Post a Random Fact About Yourself

Hi Ellie,

You had asked about drive-in movies (which are rare these days - I don't know if there are any in the states anymore, but I know there are no longer any near me, yet when I was a kid there were two close by - each about a 10 minute drive away).

How they worked was pretty simple: most charged by the car (rather than the number of passengers) - so if the car was loaded with people, it was more economical.

You paid at an entrance, then found a spot with a view of the screen that you liked. Each parking spot had a pole with a speaker on it - the speaker usually had a wire and you hung the speaker inside your car window for sound.

There are documentaries about the various gimmicks drive-in theaters tried throughout the decades - everything from heaters under your car to keep it warm to various types of sound techniques.

Last time I went to one was during a trip to Pennsylvania back in the 1990's. I think the speakers were gone by that time and you were instructed to tune into a certain radio frequency on your car radio to hear the movie.

When I was in high-school & college, I had a pick-up truck. I'd park the truck backwards at the drive-in theater, then lay a blanket down in the bed of the truck. My friends and I would bring pillows so we could actually lay down and watch the movie, while having a little picnic in the bed of the truck.

Thanks, Rules.

I had to look Vineland up (only drive-in still operating in NJ) - it looks like it's down below the Pine Barrens on the map. (If you went to watch a movie there you might be attacked by the Jersey Devil or one of the many Jersey Bigfoots that inhabit the Barrens.)

The two that were near me were the Turnpike theater in E. Brunswick (which had an accompanying indoor theater - so you could go there for movies year-round - I saw a lot of movies there as a kid)! Now, there are a bunch of condos there. I remember, you could go to "Two Guys" (a department store across the street from the theater) and watch the movie on the screen from their parking lot - only problem was you couldn't hear it!

The other was the Brunswick Drive-In at North Brunswick - this one was a little more woodsy - surrounded by trees. That's the one where I'd turn my pick-up around and lay in the bed to watch the movie. Now there's a strip mall there... and no trees.

I just realized that if drive-ins had remained a thing, there could have been a huge boon a couple years ago during the pandemic. When most indoor theaters closed, the drive-ins could have had sunset to sunrise movies (since a lot of people didn't have to get up to go to a job anymore) and become the new, old way Americans watched movies... You'd be isolated in your car, or with people that perhaps you already shared a home with.

Heck, to go along with that idea, they could have opened all new drive-in restaurants during the pandemic (where you get waited on and eat in your car)!

Drive-ins would have been perfect for the pandemic.
Is it that people lack vision these days for such things... or just lack money to get such nostalgic operations off the ground?

As teens we'd also watch drive-in movies for free, either by parking on a hill behind the theater and watching the movie with no sound or by laying on the floor of a van covered in blankets, as that drive-in charged per person.

I think they did do some outside movies during the pandemic. I seem to recall someone posted about it here. Still it was a rare event and not everywhere. I bet if you use the advance search here you could find that post.

Even though I love going to casinos there's only one game I play: Roulette using the Martingale system. If I go in with $5,000 and bet $25 per spin I almost always walk away with more money than I came in with using this popular and effective system.

I never really gambled much. But the few times I played roulette I would only bet red or black. That way I always had a 50 / 50 chance of winning.

My strategy for gambling was to start with a set amount I was prepared to lose - once I lost it, my gambling day was done. Easier said than done, I know, but to keep from developing a problem, you've either got to have the discipline to stop gambling when you've run out of your decided-upon amount, or leave the casino (track or whatever) when you've spent your limit.

I enjoy ice cream on hot days.

And, let's be honest, also on all other days.

I'd also like to experience an American Halloween, we have Halloween here but it's not as big as in the states.

Family Dollar stores as of last week are now bedecked with all their Halloween stuff. Absurd as it’s still August, but there you go.

Same here. And our Home Bargains stores have Christmas aisles, I buy nothing for Christmas until November.

I enjoyed ice cream for lunch today! I'm trying to cut out salt

Family Dollar stores as of last week are now bedecked with all their Halloween stuff. Absurd as it’s still August, but there you go.

Back to the topic, I will not cross the Atlantic unless I fly British Airways.

I never use salt as there's already enough salt in food 🤗

I think they did do some outside movies during the pandemic. I seem to recall someone posted about it here. Still it was a rare event and not everywhere. I bet if you use the advance search here you could find that post.

Maybe it was me?

The drive-in was nice to have as an option during Covid (we went again with our kid to see The Muppets Take Manhattan), but it was never going to outlast the pandemic in any serious way. Whatever economic and technological pressures that (mostly) killed the the drive-in between the '80s and the '10s were only going to increase, if anything. I do hope they hang around for awhile even if only in vestgial form.

I don't think that was the post I recalled, but thanks for linking to it. The problem with drive-in theaters is real estate, with land prices soaring and development going on, they are an easy target to be bought out and have development done. The drive-in by my parents house that I went to as a kid was turned into an apartment complex in the late 80s.