The first time I watched Space Jam was when I was in in middle school at my grandma’s house next-door. My grandma was handicapped so I was over there a lot helping out or spending time with her. One day I sat admiring her tall shelf of VCR tapes underneath her TV, when I asked her who her favorite actor was. She replied with a few names that I did not recognize and one of them was Bill Murray. I told her I hadn’t heard of any of them and she immediately had me pull out What About Bob? to introduce me to what I had been missing out on by not knowing who Bill Murray was. My grandma, little sister, and I all sat and watched the movie, laughing together the whole time. After it finished, my grandma had me put in Space Jam which got a similar reaction from the three of us watching. I have seen Space Jam a few other times since, but this is the experience that stands out in my memory. Since then, my family has moved and we no longer live next to my grandma, I have gone through the struggles and joy of high school, and am now living 8 hours away from my family and going to college. Instead of preparing to be a professional soccer player (like I thought I was going to be back then), I’m studying to work with computers. Seeing Space Jam Friday night at State theater brought a lot of these memories back to me. My life has changed drastically from my first time watching Space Jam and I could not be happier with where I have ended up. I was now watching it with my best friends, who I didn’t even know existed back then in middle school, and am attending a college that I love. I think that this is one of the great things about seeing a movie that you have seen before. You can recall the great memories that you had in the past and better appreciate the ones happening at the current moment. This made this last experience seeing Space Jam on Friday a close second in my memories of seeing it. My friends and I had just come from the Michigan basketball game and headed straight to the theater, stopping only at Subway on the way. We scanned in just in time and took our seats. The small theater was a little over half full, mainly with college kids and adults a little older. It was midnight but the energy was high. From the opening credits, everyone was bouncing up and down, singing along. No one sat in front of me and my group of friends and we were able to sprawl out our legs over the seats in front of us. Throughout the whole movie everyone was laughing out loud and clapping at the best parts. It was very cool to be there with a group of people who were all enjoying the film and having a great time. The atmosphere made the movie exciting and very fun; and now I have another great memory with this movie. Laughing with everyone, and seeing the Looney Tunes win, helped with the sting of Michigan’s loss a couple hours prior. I am definitely looking forward to seeing more movies at State Theater. The atmosphere was awesome and relaxed. I am known to fall asleep at the theater but, even with the midnight start-time, I was wide awake till the end. On this snowy weekend here in Ann Arbor I would definitely encourage people to go to a movie at State Theater or just sit down with a new group of friends and watch an old movie.
Author: Maximilian Darr
PREVIEW: Space Jam
I am the kind of person who has no trouble re-watching the great classic movies. These movies have stood the test of time, and for me they never get old. I could watch movies like Singing in the Rain or the Wizard of Oz many times over without losing any fondness for them. That’s why this Friday at midnight I am ecstatic to re-watch another one these great American classics: Space Jam. For those who have not been fortunate enough to see this great film yet, it features Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons playing basketball for their freedom against the big alien brutes known at the Monstars. The movie is going to be shown both Friday and Saturday nights at State Theater. If you’ve seen this movie twenty times or have never seen it, I would suggest going. Most of us were too young to see Michael Jordan and the Looney Toons take on the Monstars on the big screen, so this is the perfect opportunity. According to the Facebook page, wearing a basketball jersey is encouraged! Get ready to jam!
Dates: November 20th & 21st at 11:59 pm
Location: State Theater; 233 S. State St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
For more information and to buy tickets: https://www.facebook.com/events/910016339066479/
REVIEW: Ignite Ann Arbor
Since I was a kid, like mostly everyone else, I loved stories. I would relish the visits my family took to my grandma’s house because she would always tell us stories in her bedroom before we went to bed. My siblings and I would lie there listening intently, and as soon as she would finish we would all plead, “Just one more Grandma.” This would go on until finally she would remind us that she had already taken her medication and had to go to sleep, which would result in a reluctant sigh from all of us. I never really outgrew this love for storytelling. Whether it be sitting around a campfire with my family or hanging out with friends I always loved hearing and telling stories. I think that this passion of stories is illustrated by the fact that I chose to start off this very review with a story…
On Friday night I went to the 10th edition of Ignite Ann Arbor, a story telling event where the speakers get exactly five minutes to talk, with twenty slides cycling through automatically behind them. There were fourteen stories in all. The topics spread from reforming the justice system to how to design your city to optimize the party scene. I have been a long time listener of The Moth, a podcast that features stories told at Moth events that are very similar to this; so I had high expectations. Ignite did not disappoint at all. I found myself engaged and learning new things about space as astronomer Keren Sharon showed us the huge activity in a seemingly empty part of space. I found myself laughing as Ry4an Brase (the 4 is silent) showed the flaws of the typical map by placing the faces of the Brady Bunch on the globe and showing how distorted they came out on the map. I also found myself close to tears as Michelle Massey Barnes told a story about her experience photographing a woman who had cancer and her daughter. She talked about the mom trying to help the daughter deal with her hair falling out when they would wrestle, and in the end the mom allowed her daughter to shave her head, empowering her. My favorite story told was by Lucy Tobier, an eleven-year-old girl who is the editor of The Murray Ave Times. This is a hyper-local newspaper she started for her street as a way to make money. Her first interview was with her neighbors’ dog and she has now scaled to interviewing people as well. She talked about how she believed every street should have its own newspaper and described some of her experiences with owning the newspaper and interviewing people.
All the stories were clearly well-rehearsed and fit the time constraints and slide transitions perfectly. The program was put on very well and all the stories were not only interesting but thought-provoking. I would recommend anyone who loves stories to go to the next installation of Ignite. I will definitely be there.
Picture taken at a previous Ignite Ann Arbor event
For more on Ignite and the speakers, visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ignite-ann-arbor-10-tickets-18971794147 or https://www.facebook.com/ignitea2/?fref=ts
PREVIEW: Ignite Ann Arbor
If you had five minutes on stage, to tell a story, what would you say? This is the question that A2Geeks is asking. They see that being a geek about a topic is the same as being very passionate about it. Tomorrow night (11/13) geeks on all sorts of subjects are coming together for an Ignite night to tell their stories. All around the world, geeks have been organizing Ignite nights, and now they are coming to Ann Arbor. I have listened to other story-telling programs similar to this, and I am very much looking forward to attending this program. I have reviewed the topics of the stories that will be told and they all seem to be very interesting. I am especially looking forward to a story about “internet trolls” that is going to be told by one of the GSI’s from my Information class. I think that everyone enjoys a good story and this event is going to have sixteen of them! And registration to go is free!
When: Friday, November 13, 2015 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Where: Robertson Auditorium, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan – 701 Tappan Avenue Ann Arbor, MI 48109
For more information and to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ignite-ann-arbor-10-tickets-18971794147
