Moment #1
I’m planning on going see the latest Star Wars movie this week and decided to watch all the previous ones in preparation. I had forgotten just how bad some of them were and how much fun others were. It got me thinking about when and where I saw the very first one.
I was driving around on some back roads in the San Gabriel Mountains one Sunday morning in May, 1977. I turned a PBS radio station on and was immediately captivated by the music they were playing. I was so intrigued that I pulled over before I got out of range of the signal and waited to hear what it was: turns out it was the sound track to a movie called Star Wars.
A few days later I played hooky from my teaching job and went into Los Angeles to finish up my paperwork for joining the Navy. I finished around lunch time. I certainly wasn’t going to try to rush back to work, so I found myself at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre for one of the first showings of Star Wars.
Sitting in that opulent theater, hearing that John Williams score burst out of the speakers, and seeing those now iconic lines scroll across the screen was truly astounding. It was like nothing I had ever heard or seen before and no movie has ever come close to recreating that moment for me.
Moment #2
A second moment occurred while watching the 1984 Winter Olympics. Jayne Torvill and Christopher Deane skated to Ravel’s Boléro. It’s hard now to explain just how mind-blowingly different their performance was compared to every one else, because it set the new standard. Ice dancing was never the same afterwards. I remember almost forgetting to breathe during the whole routine. If you’ve never seen it or have forgotten it, it’s available on YouTube. I just watched it again and it still gave me chills.
If you’ve got any such moments, let me know about them in the comments.
Tuples and Attributes 