I’ve been waiting since December 25th to post this very special announcement. Even though this is a big part of it, I’m not announcing that my wife, Sam, gave me a projector for Christmas. What I want to announce is that… Djake, Sam, and I successfully watched a whole movie, using the projector…outside under the stars. The way movies were meant to be watched. As Joe Bob Briggs says, “The drive-in will never die.” Or, in this case, the backyard theatre…

We were celebrating May the 4th, National Star Wars Day, so the movie was Return of the Jedi. I have had tested the projector both inside and outside once before, but it was during this official test-run that I learned that even though the system isn’t perfect, the whole experience is completely worth it.

My father-in-law loaned me an old tripod screen of his to use. I had considered using a sheet or something similar, but the screen, I found, allows for a better picture. The projector is probably the cheapest money could buy. A “good” projector probably is about ten times as expensive as mine. I’ll be perfectly honest, the picture is a little fuzzy and it’s difficult to see details. Black and white movies are the best, and that might be the majority of the movies I choose to watch outside this summer. Just think, though, it’ll be like stepping back in time to the days of noir detective films, sci-fi, or western flicks of the 50s! The size of the screen is about the same size as my widescreen tv downstairs, but you can sit fairly far away and still see really well. Having great picture quality is not my priority here, though. The projector is just a vessel to be able to get a movie outside in the first place.

The sound quality is better than the picture. I have a Sony iPod dock that has output capability. The projector has it’s own speaker, which projects a more muffled, tinny sound. The dock provides a more focused sound, if that makes any sense. It’s good sound, the only problem is that a person who sits in a direct line of the dock speaker will experience a higher volume than someone sitting off to the side. Remember here, folks, I’m trying to make a drive-in experience, not an indoor theatre experience. I’m not striving for perfection. I want to be a bit sensitive to my neighbors, too, however. The people who live east of us have air conditioning and keep their windows closed most of the time. The college kids who live west of us mostly keep their windows closed, too. I’ll probably have to do the gentlemanly thing and go talk to them first and let them know ahead of time. If you’re looking to be impressed by the sound, don’t expect it in my backyard.

Doesn’t look very romantic? Wait until the lights dim…

Now I’m going to tell you about the best part about watching a movie outside. Ready? Drum roll, please… You’re watching a movie outside.. Watching a movie! Outside. Outside! When we watched Return of the Jedi, Sam was laying on the swing, Djake and I each on our own chair, all of us with comfy blankets wrapped around us. Popcorn. Good popcorn. During the Jabba palace scene I cracked open a cold one, looked up toward the star-stuffed sky, smiled, winked at Djake (I think I even gave him “the shooter”), raised my bottle in salute to, well, myself really, celebrating the fact that the air I was breathing while I was enjoying this cinematic epic film was fresh and not circulated air. I think I actually heard an owl hoot on some high perch a few cotton trees away. While Luke was telling his father he wouldn’t fight him, throwing his light saber aside, I swear I saw a shooting star stream across the eastern sky. Once the opening crawl dissipated at the beginning, giving away to that great shot of the Imperial Shuttle cruising by, I no longer thought about the picture or the sound quality. I was in movie watching bliss.

Well, what this means for you is that I plan on watching a lot of movies in the backyard this summer, and you’re invited. Before I screen anything, I’ll post an advertisement on Cinematic Attic. If you’re interested, RSVP in the comment section of the post and I’ll send you directions to the house (just post your email and I’ll get back to you). Any reader of Cinematic Attic is invited! I just need to know how much popcorn to tell Sam to make (she makes the best popcorn!!) and how much beer/sodapop to chill. Keep checking Cinematic Attic for the advertisement of the first showing. Probably will be mid-June or so.

I’ll leave you with a non-related Joe Bob Briggs quote… “If you hate what you’re seeing, you call it sex and violence. If you like it, you call it “romance and adventure.”” Check it out!