Bryant Park Summer Film Festival

One of my favorite parts about summer in New York City is the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival. It kicked off last night, and Karen and I (and some of her pals) were there to see the first movie of the season, "The Birds".

We arrived by six, just in time to get one of the last spots of grass left in the back - and still we only had room to roll out half the blanket. But no worries. We had wine, cheese and crackers, veggies and hummus, and chocolate - one bar of which displayed an unbelievable disclaimer which I will elaborate upon in another post. Anyway, so we were there by six and settled in for a long picnic - the movie doesn't start until it's dark - 9:00 or so, so you have to get there early to save your spot, then ride it out for hours on a picnic blanket while you wait. The trick is to spend a good part of the picnic time laying down, that way when the movie starts you'll be able to sit up for the two hours without too much cramping.

As predicted, around nine the festivities started. First they show a Merrie Melodies cartoon - in this case Tweety and Sylvester -which was fun. Remember when it was okay to have violence in kids programming??? Then the old old HBO intro, the one with them music that a bunch of people get up and dance to. Don't ask me why. Then the movie.

"The Birds" was a cool movie to see in Bryant Park. Even though there's hundreds of people on the lawn, all is quiet as we watch the film - everyone is engaged. We oohed when Tippi Hedren turned around and there were birds everywhere and laughed at the pretty bad special effects when people got attacked by them. And everybody whoo-hooed loudly when Tippi and Rod Taylor kissed - I love the interactive spirit of movies at Bryant Park.

Karen, I'm glad I always have you to go to these movies with - let's try to do another soon! And Eric, now that you'll be living in the city, I expect you to go to one before you leave!