We don't just pop collars...

Less than 10 days to the soft opening of a/perture cinema. You may have noticed my absence which this time was due neither to epidemics nor laziness, my two most trusty excuses. Instead, we've been doing everything we can to get ready for January 8th. Decorations, concession area design, bane of my existence Dymo Label Printer, and silly little things like occupancy and ABC permits. Some might say those last things are imperative to officially being in business, but as a movie theater, we made that leap the other day when we did the following:

That's right, the popcorn popper is operational. Our secret recipe of pre-mixed idiot proof movie theater popcorn will knock you off your feet with yummy goodness. Some of the staff is already enjoying it.

Scott "4-D Viewmaster" DuVall, Lawren "Popcorn Czar" Desai, and Jigar "I already eat too much popcorn and candy without partly owning a theater" Desai enjoy the first batch.

So I just indirectly introduced you to one of our master projectionists Scott. Aside from still having an ABBA song stuck in his head from his first official screening at a/perture, he along with the other projectionists have managed to avoid concussions in the low clearance projection booth while getting the place ready for some films. But who was taking pictures while you guys were chowing down? Photo credits go to our jack-of all trades assistant manager Genevieve Moore.

Not only can she make popcorn look artsy, she makes some mean cookies, likes schedules and lists just as much as Lawren, and has helped the curator keep her sanity for the last month by doing everything. I'm hoping you'll get to know Scott and Genevieve and the rest of our amazing staff by coming to visit a/perture, and maybe even through some guest blog spots and interviews.

Not only are these bags earth-friendly, but they're specially designed to keep the "golden" popcorn topping in the bag and out of your lap. Who says we don't love you?

I will survive...

Jigar, 1. H1N1, 0.5. I'm just glad I was able to get it out of the way, before we opened and I was working concessions, passing it along to all my peeps. It's not that I wouldn't try and stay home to keep the virus from spreading, it's that if I was well enough to shovel snow, drive in the worst blizzard since '93, keep working on that bane of my existence point-of-sale system, learn to thread a projector, and operate power tools (which if you know me, is probably scarier than any flu and ice on the road combined), odds are I would be forced to work if we were open. Run on sentence much? Speaking of being open, we're getting a lot of questions about that. What's the date? How do I score free tickets? Seriously, when are you opening? Are you really opening a movie theater? WHY DO YOU LIE???

Kanye'd again! I know I'm like 6 months late on this joke, but I was watching the Karate Kid III like it was the first one as noted the other day, so it seems somehow appropriate. Come back in April when I make a joke about how I slept with Tiger Woods, too!

While we're waiting on some final things to fall into place construction wise before we let you in on any new scoop, at least we finally have our new website up. We're really excited about how it turned out and how sweet it looks, so if you're like me and just have this blog as your favorite, check out the main site and let us know what you think of it. Feel free to let us know if we're missing something, too. Hopefully with the next update I'll have some more pictures of the projection booth in its completed state.

Long live public radio

Sorry to disappoint all of you Jigar fans out there, but the curator has taken over the blog once again. Jigs is a little under the weather, not only fighting the flu but also the weird dreams that are a side-effect of the miracle drug Tamiflu. We have had a sick household for the past few days, but we have a theater to open in only a few short weeks, so we (or I in this case) must press on. To that end, the blog will be short on written words. Instead, you will be treated to my first radio interview, courtesy of David Ford at 88.5 WFDD. Other than the fact that I say "actually" a lot, I think I did an okay job. Here is the link: 88.5 WFDD Interview

I have also added some recent (and random) photos, so you can see some of what else has been going on in the world of a/perture.

at December's Gallery Hop with the Christmas Tree Lady

our projectionists!!!

the first screen test

Okay, I really have to get back to taking care of Jigar....he is watching Karate Kid III now.

There's a reason E.T. didn't want to leave Earth

So remember how when you were 15, you couldn't wait to get your driver's license so you could get out of the house whenever you wanted? Then, when you did get the license, it was turning 18 so you could assert your independence, and get out on your own? Then, it was turning 21, so you could do whatever kids do at that age. Then, turning 25 so your car insurance rates would go down? That constant feeling of let's just get here and then everything will be awesome pretty much sums up how things are at the theater. Screens? Seats? Projection Equipment? Point-of sale systems? All the million little things that you keep saying you'll do later, then one day you're less than a month from opening up???? If the housing market wasn't so bad, I'd just sell the house and go ahead and move into a/perture's office space, since Lawren and I have been living there, along with other family members, who have been amazingly accomodating through all of this mess. However, all my worries melted away when the magical delivery truck caring all of this showed up the other day.


Sweet, sweet candy. I know we looked for suggestions on crazy stuff to serve up, and we've filed them away, but starting out the fare is pretty classic, with maybe a trick or two up our sleeves. I'm just happy to see Reese's Pieces, possibly the most underrated candy ever made. There, I said it, and E.T. would agree. These various nectars of the gods have got to have a home, right?

