Close Encounters and Autumnal Vicissitudes...

Weather-Shieldings,

(Sorry – I’m teaching Beowulf right now and it’s difficult to get it out of my head.)

Last night, went to my favorite movie theater (Penn Cinema, Lititz) for the latest installment in their “Monday Night Movies” series.  I’ve written before about this outstanding theater, which features state-of-the-art screens, Digital 3D, and impressive amenities.  And construction is nearly complete on a new IMAX theater next door to the main building, slated to open in time for the Harry Potter release on Nov. 19^th.

Watching Close Encounters on the big screen reminded me of a time when the movies were about humanity as much as they were about spectacle.  The movie was utterly riveting and genuinely breathtaking, but did not contain one explosion, car chase, or murder.  And yet, given the lack of those elements, it wasn’t tame or simplistic or cloying, like so much Disney fare.  On the contrary, it made powerful statements about who we are, how we want others to see us, and about the power of wonder to cut through even the most entrenched cynicism, the most thickset rationality. 

Anywho, last night’s feature was 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  The night began with Penn Ketchum (the theater’s owner and namesake) coming out and firing trivia questions at the crowd.  The film itself was awe-inspiring: a gorgeous print of a wonderful movie.  Richard Dreyfuss’ performance was legendary—nuanced and manic, but never ham-fisted.  He won the Academy Award that year for Best Actor, but not for this film; he won for his role in The Goodbye Girl. 

The experience reminded me of seeing Poltergeist in the early 80s and being terrified by the scene of the mother trying desperately to get out of a pit dug to accommodate an in-ground pool, clawing at the mud in the pouring rain and sliding again and again back into a nightmarish clutch of skeletons.  No one cut off his own foot, there were no meat cleavers to the chest, and no one was disemboweled—and yet it remains one of the most frightening moviegoing experiences of my life.  (The creepy clown in that kid's room didn't help matters, either.  Yeesh.)

Here’s a full-season list of the Monday Night Movies series.  I highly recommend taking the short trip down 222 for one (or more) of these features.  (Email me for easy directions.)

9/13 Gone With the Wind
9/20 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
9/27 Kelly’s Heroes
10/4 Titanic
10/11 Jailhouse Rock
10/18 From Here to Eternity
10/25 The Goonies
11/1 The Shining
11/8 Caddyshack
11/15 The Big Lebowski
11/22 Planes, Trains & Automobiles
11/29 True Grit
12/6 Home Alone
12/13 National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

So enough about me.  How’s the weather?

Weather narrative: The next couple of weeks will feature highs in the 90s and highs that will barely make it into the 60s; that’s what I call a season of vicissitudes.  The next few days will be increasingly humid and rather hot, with highs at or near 90 throughout the rest of the week.  Watch for isolated thunderstorms on Wednesday afternoon.

The weekend is looking somewhat volatile, weather-wise.  Saturday looks like the better of the two days, with the just the chance of some passing showers; Sunday may have more widespread showers.  Highs both days will be in the mid 70s, considerably lower than the previous several days.

Next week, after a rainy Monday, we settle in for some weather typical of early autumn: highs in the upper 60s.  By the end of next week, highs will struggle to get into the 60s at all.

The following weekend (the first weekend of October) is looking beautiful.

Beyond the forecast: By mid-October, we’ll see highs only in the low to mid 50s and lows dipping into the 30s…

Monsoon