The Great Price of Movies

Wifey loves movies. Me, not so much. If I see one or two a year in theatres, that's plenty, although as Wifey points out, when I go I usually end up enjoying myself. This is especially true when we make it a couples' date, like we do with Deb and Norman. A new "Great Gatsby" came out, and D1 saw it with some friends. D2 and Wifey wanted, in, too, especially since D2 had read the book, like every US high school student was required to do... So last night, D2, Wifey, and I fired up the man sized Buick, and stopped for some Thai food at Sea Siam, out go to place. Next we went to the Falls, the local outdoor shoppping mall. It was fun taking D2 -- the Falls is where she and her middle school friends hung out. They supposedly went to movies, but she admitted last night that most nights they just walked around, meeting other groups of kids. It's funny -- now that D2 is 21 and statutes of parental limitations have run, we're finding out more and more about her youth. For example, earlier in the day we re lived a bad prom experience when she was a sophomore. We though we knew the whole story about the bad night -- with D2's friends being expelled from the prom and one boy being hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, but one detail had been left out: the assistant principal demanded to speak to all parents. Turns out that D2 called D1, then a UF sophomore, and had her play the role of Wifey, lest D2 be forced to leave early. Oh well -- I DID engender a closeness between the two of them. But I digress... So we went to buy tickets, and only the 3D version was playing within the hours. The price:$15 per ticket --with a dollar student discount for D2!!!!! $15! D2 told us that in Gainesville, movies cost $7. Still -- the fact that I paid nearly $50 for 3 seats floored me. (The tickets did include a small popcorn, though). The movie was ok. The visuals were spectacular -- 3d took us insided the grand parties. But Leonardo DiCaprio was clearly prettier than the actress who played Daisy, and that unsettled me as much as the ticket price. Still, it was a nice evening. I'm getting old. PRices for stuff like that never bothered me before. Wifey's bad back keeps rearing its head, and last night she kept popping up and down during the movie. So I'll take a movie pass for awhile, I figure. Unless Norman calls...