The soda fountains are coming in this week (Coca-Cola products, in case you were wondering) and we might even pull that popcorn popper out of storage. And I did finally figure out how to use Lightspeed, no thanks to any of you. I'll remember that when we're open. Double ticket prices for all blog readers! That's the kind of power I have since I did setup the POS (point-of-sale, not the other commonly used acronym). Not the kind of deals you were looking for, huh? Ok, I'll change it back to regular price for you guys. Only because I love you all.

So tell me whacha want, what you really really want...

December has snuck up pretty quickly on us. With the cold weather has come a general propensity to hide under the covers rather than write blogs. But with crunch time approaching this is my preferred method of procrastination, winning out over working on our point-of-sale system. Anyone know how to setup Xsilva's Lightspeed to run a movie theater? Bueller? Bueller? I'll keep struggling along...speaking of struggling, we had projection equipment delivered this past Thursday. Our last crew of helpers sparked cries of sexism and lack of nepotism, so Lawren recruited our first official employee at a/perture, her mom and brother Jay "Don't call me Dan Dickau" Callahan, who in turn recruited some of the Salem Spirits soccer players to unload three pallets of an a/v geek's dream (that geek is me). Girl power is still alive.

Thanks ladies and gentleman. If you ever need to rent a pallet jack, apparently there's a place out on Union Cross road. Lawren's a bigger tool (user) than I am. Hehe. See what I did there? I've just been grounded for a week.

I teased with some pictures of the seats the other day, and now our PR team has delivered with a brand new video for you to enjoy. If I say "Uh" any more my 10th grade English teacher is going to have a coronary. Why do people keep saying I have a face and voice for blogging?

Trailers aren't just for haulin' dirt

So now that Lawren has become a celebrity, the approval process for my blogs has become more cumbersome, so if you don't have updates as frequently as you like, don't blame me. Black Friday not only saw some wicked deals at your local Wal-Mart, but two articles about Lawren (with very slight mentions of me, and hardly any of my wonderful mother, brother, and sister-in-laws, or any other family for that matter - just go ahead and call all of us the Chad Lowe to Lawren's Hillary Swank). The Winston-Salem Journal wrote a great piece as did the Triad Business Journal (subscription only, but here's a slight preview). I imagine there are a few new readers here because of those articles, so welcome, and no I cannot get you free tickets.

So front of the house is pretty close to wrapped up, and we're expecting to get most of the fun projector equipment that Lawren won't let me touch because I'll probably end up breaking it this week. That can only mean one thing. We should be opening soon. While we don't have a firm date, the rumors of a January opening are pretty on target. Here are two films of the films we'll be screening for our opening month. Drumroll please....

A Town Called Panic



New York, I Love You



Who says I'm not in the loop? If you want to find out more inside info, like why there are urinals in our front window, stop by our table at the First Friday Gallery Hop on Trade Street (December 4th).

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing...

Ah, here we are at that joyous time of year when it's ok to put on sweatpants and say yes to thirds, possibly even fourths. Thank goodness the Pilgrims and Native Americans came together for a magical feast, and John Madden expanded our culinary palettes by introducing the masses to the turducken. I emphasize Native Americans, because as an Indian, the closest I came to having turkey on Thanksgiving while growing up was egg curry. They're both poultry, so that counts, right?

In between trying not to wreck while staring in awe at the Christmas decorations at the Cloverdale Hardee's (so awesome) and avoiding the Christmas music that's already started on WMAG 99.5 (Deliiiiilaaaaah), I thought it'd be great to share a top ten list of the best Thanksgiving movies. Because who doesn't love a good list? However, when I noticed that movies featuring Katie Holmes showed up not once (The Ice Storm) but twice (Pieces of April) and that Pauly Shore was included (Son-in-Law), I realized Hollywood has largely ignored the holiday. Ok, Pauly Shore movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. Please don't think any less of me.

Since the top movie list bombed, I decided to celebrate the true meaning of the holiday by listing what a/perture has to be thankful for. Probably a little more serious as you move up the list...

9/ HeadOn and ActivOn



8/ DVR
7/ Cheesy 80s movies (Can't Buy Me Love, The Karate Kid, etc., we wouldn't be here without you)
6/ Top 9 Lists (Because I couldn't think of a tenth thing)
5/ Comfy Seats



4/ A construction and design crew that appreciate project timelines
3/ Financial Supporters, Volunteers, and Others who've helped us get this thing off the ground (there are way too many to list individually, this would still be a pipe dream if it wasn't for all of you)
2/ People who care enough to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, email lists, and read this blog (how you kept up with all my nonsense posts, Lawren will never understand)
1/ Family (how you've kept up with all our nonsense period, we'll never understand)

Thanks again to everyone. We can't wait to be a part of downtown. Have a wicked good holiday, and drop tasty leftovers off at the theater.

They've shown this on both screens...

