when dinosaurs ruled my life

I saw Jurassic Park on the big screen again today and my mind has been spinning with memories ever since.

I was always a movie geek and I think my love of Indiana Jones led me to Spielberg. I was into the behind-the-scenes stuff so I knew the names of actors and directors and writers and it was hard for me to miss his name next to my then-hero George Lucas when the credits rolled after Templed of Doom (I was scared of the ghosts in Raiders so I only watched Temple for the longest time LOL). But I don't really think it was until Jurassic Park that my full on love of Spielberg really hit.

I can't remember the specifics, but I did want to see the movie and I knew it was coming out. My mom pointed out that it was based on a book. At this time, my reading was mostly limited to Star Wars novels and books based on movies, so she knew what she was doing when she encouraged me to read the book before we saw the film.

I remember being so nervous when I went to the theater with my 6th grade friend Tara. The movie was rated PG-13 and I was only 12 and I was scared they wouldn't let me in. I think I might have even asked my mom to write me a permission letter. I remember clutching my military ID, worried that they would ask for it and I would be sent home. Of course, that didn't happen because no one cares who sees a PG-13 movie. But still, it was a strong enough dread that I remember it.

I also remember this was right when the first stadium seating theater opened up in Laurel AND they had the new surround sound system. Oh the sound of that T-Rex roar still makes me heart beat faster, I LOVE IT!

I think I dragged every single person I knew to the theater with me that summer to watch it over and over again. My Mom said she thought it was scarier than Jaws (which I had yet to see...I think this is where I went on my Spielberg binge, renting all of the movies from Channel 3 Video, the local rental store, and rewatching classics like E.T. and digging out our taped-off-of-TV Beta of Poltergeist. My older cousin was obsessed with dinosaurs, he actually had Robert Bakker's book (the one that Tim is rambling about at Grant when he slams the car door in his face) and he had spent the summer sketching Velociraptors so when we went up to Maine in August, we had to hit the theater again. I want to say I saw it at least 6 times.

( follow me back to 1993... )

when dinosaurs ruled my life...

I saw Jurassic Park on the big screen again today and my mind has been spinning with memories ever since.

I was always a movie geek and I think my love of Indiana Jones led me to Spielberg. I was into the behind-the-scenes stuff so I knew the names of actors and directors and writers and it was hard for me to miss his name next to my then-hero George Lucas when the credits rolled after Templed of Doom (I was scared of the ghosts in Raiders so I only watched Temple for the longest time LOL). But I don't really think it was until Jurassic Park that my full on love of Spielberg really hit.

I can't remember the specifics, but I did want to see the movie and I knew it was coming out. My mom pointed out that it was based on a book. At this time, my reading was mostly limited to Star Wars novels and books based on movies, so she knew what she was doing when she encouraged me to read the book before we saw the film.

I remember being so nervous when I went to the theater with my 6th grade friend Tara. The movie was rated PG-13 and I was only 12 and I was scared they wouldn't let me in. I think I might have even asked my mom to write me a permission letter. I remember clutching my military ID, worried that they would ask for it and I would be sent home. Of course, that didn't happen because no one cares who sees a PG-13 movie. But still, it was a strong enough dread that I remember it.

I also remember this was right when the first stadium seating theater opened up in Laurel AND they had the new surround sound system. Oh the sound of that T-Rex roar still makes me heart beat faster, I LOVE IT!

I think I dragged every single person I knew to the theater with me that summer to watch it over and over again. My Mom said she thought it was scarier than Jaws (which I had yet to see...I think this is where I went on my Spielberg binge, renting all of the movies from Channel 3 Video, the local rental store, and rewatching classics like E.T. and digging out our taped-off-of-TV Beta of Poltergeist. My older cousin was obsessed with dinosaurs, he actually had Robert Bakker's book (the one that Tim is rambling about at Grant when he slams the car door in his face) and he had spent the summer sketching Velociraptors so when we went up to Maine in August, we had to hit the theater again. I want to say I saw it at least 6 times.

( follow me back to 1993... )