock Live is essentially a glorified nightclub with a stage, all tucked behind the actual Hard Rock Cafe restaurant, on Universal Studios property. They've done a rather clever thing in which, in order to get to the theme park entrances, you have to walk through what they call Citywalk, which is a collection of theme restaurants, shops, a movie theater, and of course the Hard Rock with its built-in concert venue. And while it works quite conveniently as a tourist trap, it also serves as a portion of Universal Studios that works well for the locals. I had an annual pass to both Universal parks when I first moved here, but after awhile you can only take the same eight rides over and over again, and I didn't renew. But Universal still gets into my pocket now and then I make it a night out at Citywalk (Disney has its own similar creation called "Downtown Disney" complete with a House of Blues).
I arrived for the concert earlier than I should have, so I took a seat at the bar in the Hard Rock Cafe and had dinner while I watched some of the baseball playoffs, and then finally headed into the venue for the show. Afterwards, as I was heading out with the intention of heading home, I glanced at the movie theater and saw that "Serenity" was starting in about five minutes as a midnight showing. I've had enough people tell me that I needed to see this movie, so I thought why not and walked up to the ticket window. The guy's machine wasn't working so he was sending people inside to Guest Relations to buy their tickets. But I get in there and it turns out that none of the machines are working. And in of the best displays of public relations savvy I've seen in awhile, the manager comes over and says "just let them in" without hesitation.
If he'd sent us away, or made us stand there and wait while they fixed the machines are caused us to miss the opening of the movie, I'd have left with a bad taste in my mouth. Instead, this guy turns it into a win, because as we all know, all the money is made from the concession stands anyway. The funny part was that none of us knew which theater we were supposed to go to, because that information is on the ticket itself, and of course we didn't have any. So the poor ticket taker is flipping through a printout telling each of us where to head to. I was the only person he said "sixteen" to, but it didn't quite dawn on me until I walked into the theater that I was literally the only person there. Talk about creepy. You can't help but get the feeling that all time has stopped except for you and the showing of this movie. You laugh at a joke, and your laugh is the only one you hear, echoing off every wall.
When the movie ends I walk out and the upstairs cleaning crew is staring at me incredulously, either because they didn't know anyone was in there, or because they'd never seen just one walk out of a theater before. It was a unique experience, I'll give it that. Only trouble was that the concert left me just a bit hard of hearing, making some of the movie dialogue a bit challenging. But oh well, I didn't pay for it anyway. And getting both a concert and a movie in on the same outing was nice, as the local (two-screen) theater here in town is in a rut at the moment, and Citywalk (or Downtown Disney) is a long drive just for a movie.
Busy concert pace I'm on here, with Our Lady Peace earlier this month, Audioslave this past evening, Nine Inch Nails and Queens of the Stone Age early next week, Lifehouse late next week, and U2 two weeks after that. You gotta love it.
Comments:
Post a Comment