We looked at a calendar for the first time in six months today and noticed we're less than seven weeks away from the new year. What the summer months are to the multiplexes, early winter is for the art houses. Awards season starts building buzz around the movies that may not have made it out of the "opening in NY and LA" circuit quite yet. Needless to say, your curator is turning into a hot mess. She's had more meetings in the past two weeks than dollars Jon Gosslein has had to give back for his general douchebaggery - which for those of you hiding from the TMZ/People/Us Weekly likes is a lot. Speaking of the paparazzi, Lawren's press train is showing no signs of slowing down. The Triad Business Journal, skirt! Magazine, Winston-Salem Journal, WFDD, and local Rotary chapters are all on Lawren's radar, while the true voice of a/perture is getting Rodney Dangerfield'ed (no respect!). Maybe it's because I don't have business cards - no grudge here - or because I refuse to shave my sweet beard, both serving to lower my respectability. Maybe a Magnum, P.I. style 'stache would change that. I really need to stop dating myself with these horrible 80s references.

Here's what else I learned this weekend. Movie screens are basically a tarp, and the speakers that sit behind them are HUGE. Putting two and two together, you, the astute reader you are, have probably said to him/herself "Wait, did you put some screens up this weekend?". To which I politely respond, "Why yes we did. Would you like to see the process?". Soundtracked by what instantly became one of my favorite songs when Lawren decided to open a two screen theater, Twin Cinema.



I'm still waiting for my free case of beer, beer distributors.

Our Time is Running Out

You know, when I was asking for someone to make it rain, I was thinking more along the lines of Pacman Jones showering the Triad with dollar bills than the monsoons of my motherland. But what better way to beat the nastiness outside than to cozy up to your computer and see how things are coming along at a/perture. Fortunately the storm held off long enough for our chairs to be delivered without being soaked on Monday.

Am I the only one who was a little disappointed that the chairs arrived, not ready to be broken in, but with some assembly required? I guess it made it easier to carry in 109 boxes of pieces instead of 160+ chairs. BIG thanks to the guys that were able to clear out the truck in NASCAR pit crew like time.

As I've mentioned a few times before, this is the week all the front of house equipment was scheduled to come in - seats, speakers, screens, drapes, etc. It's actually starting to look like an art house in there.

As this thing keeps getting closer and closer to being a reality, we are made painfully aware of how much there is left to do. However, everyone we talk to tells us we're ahead of the game. How, I don't know, especially when we're still looking for a beer distributor. HOW COULD I LET THIS SLIP THIS FAR! Distributors, if you're reading this, contact me, and make sure to bring plenty of samples. I don't make any of the decisions, but bribery of the blogmaster can and will help your case((s) get sold - sweet pun score!).

Social marketing overload

If a picture really is worth a thousand words, then you're getting 7,000 and some change tonight. We had an LLC member get together on Thursday and met some cool people out at the Gallery hop on Friday.


I'm still a flickr slideshow novice, so some of what you saw in there includes cupcakes from Yummy Goodness Bake Shoppe (a future concession supplier), important people graffiti-ing up the theater, Lawren at the gallery hop with one of our new interns, and fresh from the press magnets. We also put up a new little vignette on the youtube channel.



The seats are coming in tomorrow! If you're bored and looking for something to do between the hours of 10 and 12 tomorrow morning, just hang out around the theater and wait for the giant FedEx truck to start blocking the street, grab the boxes as they're thrown out and take them on inside.

Flip this Office

I bet you're all excited to find out who won a free t-shirt. But I'm not going to tell you that yet. Various members of the family were called upon this past weekend to help paint your curator's office. About the only good that has come of this is that I don't have to do any of that kind of stuff at home anymore. Wait, I never did any of that stuff anyway. Here are a couple of pictures to show you our handi-work.

This picture was taken before she saw me paint, hence the happy expression.

As you probably recall, I love The Karate Kid, and my only experience learning how to wield a brush was watching Ralph Macchio paint the fence. It was working out OK until I crane-kicked a hole into the wall...just kidding! Anyway, at least the office is painted and hopefully our dining room can reclaim its status as least used room in the house.

So congratulations are in order to Maria Weir, who was selected by Nigel as the winner of an a/perture t-shirt among the many correct guessers for our trivia question (see post below). The setting was in fact George's Grecian Corner. Either there are a lot of Mr. Destiny fans out there, or people outsmarted me by typing "mr. destiny filming locations" into Google. For those of you that didn't win, fear not. a/perture will be out at the DADA First Friday Gallery Hop this November 7th with a table of t-shirts for sale. Stop by just to say "Hi" or "Your husband is soooo funny".

Don't Leave Home Without It - Especially the Shirt

So I had this Thursday as a planned vacation from my day job. As you might well imagine, I had visions in my head of sleeping late, maybe watching a lot of Eastbound and Down and Flight of the Conchords, and generally doing nothing. Our curator would have none of that. She had me up bright and early, meeting to discuss credit and debit card processing. Apparently one of the ways they pay for all those "pre-screened qualifying offers" that are sent to your house is to charge merchants a flat fee per swipe, on top of taking a percentage of each transaction total. I also learned that each company charges different rates, and American Express is the most expensive. So, unless there's a gigantic uproar from people after reading this, we'll probably start out not taking the Amex or Diner's Club. Telly Savalas is rolling over in his grave.

