A Return To The Palace

Tandoor Palace Restaurant & Bar

I-80 Exit 299 - Tannersville, PA

Mike and I stopped at an incredible Indian buffet that's built into an old train car last year during Camp Blood IX.  We decided to make it a tradition this year.

My wife isn't a big fan of Indian food so it's not something that I get to have very often.  Everything here is absolutely delicious, and I'm already looking forward to coming back again next year.

I Beg Your Pardon?

First Pennsylvania Bank
The Philadelphia Inquirer (December 6, 1987)
Today would have been the 80'th birthday of the man who recorded the final out in the Phillies first World Series Championship.  I wish I could have been at the First Pennsylvania Bank to meet him back in 1987, but I'm not sure about that headline... sounds more like you're walking into a massage parlor.

Six Years, Six Seasons, Six Films

The Last Drive In - Nightmareathon
Shudder (2024)
In honor of the sixth anniversary of The Last Drive-In, Joe Bob and D'arcy are hosting the Nightmareathon.  It starts at 9:00 pm tomorrow and will feature six movies shown back-to-back on Shudder.

Unfortunately, this event coincides with Camp Blood at the Mahoning, so I'm going to have to catch this on the replay, but I'm looking forward to seeing their longest broadcast since the original 2018 marathon (banner designed by Justin Osbourn).

Gather Round The Campfire For Ghost Stories And Ramen

Campfire S'mores Cup Noodles
Nissin Foods (2024)
I've got a bit of an unhealthy obsession with seasonal and limited edition foods, and the weirder that they are, the more I want to try them.  Nissin has not let me down in this department.  Over the past few years, they've come up with Pumpkin Spice, Breakfast, and Everything Bagel flavored Cup Noodles.  This summer, the special flavor is Campfire S'Mores.

Instead of little bits of dried vegetable, the ramen is topped with a chocolate and graham cracker flavored powder and a bunch of mini marshmallows which melted completely into the noodles and "broth" when the hot water was added.  It may look weird, but this is actually pretty damn good.  Out of the four unusual flavors that I've tried, the only one I'd rank ahead of this one would be the Breakfast Noodles.

The Master And Ruler Of The World

Sid Eudy
1960 - 2024

It was reported yesterday that Sid Eudy has passed away at age 63 after battling cancer for several years.  He was one of the coolest big men in the history of professional wrestling, and a dude who I was always happy to see in the ring.

One Of These Days, I'm Gonna Get Organiz-ized

Taxi Driver
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Sunday night at the Mahoning was dedicated to Martin Scorsese and one of the greatest films of all time.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Show poster designed by Tom Bifulco

Taxi Driver is another movie that I discovered when I was a teenager working for Blowout Video that I watched one time in the late 90's and haven't come back to since.  It's a movie that I've always wanted to re-watch at a time and place when I can give it my full attention, and that time and place was last night at the Mahoning.

Donnie was handing out buttons at the front gate to folks as they were pulling onto the lot.  He had one that reimagined Robert De Niro's character as Travis Pickle, and a "We Are The People" button from Senator Palantine's campaign in the movie, which was the one that I picked.

One of the hardest lessons that I've learned as I've gotten older is the fact that I'm really not that smart.  It's not that I think that I'm stupid, but my family raised me to believe that we were all very smart.  Life has taught me that I and my family are of average intelligence, and if I'm being honest I think that assessment is generous.

Certain movies serve as a reminder to me that I'm not nearly as smart as I was once led to believe, and Taxi Driver is one of them.  It's not as challenging as movies like Eraserhead, but I still find myself struggling to understand why Travis Bickle wanted to assassinate Senator Palantine.  I've read reviews from fans who suggest that he sees the politician as no better than the pimps and street criminals that drive him to madness, but that argument doesn't make sense to me.  There's nothing in the film that suggests that Bickle understands who Palantine even is on the surface, let alone any dark secrets that he may have hidden from the public eye.  The only thing that he seems to know about the Senator is that the woman he's obsessed with is working on his campaign.  So, does he want to strike out at him to get her attention, or as an act of vengeance after she rejected him, or just because he has violent urges and the Senator came into his field of vision?  I have no idea.

None of this is meant to suggest that I don't like this film because I absolutely love it.  It's visually stunning, particularly the scenes of the city as seen from Bickle's cab, and the performances draw you into this world and holds you there for a few minutes after the credits have rolled, and I guess it's probably a good thing that I don't fully understand the motivations of one of the most deranged characters in the history of cinema.

