UFO Cruise-in & Melody Cruise-In Theatre Weekend FUN!

August 29

End of another month, and I am glad that August is almost over! Had to take the ’06 Fusion in for the first warranty service of a Ford vehicle in the family’s history of owning Fords last week [the driver’s front window got stuck in the down position, and couldn’t drive it anyways since a wide open window is just a wide open invitation to unscrupulous folks, plus it was going to rain, then with that car at the Liberty Dealership here in Brunswick, the “Hillbilly Deluxe minus the Deluxe” battery died [jump starting too many chevy’s, I reckon it got the H1N1 (Help this 1 but Not this 1) virus] but after 5 years [and no wonder the terminals were corroding], it was time, so pushed it out of the garage and called AAA got it started and picked up the Fusion at Liberty and got that home, then 2 hours later went to go to a car show and again it wouldn’t start so pushed it out of the garage once again and there was something wrong so called the experts and Yorktown and after getting it started for a second time drove it up to Parma Hts. and yep, it was the battery and picked it up the next day, and should have gotten an oil change since it was pushing 169,000 but don’t like to ask too much of them since they have always been very generous with getting our cars fixed for the past 37 years now.

Keeping an eye on the weather channel, which showed that the rain should skirt by Columbus by the time it was starting, and not having been down to UFO events all of August since Party Picnics and party business is starting to encroach on more and more of my time, and will probably have to put Car Club events on hiatus since it looks like there may be an out of state opportunity coming down the pike, but for now, headed out south on I-71 to CBus for the August Cruise at Quaker Steak and Lube, as well as heading west to Springfield’s Melody Cruise-In Theatre. As soon as I got to Mansfield, the rains came, and kept on raining all the way to the Polaris Exit [I kept looking west and it looked like it would clear up, but as weather goes, sometimes it just doesn’t but again, as long as the farmers get what they need when they need it, I don’t complain too much about a little rain now and then.

Maybe spent a little too long cruisin’ with the club, but as the song goes, “I’ve got no particular place to go”, but it was time well spent as always! Got back on the highway and headed around I-270 to I-70 to get to the US 40 exit to the Melody Cruise-In Theatre and with dusk quickly approaching [and figuring in the 10 minute movie trailers, would hit it just about right, but I missed the median crossover and not being too fond of U Turns [the old joke being: A guy made a U-Turn and found out he was going the wrong way and immediately did another U-Turn all in front of a police office, and when he got pulled over the officer asked him “What did you just do?” The man replied “A Circle”] at the next intersection, kinda did an end around down a secondary road and headed back east and by that time the movie had started and just as I pulled in, sheriff deputy was at the box office [Great] so shut off all of the illegal interior lights etc and as I was paying, I looked in my side view mirror and sure enough, he was eyeballing the car, then took out his cell phone and held it up while I’m trying to pay attention to the attendant telling me what screen the movies were on [Inglorious B**tards and G.I. Joe – for the third time] as well as what radio station to tune to [although the lights on my radio face kinda died a while back (although it kinda can be seen during the day) so I have to go through each individual station until finding the right station that goes to the right screen, not to mention losing all of my presets I had to re find all of the country stations I listen to in all of the major cities around Ohio] while the officer was taking pictures of it with his cell phone, then asked “Sir, could you pull this over” and I motioned to the side if that was ok since there was someone else behind me, so while the movie has already started, I’m pulled over INSIDE the movie theatre chatting about the car while he’s snapping pictures of it and I’m trying to watch the movie without seeming to be disinterested in his conversation, which I wasn’t since he asked me about the “Patriot’s” Theme and family members who are currently in Service, along with one of the statewide candidates name on one of the fenders etc., and after both saying “God Bless” and “Safe Journeys”, I actually found a pretty good spot middle of the field next to the concession stand on the far side of the entrance side, and missed most of the entire first “Chapter” of Quentin Tarentino’s movie [and fumbling through the stations to find the right channel] got there in time for Chapter Two, Inglorious B**tards. I saw on Reelz Channel movie previews that it took 10 years for him to write the script, and even heard that there is a prequel in the works.

As far as the movie goes, it is Quintessential Quentin Gore [which is why I only watch one of his movies a year – Reservoir Dogs is still my favorite, but his is a movie where one automatically throws disbelief out of the window, and this was kind of in a Pulp Fiction mold, but working on something for that long, can kind of see elements of all of his movies in the interim] and going back through it I can see the basic dumb down formula of Nazis bad, Brad Pitt good in the Twisted World History According to Tarentino, which is why they are making the prequel to feature more of the B**tards
and rake in another huge payday. It had been a “while” since I had seen G I Joe, Rise of the Cobra [the weather kinda last time made it disappointing and with all of the humidity and all] someone somewhere must had said something, since the night fight scene in the beginning of the movie was a lot brighter than I had seen in previously showings, and could see more of the action and wasn’t “in the dark” as much and trying to guess what was going and who was fighting whom and all, so I don’t know if it was in the projection or what, but it made that part of the movie a whole lot enjoyable to watch!

Got out during the break for a stretch, and although I couldn’t see what amenities that were offered up in front of the screen, I did enter a very different type of concession stand, which resembled a cafeteria style where one could go all around an outer circle and the food workers were on the inside to service more patrons at a time. After the second movie, and time to get back on the road home, but then and again, had another car that had its hood up [although most drive-ins have one of those automatic chargers now a days, still keep jumpers in the back “just in case”] so waited 5 minutes after the credits have ended, since a lot of movies now have something at the very end related to the movie that often gets missed and pulled up and once again [and just having battery trouble myself I sympathize, especially having a great time at the movies then the car has to die and not start and who knows if they have a car service or not, but as Great Granddad used to say: “The main goal in life is to make other people happy; and if you make other people happy, then you are happy yourself”, and not to get all preachy here or do that Kevin Spacey “Pass It On” sort of deal, but if asked for a reward, I just ask that they remember this and do a good deed towards another some day. So in the words of Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara:

Someone says to do a favor,
or if you have the opportunity
to help someone in your lifetime,
Do it.
In life do what is right because
it is right and leave it alone.

No ulterior motive.
Do what is right because it is right.
Don't make money from it.
Don't write about it or publicize it.

Do what is right because it is right."