After attending that meeting, we went to pick up our first batch of t-shirts. That's right, you too can wear what the stars, or maybe just our immediate families, wear. We've initiated production with the unisex (stop snickering because I wrote sex) version for now. It's available in three colors - grass, teal, and silver. For you men, that's green, blue, and grey. One of our family members has graciously agreed to model it for our readers.

The left side is the front, and the right side shows the back

(No dogs were harmed in the taking of this picture, just humiliated)

Pretty snazzy, huh? Here's the first of what I hope will be many more giveaways here on the blog - a t-shirt. You have until Tuesday at midnight to send an email to info at aperturecinema dot com with the correct answer to the following question:

In what local eating establishment did they film a date between Larry Burrows and Ellen in the movie Mr. Destiny?

Hint: The establishment in question has red and white tablecloths. If we get multiple correct answers, Nigel our t-shirt model will randomly pick a winner. Good luck.

I see the white walls and I want to paint them black...

Two months ago (see post dated August 27th), you saw one of the studios in its infancy. Somewhere in between, it turned into this:


And today, our little baby's all growed up.

With all the progress being made, our first equipment vendor is scheduled to come in this Wednesday to work on the framing for the drapes and the screens. So this is the last you'll see of the pretty black paint. Unless you try to hide behind the drapes to sneak into another screening, but unless you're planning on spending a couple of nights, you'll be watching the same movie, so I'd advise against it. And to get rid of the carpet glue, those floors have had more chemicals poured on them than a high school science lab, so I'd steer clear of the M&Ms found on the ground. At least turn the five second rule into three seconds.

Seeing as we're in the business of showing movies, we thought it might be appropriate to document the process in some other format than the written word. Hence the world premiere of our new YouTube channel - http://www.youtube.com/cinemaaperture. (Author's note: I was told four minutes before I went on camera I was doing this, but thanks to the magic of our wonderful PR gal Sadie, I only managed that deer in headlight look for about 30 seconds, and made just one inappropriate crapper joke).

Movienomics

If absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, you guys must be extra fond of me now. More than likely you've moved on and are spending your time on the internet learning about the balloon boy sleeping in the attic or mourning the passing of wrestling legend Captain Lou Albino (RIP to the man who made wearing rubber bands in his beard acceptable). While I've been MIA - Paper Planes what? - for the past two weeks, we've closed out the LLC group, submitted countless Master License Agreements (MLAs) with the major film distributors, started working on assembling a staff, ordered some samples for t-shirts, had new neighbors move in, done a heck of a lot of construction, and got a new fish, Bubbles (no relation to MJ's chimp). I'll focus on the two that are probably most interesting to you guys, the MLAs and construction.

If I thought we were signing over our lives when we got the loan for a/perture, we just signed over our lives, Nigel the dog's, and our son's firstborn with all the paperwork for the MLAs. This is probably my best chance to go all Reading Rainbow and teach you some economics of the movie theater business. So obviously getting people in the door is a crucial aspect to any enterprise. However, in order for the studios to recoup their investments in blockbuster films and help subsidize some of their other films, they typically take 50% of the ticket sales to cover their costs. For some of the aforementioned blockbusters, that can be as high as 90%. That makes it hard to pay the rest of the bills without all the fun stuff like concessions and merchandise. So, if you take nothing else from all of this, remember this - sneaking Cookout milkshakes and convenience store candy in - bad (even though I've been guilty of both before), buying popcorn, candy, and two drinks even if you're by yourself - awesome.

On the progress front, we're pretty much walled out and are waiting to get painting. The seats are being delivered November 9th, along with the sound drapes and other "front of the house" stuff, and the projection equipment will be here after Thanksgiving. Since I unashamedly just begged you all to make frequent trips to the concession stand, here's a couple of pictures of the lobby to help get a sense of it.



A little messy, but no more than my old college dorm, right mom? Well, it feels good to be back, and hopefully I've shared enough to bring what little momentum I had alive again. Lawren and her team have been working on some exciting stuff, so hopefully in the coming weeks I'll be able to tell you about more cool things happening at a/perture.

I'll be back...

Cursed real world obligations! I promise that once we close the books for this quarter (at my day job), I'll be back with more regular updates. Should be this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this picture.

...just like most of my posts.

Turn it up to eleven

Another week, another lack of posts. But this time I feel like I at least have a good reason. The family took what could be considered our last vacation for awhile as we get this theater up and running. Lawren treated me to a weekend in Austin, Texas chock full of 24 oz beers (everything's bigger in Texas!), great food, and even better live music at the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Going back to the standardized tests of high school, the best analogy to describe our own personal passions would be the following - Lawren : Movies :: Jigar : Music. People of Winston, if you make a/perture a success, I promise to try and open up a music venue in downtown. If Lawren will let me.

