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/