The Movies Come to the Village-More Village Life Tales-part 7-the end

[Central Scrutinizer]

The Movies Come to the Village

More Village Life Tales

(-Part 7-The End)

 

Feeling the effects of Sai's rice phlegm, I mean wine, I walked along with my lady, with cheeks aglow, and a cheerful outlook toward my fellow man. We stopped and chatted with people she knew that she wanted me to meet. The monks were leaving, and the Celtics fan monk came over and talked to me again before leaving. We stopped for a few minutes and watched a card game in progress. A few, fairly intoxicated, Thai fellows were seated cross legged on a mat, a gambling mat this seemed to be, with some sort of game board inked onto the woven material. The guys were getting a bit rowdy in their inebriation. One poor guy could be seen puking against a tree a few yards away. Most of the lads had that flushed face look common to Asians when they are drinking liquor. We moved on, and chatted to a couple more people my lady knew.

Finally we came to a clearing, surrounded by many large trees, and much vegetation. I'd say the clearing was about two acres large. At one end was a huge movie screen. It was tied up with ropes to trees on either side of it. A full sized movie screen this was too! To my left, just inside the opening to the clearing, was a large truck. It looked for all the world like a monstrous baht bus! Inside the covered bed of the truck were two, full sized, old fashioned, movie projectors.

A friend of mine used to be a projectionist at a local movie theater and sometimes I would help him while he changed and set up the films.

One projector was forward, and one aft. These movie projectors were on rollers, which were attached to rails on the floor of the truck bed. They could be slid back and forth the length of the truck bed beside each other. The one toward the end of the back of the truck was projecting its reel of the movie onto the screen. The one further back toward the cab of the truck had a technician loading the next reel of the movie film in place. Once this was loaded, he could slide the projector up next to the one that was playing already, where it would be ready to project the next reel onto the screen. Quite the set-up this was!

On the screen a James Bond 007 movie was playing. In English, with Thai subtitles. On either side of the movie screen were, what looked to be, the complete sound system for a Led Zepplin concert! Jesus Christ! The speaker columns were HUGE!! I'll bet they could hear this movie from miles away over the rice fields! Inside the clearing were hundreds of men, women, and children, all lying about on the ground on woven mats. Each with their own little round silk pillow. Awesome! A lie in movie theater!

Cool!

I talked about this movie set-up with my lady some. How much to do? 10,000 baht. How many movies do you get to see? Five was the answer. Any five of the movies these guys had in stock. You could also order in advance and get other movies. What a great idea this is. I'm now planning on doing this one day for the village's kids. Maybe for my daughter's birthday. I want all the Star Wars movies, played in correct order of their release. I'd also love to have a couple reels of the Three Stooges shorts. I think the Thai's would laugh their asses off at the Stooges!

So this is how the movies came to the village. Sai had saved up for years to do the dead guys party up right. Interesting concept. Her father and brother would be happy to see this I think. I know I would. What a nice way to have your family and friends celebrate your passing. Laughter and sanuk, instead of tears. Definitely the way I'd rather be remembered. A party for the dead, and the living. The Thai's do do some things right. It's why I love being in the village. The end.

Later film buffs,

Cent

(The Central Scrutinizer)

You can contact Cent at:

C-BERG-X@webtv.net

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Copyright © 2001. Author Michael P. Seaberg. All rights reserved.

[Central Scrutinizer]

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