In theater related news, things are coming along on schedule. We're working on getting the equipment installers here sooner than later and the rest of construction is smashingly on schedule. Lawren's even trying to hire some people - check out the website for more info. While in Austin, we walked by one of the inspirations for the theater, the Alamo Drafthouse, and were made aware how painfully awesome the place is by my Austinite cousins. We were also treated to a multitude of ideas for a/perture by my old college roommate. If I had time to write a novel, I'd list out all his suggestions here, but suffice it to say he's excited, and hopefully we can make the Short Circuit marathon he suggested work.

Another old school mate quickly put me back in my place after suggesting "You're the Best Around" was the ultimate movie song by offering up "Tiny Dancer" in Almost Famous as well as "Highway to the Danger Zone" in Top Gun. To round out my music to film analogy, here's the soundtrack of our weekend at the ACL Festival.

Avett Brothers - "Slight Figure of Speech"
Phoenix - "1901"
John Legend - "Redemption Song (Bob Marley Cover)"
Them Crooked Vultures - I don't know any song names, but a band with Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, and John Paul Jones can't be bad
Kings of Leon - "Revelry"
Airborne Toxic Event - "This Magic Moment (Drifters Cover)"
Citizen Cope - "Bullet and a Target"
Bon Iver - "Skinny Love"
The Scabs - "H.E.B."
Passion Pit - "Little Secrets"
Girl Talk - Everything, especially the "Time After Time -> Tiny Dancer -> Don't Stop Believin'" mashup
Pearl Jam - "Alive"

Sweep the leg, Johnny!

I really should have know better than to commit to writing a blog during football and the new fall tv season. As you can tell from my updates becoming more infrequent, the distractions are winning when it comes to the free time. We're making a ton of progress on all things a/perture, from learning to make Quickbooks work for us, submitting North Carolina tax filings, installing and setting up point of sale systems, and oh yeah, a lot of construction.


It's during construction that I usually find one of the few advantages of having grown up in Dalton, GA, the undisputed "Carpet Capital of the World". You guessed it, free carpet. My dad stuffed a roll (you can just find it on the side of the road, that's how much carpet there is - no wait, the roads ARE carpet!) into a van with no seats, and braved the elements to bring it up this weekend. Then on Sunday, a/perture screened its first comedy - me, my dad, and my father-in-law attempting to move the carpet into the space. If anyone offers you free carpet if you move it yourself, don't take it. It's not worth it. Thankfully no one was injured in the process.

Another distraction that hit us this weekend was the movie Observe and Report, written and produced by UNCSA alum Jody Hill. I know, a little late, but we've been to the movies about four times since we had a kid. Probably another reason we decided to start our own theater. I get way too easily distracted, but William Faulkner would be proud of my stream of consciousness writing style. Back to my point, I thought the movie was hi-larious, but one of the things that really sucked me in was the soundtrack. Which got me thinking, what's the best use of a song in a movie, that makes the scene and sums up the movie? Joe "Bean" Esposito is the genius that immediately came to my mind. His finest work was used in two films, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a documentary about breaking the high score in Donkey Kong (awesome, by the way), and one you're probably more familiar with - The Karate Kid.



If that doesn't get you pumped up, you have no pulse. William Zabka aka Cobra Kai Johnny, if you'd like to attend the opening of a/perture and sweep my leg, I'd be honored. I've also been told to increase the cuteness factor of the blog, so here's our son in the window of the theater.

Et tu, Brute?

The outpouring of support for Lawren's blog entry has really got me questioning my role here. I'm pretty sure that had I gotten to go to Toronto, I would have come back as Prime Minister of Canada. Just joshing, I enjoyed reading her recap as much as the rest of you. But the only reason I did hand the computer over was because it was her birthday week. Happy 18th birthday.

Part of the weekend festivities included a trip out to "Rock the Block" on Friday night. The rain was kind enough to stay away, as evidenced by the late night crowd.


If you tried to sneak a peek in on the progress at a/perture through the window, you were treated to the following sight:



It's starting to look like a theater back there, but we thought the posters might drum up a little more interest than sheetrock. In trying to keep with the theme of a/perture, we went with quotes from independent movies that were hopefully recognized by a broader audience, including Juno, Rushmore, Platoon, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Requeim for a Dream, Amelie, and The Graduate. We know we missed some great ones, so feel free to add your own in the comments. Who knows, they could be used in some later propaganda, and we'll work on a way to thank you if we do steal, I mean license, your idea.

Say hello to my little (best) friend...

As our faithful followers are well aware, Lawren spent the last few days in Toronto. She screened some great movies, and some just plain weird ones. But none as weird as Moron Movies. I saw her time away as my chance to educate the world, but she saw it as a blatant sign of disrespect. So now I'm on DOUBLE SECRET PROBATION and she's taking over the blog. Just kidding. Who better than the legend herself to give you the firsthand account of the experience. Now, your curator.

It was very hard to wrestle the computer away from Jigar, so I hope I don't disappoint. In my research for a/perture cinema, I came across an article written by a fellow theater owner who said that out of the multitude of film festivals around the world, the Toronto International Film Festival (tiff) is the one to hit up if you are a film exhibitor. The festival screens more than 300 films over a ten day period, not to mention, many of the recent "award winners" have come out of tiff including Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men, and Crash. How could I pass up the opportunity?

