Movie-goers Have Something to Rave About

By Jason Harris

A big change has come to the movie-going scene in Connecticut. National Amusements Incorporated, perhaps better known as Showcase Cinemas, has sold most of its theaters in Connecticut to Rave Motion Pictures of Dallas. Rave purchased theaters in Manchester, Milford, North Haven, Southington and Berlin.

The purchase of these Connecticut theaters, plus other National Amusement theaters in other states, doubled the number of Rave theaters in the United States. According to the Rave website (http://www.ravemotionpictures.com/), the company purchased 35 theaters from National Amusements in December 2009.

Jeremy Devine, Vice-President of Marketing at Rave, said they purchased the theaters because they were "very attractive assets that National Amusements was interested in selling."

Rave was founded in 1999 in Dallas by Thomas W. Stevenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Pictures, owned by the Walt Disney Company from June 1995 to May 1999.

Rave isn't planning on any renovations for its newly acquired cinemas except for the concession areas. "The theaters are in good shape except for signage," Devine said.

The changes from National Amusements to Rave will start internally in April, Devine said. Customers will start seeing the new signage outside the theaters in May or June.

Right now, the websites for National Amusements and Rave theaters are listing the sold theaters on each others' sites. This may end in June or earlier, Devine said.

Rave theaters stand out because it was the first theater chain to go 100 percent digital, Devine said. "It's a big deal." Digital allows Rave to show 3D and alternative content like sporting events, live concerts and theater presentations. Rave theaters are showing NCAA basketball games live in 3D, but not in any Connecticut location because the equipment isn't in place yet. This is content they would like to expand, he admitted. Rave has been "a pioneer in 3D since Chicken Little." Devine said, "It was a good gamble that paid off."

Programs like the Silver Screen Classics are one of about a dozen programs that are under review, Devine said. Since December, the Silver Screen Classics program has continued to run in the transition period.

AAA is still selling discount tickets to National Amusement theaters, according to Jacklyn Ghergurovich, Public Affairs Coordinator. AAA sells discount tickets to a number of theater chains like National Amusements and Bow Tie Cinemas. It doesn't sell any discount tickets to Rave theaters. Ghergurovich doesn't know if they will be selling discount tickets to Rave in the future.

Rave does have a program called Director's Club tickets which are discounted tickets, Devine said. Information about this program can be found on its website.

Along with finding a theater on the website, a person can also sign up for a weekly newsletter which contains information about what movies are showing and at what time to a subscribers email.

All the purchased Showcase Cinemas will honor prestige passes from AAA and gift cards through December 17, 2010, National Amusements spokeswoman Tracy King wrote in an email.

Rave is also interested in purchasing the Enfield Showcase. Devine believes the company will acquire the cinema. He couldn't confirm if it had been bought yet, but he did say the process had been delayed. "When you have 30 theaters then take over 30 plus theaters there can be any number of reasons for delays," he said. "I'm confident that the Enfield theater will be a Rave theater."

Not including the Enfield Showcase, Devine said that Rave isn't considering purchasing or building any more theaters in Connecticut. "There are no plans at this time," Devine said. But, he added, "never say never."

My first hunting trip happened on Thanksgiving morning. The idea and preparation for this event started last year. I knew from Stacey that her dad goes hunting every year. One of the days he goes out hunting is Thanksgiving morning. I knew he went with Tim, his other son-in-law. I didn't know some of his friends go every year too.

My first step was to take a firearms safety course because without taken that course I couldn't go out hunting with Paul, my father-in-law. This is also the first step in getting a Connecticut hunting license, which I also needed to go out hunting legally. A person can't get a license without passing this course. I was happy to find out the course is free through the state. So last March, I took the three day course which I passed with flying colors

My second step was to get my hunting license which was then followed by getting a license to hunt on private land. I am very happy Paul owns enough land to hunt on. I wish I had the right amount of land to do that. Yes, I enjoyed hunting. I have been twice now.

The night before my first trip out, I was nervous and anxious. I have never been alone with Paul or anyone in Stacey's family by myself any longer than 10 minutes. Stacey has always been there. She is the outgoing one. I am happy to stand back and blend into the background. It was hard to sleep. I had dreams about the trip. I was scared I would get hurt or worse that I would hurt someone else. I had images going through my mind of me shooting someone or myself by mistake. I was also worried Paul was going to ask me gun safety questions. I did pass my hunting safety course, but that was over 7 months ago, a long time for the knowledge to evaporate from the brain.

Thanksgiving morning I arrived at Paul's house by 6 a.m. I got there before Paul was even up. I wasn't sure what to do. All I did was wait in the car listening to the radio until I saw a light go on in an upstairs window. I joined Paul in the kitchen where I found out three of Paul's friends would be joining us. Tim, Paul's other son-in-law wouldn't be joining us since he wasn't feeling well.

