Monday, August 2, 2010

It's Effin' Shark Week, Beaches!

I don't have cable, but that doesn't mean I can't participate in what seems to be the unifying event for all of America - a week in the celebration of man-maiming fishies!




In Texas, we do it up right. Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow put on a 3-day encore of JAWS in 35mm, which was projected on a giant blow-up screen put on a rocky cliff overlooking Lake Travis. Below, movie patrons swilled lonestar and floated precariously in black innertubes. The price of admission even came with free shark gazpacho! But, truth be told, I almost gazpachoed all over myself after getting a whiff of it. No offense to the chef... I'm just not a sea creature eater.

Over the course of the night I found myself becoming more and more nostalgic for those days of drive-in theater, and the feeling of community and shared experience when watching a film outside. The event was perfectly manicured... scuba divers swam around for duration of the screening, randomly grabbing people's dangling feet. At one point, a giant shark fin poked out of the lake and headed into the crowd. It wasn't uncommon to hear a random scream here and there, followed by boisterous laughter.

Shark Week is a reason to re-visit all those fishy classics, from Jaws and Jaws 3-D, to Fulci's Zombie (featuring a wtf pairing of shark v. zombie!) - even those ridic Mega Shark vs "___" godzilla-type films.

I'm just waiting for Cuttlefish Week. I think that has the potential of really freaking people out. Just a suggestion to the Discovery Channel.

"Live every week like it's shark week" - Tracy from 30Rock

2 comments:

Sara Gorsky said...

THANK YOU for the Zombie reference. I thought I was the only person who can't get over a shark vs. zombie fight...UNDERWATER

krisenthia said...

And the best part of that scene? The zombie BITES the shark! Perfect.