Frequent flier miles, my in-laws offer to babysit and my mom's companionship all made the trip possible. We spent four full days in Toronto, making it to 12.5 films. Below is a summary of the festival in list form:

Longest time spent in line: 3 hours for The White Ribbon - totally worth it! I would love to get this film to a/perture this Winter.
Buckets of popcorn consumed: a mere 1/2 of a bucket during the Glorious 39 premiere (and it was a little stale)
Coolest Q&A: with director of Chloe, Atom Egoyan. He was so open and funny and adorably personable.
Biggest surprise hit: Beautiful Kate, by first time director Rachel Ward. Have to thank my mom for picking this one. It was a great little Australian movie with a lot of notable performances, an original story, and a beautiful setting. Here is a picture of my mom with a up-and-comer Sophie Rowe from the film:


Celebrity sightings: Sissy Spacek, Sam Neill, Bryan Brown, David Kross (from The Reader), Ridley Scott, Eva Green, Bill Nighy, Romola Garai, Julie Christie
Best photo-op: with Lluis Homar, Penelope Cruz's co-star in Broken Embraces. What is not to love about a man from Spain? Me, Lluis and my shiny bag:



New favorite song: the tiff theme song, "I Will Light You Up" by local Toronto band Pilot Speed
Number of visits to Starbucks for coffee: 4
Number of visits to Starbucks for free wifi: 12
World Premieres: 1! - Glorious 39 - red carpet, decked out stars, photogs - coolest part was that the director and actors sat down to watch the entire film with everyone else in the audience (if you can squint hard enough, you can see Bill, Roma, Julie and director Stephen Poliakoff in the photo below)


Films I hope to bring to a/perture: The White Ribbon, Broken Embraces, Beautiful Kate, Chloe, and Same Same but Different
Film I will never in a million years bring to a/perture: The Warrior and the Wolf
Films with the most buzz that I wish I could have seen: Up in the Air, Precious, and A Serious Man

If you would like to learn more about any of the films I've mentioned above check out the official tiff website at www.tiff.net or post some questions and if Jigar lets me back into the blog, I'd be happy to answer them.

P.S. - Thanks Jigs for taking good care of the homefront.

Genius or moron blogger?

So I'm already falling behind again on the updates, but I promise this excuse was a little more viable than the last one. Lawren left for Toronto on Friday (if you haven't already done so, head on over to the a/perture cinema twitter page for some of the celebrity encounters and early reviews) which left me without much to report as she had me researching movies to watch. So while she's having fun with that, I'm having my own adventures with our son Jake, and continuously hearing him yell "Mommy!". Further cementing the fact that Lawren is the only person of interest in our household, the gotriad article came out on Thursday.

http://www.gotriad.com/content/2009/09/09/article/shes_bringing_art_films_to_winston_salem

Joe Scott, who wrote the article, hosts his own film series in Greensboro, along with writing much more interesting stuff than I. Check out his website for more info: http://www.themovieshow.org

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that while Lawren brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this project, I'm no slouch myself. You're hearing from the co-founder/President of the Dalton High School Film Club. However, after declaring my love for the 1985 piece de resistance Moron Movies, my opinion apparently is as welcome as Joe Wilson's comments during an Obama speech.



I probably didn't do myself any favors with that clip, but it's about the only one out on Youtube, which is probably another strike against me. This space will probably be a lot more interesting when my wife is back from Toronto and I can post pictures of celebrities. Look out Perez Hilton!

I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse...

I've been giving you a shot here and there of each of the theaters, but figured I'd share more of a holistic view put together by the designers.





They're pretty tiny looking here, but I promise if you click on them, you'll actually be able to see some detail. Lawren's been out meeting with some movie theater people in other cities, as well as our own incredible resource for film, UNCSA (or NCSA, whichever keeps me in your good graces). She's getting reacquainted with distribution rights and learning more and more about the day to day operations of running an art house theater. The thing I've noticed is how helpful every single person has been along the way. It's almost like there's some sort of Movie Theater Owner Mafia out there that's making sure to take care of their own. They shouldn't be confused with the Indian Mafia, a group I concocted in the sixth grade to ward off bullies, claiming they were gathering in Canada, all billion of them, with toothpicks in hand to take over. But I digress. Our new friends at the Fine Arts Theatre in Asheville and the CAMEO Art House Theatre in Fayetteville have been invaluable resources in understanding how to turn a passion for watching good movies into an experience for the community.

On the complete opposite side of the fun spectrum, Lawren also attended a tax seminar this past week. If you thought your personal taxes were more entertaining than Chad Ochocinco's twitter page (do yourself a favor if you've never taken the time to visit), then wait until you hear about business tax. NC Tax Code 117 Regulation C-b5 states that zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I'm practically an accountant and when she tried to explain it, I got that glossed over look normally reserved for whenever I'm asked to change a diaper or do the dishes. So while most of running a theater is awesome, just know that it's not all fun and games.