We all went out to individual tree stands. Well, Paul had to show me where to go since it was my first time out in the woods on his property. The others have been hunting before on Paul's land. Once I got to my tree stand, I climbed up and waited for some prey. Hunting is a sport of patience. I was in the tree for hours. I got bored a number of times. At one point, I climbed down and walked up a path. Eventually, I got back up in my stand. I did see a doe. Never got a shot off though, it did revitalize me. It gave me this new energy and my patience was restored. I was hoping to see the doe again or even another deer and hopefully get a shot at the next one. I never did see another one though. After spending over four hours in the woods, we all came in. Paul came out in an ATV to pick me up. I wish he hadn't because sitting on the back of it as he was driving to the house killed my ass.

Once back at the house, I found out I was the only one who saw a deer that day. I was hoping to shot one on my first trip out. It would have been a great thing to be able to bag a deer on my first hunting trip. Hopefully, I will be able to kill one before the end of deer season with a rifle or shotgun on December 8.

New York City Trip

The day started well. Before hitting the road to New Haven, we had to stop for gas. Stacey wasn’t happy we hadn’t left for New Haven earlier. By the time we got to Union station in New Haven, we had missed the 10:57 a.m. train by a few minutes. This didn’t improve her mood. While we waited for the 11:57 a.m. train, we ate some lunch. I got mine from Subway while Stacey chose Dunkin Donuts. Part of her mood was caused by her trepidation of going into New York City. She mentioned she was a bundle of nerves when she was younger too. At that time, she went into the city with her mom and sister. I was nervous too. I hadn’t been into the city since I took a bus there over 17 years ago to go to a Fangoria Convention. At that time, I went by myself.

Once we got to New York City around 1:40 p.m., we walked to Times Square. It was my first time being in Times Square. When I was in the city years ago, I stayed in my hotel the whole time. This time was a lot different. I never knew back then how close I was to Times Square when I arrived at the Port Authority. Times Square is beautiful. Walking around, we were accosted with people trying to sell discounts to plays. Trying to avoid eye contact doesn’t work like it does with cellphone sellers at Christmas time. Some of these sellers made a little bit of an impact. The ones I remember were the people selling the tickets for Chicago and Wishful Drinking because they were dressed up. A guy cannot forget a woman dressed up as Princess Leia.

We went to Toys R Us and rode its indoor ferris wheel. It was well worth the $4 ticket price. How often can you tell someone you rode an indoor ferris wheel? The store has three floors. It had an animatronic dinosaur from Jurassic Park. It has Superman and Spider-man hanging from the ceiling. It also had Optimus Prime standing next to a wall.

After we left toy heaven, we went to candyland. The Hersey store was sweet. And I mean that literally. The minute you walk in the door an employee hands everybody a heresy kiss. This is a great marketing tool because once you eat the piece of candy you definitely want more. We didn’t have enough sugary goodness so we went to the M&M store after leaving candyland. Being in these stores definitely makes you feel like a kid again.

Later on as we were waiting for friends to arrive so we could go to dinner, we got in the line forming for the New York Times sponsored event “Timestalks: A Conversation with Novelist Stephen King.” The event started at 7:00 p.m. The line started forming around 4 p.m. I figured if something kept our friends from arriving on time, we would still have a good spot in line. Our friends arrived around 5:30 p.m. At this time, I didn’t want to lose my place in line. Stacey said, she would stay so I could go to dinner with our friends since I have known them longer. I knew Stacey would get bored. She gets bored quite easily. I told her to go and I would wait. She would be more entertaining and outgoing then I would so I knew our friends would have a better time with Stacey.

While they were gone, the line started moving. I started texting her to say the line was moving. By 6 p.m., I was heading into the Times Center. I was worried since I had Stacey’s ticket and wasn’t sure she would be able to get into the event. Before heading inside, I stopped at the door to ask the person ushering people inside if it was a problem with someone coming to the event later since I had my wife’s ticket. While this was happening, an asswhole behind me started trying to push by me while saying “move aside.” I wasn’t moving. I was planning on continuing after I asked my question. After I was told it would be ok for Stacey to get inside without her ticket, I started moving again. As I started walking again, I said to the guy and his buddy to have a little patience. Some good advice Axle Rose sung about years ago. The guy repeated what he said and I reiterated what I said. I didn’t care if the guy and his buddy weighed more than I did and could have kicked my ass. I cared more about my wife being able to get inside the event and get a seat close to the stage where King would sit. This was her first time seeing King live. It was 6 p.m. and the event was starting at 7 p.m. so he could have easily waited for me to ask my question. It wasn’t like he was going to miss any of King’s talk because of me.

While waiting for Stacey and everybody to get back from dinner, the event staff had people in line choose playing cards. I chose two; one for me and one for Stacey. This is how people were going to be chosen to purchase one of King’s signed copies of “Under the Dome.” If the card had something on it, you were getting an autograph as long as you were willing to purchase the book. I chose wisely since both cards had stuff on it. I was happy Stacey was going to get a King autograph. I have met King two other times. I would have gladly given up my card to her if I had too.

