what was sundered and undone ...

Tomorrow is my birthday, and to celebrate Amanda and I spent the weekend out at the movies. Not recent movies, mind you. No, the Castro Theater here in San Francisco was showing double features all weekend of what it called "Analog Adventures" - as in, imaginative movies from a pre-digital era - as in, the '80s. So, concept aside, what it meant was that we spent Saturday watching The Never-Ending Story and Labyrinth and Sunday watching Legend and The Dark Crystal (the last one with Ry joining us).

I loved it. The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies ever, definitely in my top ten. (Come to think of it, what are my top ten?) It was great getting to see it on the big screen again. In fact, it was great getting to see a few of them on the big screen at all as I'd never seen Legend in a theater before.

What struck me as I watched them is how staggeringly imaginative they are and how, as essentially kids movies, none of them would have been made today. They're either too costly, too dark, too cerebral, too violent, or too artsy (in the case of Legend). They all come from this really amazing time in the '80s when the post-Star Wars return to myth, fantasy, and imagination made special effects wizards gods in Hollywood. As for me, it simply meant that I got to grow up with a million different artists teaching me about the power of imagination in a way that Pixar seems to carry the mantle these days.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend my birthday and I really appreciate Amanda letting me drag her along (even if The Dark Crystal was a little rough for her to get through).