Thanks for some of the suggestions for concessions. Keep 'em rolling in. Although I do think I gained an extra five pounds this Labor Day weekend after re-discovering Moon Pies.

Let's all go to the Lobby!

I promised myself I wouldn't go more than 5 days without an update, but sometimes critical tasks get in the way of good intentions. Preparations for my four fantasy football drafts took priority over writing. Not to fear, I've got an Atlanta Falcon on each of my teams so far. We also treated ourselves to a Winston-Salem Dash game, where fans were lucky enough to witness yours truly partake in a hippity hop race against a so-called friend who had to blind me with the giant rubber ball to win a free t-shirt. I hope you are sore, Teddy. Another highlight of the Dash game was Lawren's first celebrity moment, when someone saw her and said "Hey, the movie people!" I'm all for giving that person two free tickets.

We're in the first phases of construction after the big demolition, and I hope to use the long weekend to get some updated pictures. I've yet to share the box office/concession area, so be on the lookout for that. Speaking of which, we've almost settled on ice and popcorn makers. Lawren also completed Responsible Alcohol Seller Program training, so we're one step closer there. One of the things we've learned is that in order to sell wine, we have to sell some sort of hot food. So that opens up the question - what would the movie goers like to have? The first things that came to mind were pretzels, hot dogs, nachos, sandwiches, or Patio microwaved burritos. I really think the latter complements a good pinot noir, but maybe that's just me. Any other suggestions?

That's what she said...

Just like our Boston Terrier Nigel, Studio 2 has been complaining about a lack of attention since Studio 1 (our son Jake in the family analogy) was first introduced to the world. Luckily, Studio 2 hasn't retaliated by urinating on the furniture. Without further adieu, here it is:

Most women will probably argue that it's cold enough in movie theaters without a fan, so that's probably on its way out. We're waiting on Hannibal from the A-Team to make our "plan come together", but we're making good progress on finalizing the interior designs. In the mean time, Lawren's been making the press tour, speaking with Yes! Weekly and the Greensboro News and Record this week. Page 63 of the current Yes! Weekly features our curator, so make sure you pick up your copy. If you can't wait, here's the online version:

http://www.yesweekly.com/article-7218-persistence-of-vision.html

A great article by Keith Barber and Lawren seems to be getting more comfortable telling her story. My favorite part? Having in print that she does in fact love me. That entitles me to half of her part of the theater right? Maybe the blogging thing will finally pay off. The News and Record piece is a few weeks out, but I'll be sure to pimp it out on here as soon as I know when it's hitting the presses. Insider information, FTW!

Our future neighbors RiverRun are having a moving sale tomorrow at 870 West Fourth Street from 10 to 4, so go get some S.W.A.G (Stuff we all get! - sorry, it's not free, but I was watching The Office while writing this). I'm still waiting for more questions - info at aperturecinema.com. Don't force me to resort to making questions up, because I'm definitely not above it. Questions about whether or not making out in the theater are not appropriate (but still funny).

O Canada

It was a quiet second half of the week at a/perture cinema. Lawren's at that stage where she's waiting to get things finalized before the heavy lifting on the construction gets going. As such, a refrigerated display case was the major purchase on Friday. Since it doesn't shoot out laser beams or teleport tiny puppies, I'll leave the picture out. That does give the opportunity to dig into the reader mailbag and see what's going on. Well, if the US Postal Service wants to cut back on mail deliveries by eliminating Saturday, I'll say the Q&A would probably survive. Our lone question came from Nick in Winston-Salem:

"I have a question about what kinds of movies you will run? If you're theater was open today what movies do you think would be showing? Would The Hurt Locker, Paper Heart, In The Loop, etc. be shown?"

Well Nick, so much of what's been going on with the theater has been administrative, getting ready to go, and behind the scenes stuff, that we'd be lying if we said we were up on everything out there. However, I will say that The Hurt Locker would definitely be in there, as I have had multiple recommendations of that film, with one guy saying he wished he had two extra hands so he could give it four thumbs up. Aside from the other two movies you mentioned, other candidates include:

• Ponyo
• Inglorious Basterds (if we could get it)
• Moon

Along those lines, Lawren's planning on going to the Toronto International Film Festival in September. Guess who's not going. The same guy who got blank business cards. I'm not bitter or anything (I just wouldn't expect a lot of Christmas presents this year, Lawren). There she will hear people say "Eh?" a lot and watch movies all day. I think once she comes back from there, she'll have a good idea of what she's hoping to screen in the first few months of business.

In other news, our almost 2 year old son Jake will not be going to India anytime soon. Apparently the guy dancing on the train in the "Bollywoodin' in the Dash" post is daddy. Should I be flattered that he thinks I could be a giant movie star who likes to dance on trains, or depressed that he thinks I like to dance on trains?

I'm a little late to the party, but the W-S Journal has a poll on their website about whether or not you'd patronize a downtown theater.

Let the poll skewing begin

"You can have a blank business card to write on..."