Stacy did bring back some dinner for me when I was right outside the auditorium. At that time, a staff member said no outside food could be in there so I put it in my bag. The last time I ate was a pretzel from a street vendor at 2 p.m. The food smelled good too. At least, I didn’t have to dump it. I ended up eating it on the drive home from New Haven at 11 p.m. Chicken fingers are not that great cold, but they were better than the cold fries.

Janet Maslin’s interview with King was great. He talked about his current book, his writing and other topics. One interesting tidbit he mentioned was that he wants to write another Dark Tower book which got around of applause. At the end of the talk, King took questions from the audience. Stacey was brave enough to walk to a microphone and ask about using humor in his work. His talk has inspired me to start writing again and also reading more.

It was a great day in New York City. I can’t wait for a reason to go back.

Six Flags

My wife and I went to Six Flags on Monday. We decided to go to the park today since we were both off from work. We had a good time even though we did get on each other's nerves. This type of thing will happen when you spend 24/7 with your significant other. We attended the Northeastern Writer's conference (Necon) from last Thursday until Sunday. Monday was our fifth day together.

Once getting to the park, we decided to get a Fast Pass. It has been upgraded since the last time we have been to the park. With the old system, you had to go to the ride and place your fast pass pager up to the scanning device to schedule a ride. With the new system, you scroll down to the ride and select it. You still can only save one ride at a time.

Our first ride was going to be Bizarro. Well, my height of 6'5" kept us from going on it even though I have ridden the ride when it was known as Superman: Ride of Steel. Later on, I became Verbal Kent. I hunched down and bent my legs to get on the ride and was successful.

Our bad luck didn't end with our first time trying to get on Bizarro. When we went to our second ride, The Cyclone it was temporary closed. Unfortunately, it didn't end there either. While we were waiting at the front of the line for Splash Water Falls, the ride broke down. It wasn't down for long after the three maintenance people came and looked it over. While we were waiting, Stacey and I joked about our bad luck.

Besides the broken down rides, the park also had other issues. They ran out of lids. How can you not order enough lids? It is not like they will go bad if you order too many. They also ran out of cheese and twist ties. I guess them filing for Chapter 11 back in June has had some effect on the park.

We didn't kill each other or anyone else. We survived our day at the park.

Bad customer service at Dick's

I went to Dick's Sporting Goods tonight for a dart board and a package of darts. I was the third person in line. The first person had a big order. He was buying a hunting blind, hunting clothes plus a few other purchases. There was a woman behind him who was called to another cash register by Cashier Renee. After this woman was done, I walked over to the register since the first guy was still being checked out. Renee tells me she be with me in two minutes. She then goes to deal with changing the garbage in her trash can. When did it trash become more important than waiting on a customer. She could have rung me up in one minute since I only had two items. No I had to wait in line for about 5 minutes while the guy with all the hunting stuff was still being rung up. If I didn't want that dart board, I would have walked out. Well, I emailed the company once I got home.

Amerigas

Amerigas, America's Propane Company is more like the bend you over and rape you up the ass company. I found out today that this company punishes people. If you don't meet their requirements, you get charged a rental fee of $60. The requirements are that a customer has to have a fill-up of 25 or more gallons. If your fill-up is less than 25 gallons, the customer is charged a $60 tank rent fee. My fill-up was 21.1 gallons. I wish I knew about this outrageous charge. This is like getting charged extra if you went to fill-up your car for a trip. You only needed half a tank, but the service station took an extra $10 because you didn't let your tank get lower. Well, I won't let this happen again. If I need extra warmth in the winter time, I will turn on the stove and use up some gas. It will be cheaper doing it this way then getting charged a fee.

Target

Stacey and I was at Target today. One of the items we got was four Lean Cuisine meals. They were listed as 4 for $9. It was in the circular and there was a sign on the freezer door. Well, we didn't get the sale price which Stacey noticed after we checked out. We were overcharged by .69 cents. I want all my money no matter how small an amount it is so I went over to the courtesy counter. Once there the girl behind the counter tried saying that the price we were charged was the right price and the item has never been cheaper. This is when Stacey told her it was in the circular and on the door. This is when I grabbed a circular on the pile of circulars that were on the counter. We got our .69 cents.

The story doesn't end there. On the way out the door, I saw a sign stating that if a commodity item rings up for more than it should they have to give you an item of equal value for free up to $20. Well, I turned around and went back to the courtesy desk to ask about the sign. I'm glad I did since I got one of the lean cuisines for free. The funny thing is that Target has the sign I saw on the back of the door coming into the store. A place where no one will see it especially the people who have already been rung up and are leaving the store. The people who won't know that they could get a free product if they have been rung up wrong. Target should have it on the door leaving the store not on the back of the door coming into the store. It seems Target wants to be preceived as a help to the consumer, but isn't. If they wanted to help the consumer, they would move that sign to the door exiting the store.