Yesterday the whole movie theater downtown thing became a little more official than it was with my first post. a/perture cinema officially signed the lease for the space at 311 W. Fourth Street in the Chatham Building. There goes the neighborhood.

So with that minor detail out of the way, we can now move on to more important things, like whether or not I get a business card. Local firm Elephant in the Room has done an amazing job of helping develop the theater's name and brand identity, as evidenced by the wicked logo at the top of this page. So Lawren was showing me the potential stationery and her prototype business card, when I asked "What are we putting on mine?" If you've read the subject of this post, you already know what she said. This was after I'd spent most of my evening working on journal entries and updating budget numbers for her instead of playing Tiger Woods 2010 on the Wii. I hope you, the readers, are as outraged as I am. I would start an online petition to try to remedy this gross miscarriage of justice, but then she might take away my internet privileges. And while we may push each other to wit's end on occasion, it's your comments (tclynch and suemo - what up!) and support as published in the W-S Journal that make it worth it.

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/aug/18/cant-come-too-soon/opinion-letters/

Bless you, Ace Levstek. Which reminds me, as much as I like to see my thoughts on the interweb, this is your blog. I'd like to get some reader Q&A going, so if you have questions such as "Lawren - this guy...really?", email them to info at aperturecinema.com and I'll ignore the ones I don't know the answers to.

Bollywoodin' the Dash

So this weekend my parents came to visit and had a chance to visit the future home of a/perture cinema. Of course they were excited before, but seeing the space as a shell of what it is to become only added to it.

(I guess my comments about the cubicle seats upset management enough to get them out pronto - sorry honey)

My parents are happy for Lawren and what she's doing, but I could see a couple of other twinkles in my Dad's eyes. One, he's hoping that once this thing gets off the ground I'll stop asking him for money (not gonna happen), and two, that we're going to show Bollywood movies every week. Not that British Slumdog Millionaire Bollywood either, the made in the Motherland stuff (Granted, I loved Slumdog and had a/perture been open last year, we'd have shown it). Bollywood made enough movies last week for us to fill the schedule for the next 17 years, but I can't really see that business model as sustainable. Don't get me wrong, there's not a more entertaining mood changer than watching a bunch of people randomly break out into song and dance on top of a train, and we'll probably work in some movies. I guess the real point was to share a little of my culture with you, and give a sneak peek into the programming of a/perture. We're Michael Jackson "off the wall" like that. Which leads to another question Lawren gets all the time - How do you get your movies?

And that my friends, is a cliffhanger. If I gave you all the juicy info in week one, you wouldn't keep coming back, and I wouldn't get a $0.03 check from AdSense for all my clickthroughs. Maybe if my Mom reads this, she'll get back to me with the top 5 Bollywood movies to run out and rent right now.

Demolition Man (AKA another movie you won't see at a/perture)

So apparently one of the side effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression is that it has become exponentially easier to sign away your life to the government via a Small Business Administration Loan (Thank you, Mr. President??). That helped hatch the hair-brained scheme (I need to watch more Scooby-Doo again) of starting a movie theater in downtown. So they started demolition a couple of weeks ago and Lawren is really embracing the idea of small business and family business being one in the same.



I was also somewhat disheartened to learn today that a/perture cinema has more fans than I have friends on Facebook. Today I was given the option to become a fan of "Pathetic" and "Loneliness" as part of my friend suggestions, but that's beside the point. Since I've already leaked a picture or two, I guess I'll actually give you the first before in a before/after series of the completion of studio 2.

I really think the cubicles instead of cramped, uncomfortable seats is what's going to set a/perture apart. Who doesn't want to leave work, and escape to a film in the friendly confines of the carpeted wall you just left? Seriously, American Cinema Equipment (free ad - discount?) has hooked us up with some sick Irwin seats, that I'm told wrap your derrierre like a choir of singing angels. I'll quit while I'm behind.

Is this thing on?

Well, it appears the word is out. My wife, Lawren Desai, is opening a movie theater. I've been asked to document the process, as she's occupied with getting a/perture cinema off the ground and taking care of three kids. Just to clarify, we're not dropping the bombshell that we're expecting twins in this blog, I just have to include myself, our son Jake, and the Boston Terrier Nigel. Seriously, they just did a study that dogs are as smart as two year olds, and Lawren tells me all the time that they're both smarter than me. I'll let you be the judge as you critique Jigar Desai's grammar and incoherent ramblings over the course of the next 5 months. And that will be the last time I refer to myself in the third person. So now you know who I am and what I'm doing, so sit back, comment away, and be careful, cause you might learn a thing or two.

Alright, I'm about to be absolutely sincere for a few lines, but don't get used to this. Lawren has poured her heart and soul into getting this off the ground, and with the support of a solid group of financial partners, some amazing people advising her, and everyone who is touching this project directly or indirectly, I have no doubt that a/perture will succeed as another piece of the revitalization of the 27101. Thanks to everyone who is a part of this and will be in the future.

A longer story in the W-S Journal (and a photo)

http://www2.journalnow.com/content/2009/aug/07/soon-dinner-and-a-movie-downtown/