Opening The Vault

Walt's Animation Vault: The Little Mermaid / Aladdin
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
They've finally got permission to show Disney animated features on 35mm at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater.  In honor of this occasion, I decided to put together the absolute laziest and most groan-inducing cosplay in the history of the drive-in.

I'm "Under The C".  Get it?  😛

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Walt's Animation Vault weekend was originally planned to take place in July and it was going to be a double feature of The Lion King and Aladdin.  Jeff's passing and the delay to the start of the 2024 season caused a ripple event which resulted in this event being rescheduled for the weekend of August 23rd and 24th.  Unfortunately, this created another issue at the last minute.  The Lion King was placed in a temporary blackout from public exhibition due to the upcoming release of Mufasa: The Lion King.

The plan is to show The Lion King at the Mahoning next year for Walt's Animation Vault II, but for this year, it was swapped out for The Little Mermaid.  For as much as I love The Lion King, I don't think that too many people on the lot minded all that much.  The place was packed with families who came out to see a double feature of Disney classics on the big screen at the drive-in.

The t-shirt for this weekend was designed by Andrew Kern, and it's one of the coolest Mahoning shirts that I've ever seen.  I especially like the 35mm film reel vault and the Mahoning Drive-In Theater written in the style of the old Silly Symphony logo.

Andrew really went all out for this event.  In addition to designing the banner, the poster, and the t-shirt, he also had stacks of coloring pages available for free in the concession building for all of the kids and the adults who are kids at heart.

Click these links to download full size scans to print and color: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]

The Big Kid Store had a vendor table outside of the concession building, and much like they did for Clue and The Goonies, they hosted a fun scavenger hunt activity on the lot.  These really have been a great addition to the 2024 season, and I hope they continue hosting them going forward.

Last, but certainly not least, Virgil's son had a lemonade stand on the lot, complete with free stickers and lollipops.  I can attest that the lemonade was very good, just as the sign says!

 

The Little Mermaid hit the screen when the sun went down.  It premiered in 1989 a week before Thanksgiving and it went on to become the first animated feature to top $100 million at the box office during its initial theatrical run.  It was also the movie that helped Disney reclaim the throne as the king of full length animated features.

It has to be thirty years since I've watched this movie.  The last time I remember seeing it was when my 8th grade Spanish teacher showed us the Spanish language version of it in class on the day before Christmas break.  It's clear from all of the kids on the lot that it's just as big of a hit today as it was when it was first released.

There were two Donald Duck cartoons shown on 35mm during intermission.  The first was a 1956 theatrical short called Chips Ahoy.  This was the second to last regular Disney theatrical cartoon to feature Donald in a starring role, and it was the final appearance of Chip 'n' Dale during The Golden Age of Animation.

The second was a 1955 animated short called Beezy Bear.  It features Donald Duck as a beekeeper and Humphrey The Bear as a mischievous honey-stealing bear.  This is the first time that I remember seeing either of these cartoons at the Mahoning.  They were a very nice surprise that made Disney night even better.

 

The second movie of the night was the animated feature Aladdin.  It premiered on November 11th, 1992, just one week shy of the third anniversary of the release of The Little Mermaid.  Like The Little Mermaid, I haven't watched this since I was a teenager and I forgot how fun both of these movies are.  I've always been more of a Looney Tunes kid than a Disney kid growing up, but these movies truly are timeless classics that anyone of any age can enjoy.

After the double feature, there was one final surprise for folks who were able to stay up late.  Rob put together an hour long reel of trailers for Disney live action and animated features.  He mentioned to me a few weeks ago that he was working on this to close out the night for Walt's Animation Vault, and I was looking forward to seeing this as much as the movies themselves.  The highlight of the night for me was the trailer for my favorite Disney animated feature from my childhood, The Black Cauldron.

The Suspense Is Killing Me

Burger King
Center Street - Tamaqua, PA
Go on... try it.  Ask for it by name.

The Royals, The Ebonys, and The Caballeros

2024 Patreon Screening #4
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
The movie that was screened for the fourth Patreon event on the lot this season was announced to be "an ultra-rare early 1960s teens gone wild film, in its later retitled reissue, with softcore inserts".  Well, it was 35mm print of a a black and white film from 1960 about teenagers, and the version that we got to see was released under one of its alternate titles.  However, I don't know if I'd classify it as "teens gone wild" and there was no scenes inserted that could be classified as "softcore" by even the most conservative viewers.

This film came across to me as a well-meaning attempt to confront racism with a proto 21 Jumpstreet plot device, but with a couple ridiculous casting choices and dialogue that was unintentionally hilarious.  The scene at the diner towards the end of the movie when Buck Madison (played by Richard Rust, the bellhop from Homicidal) breaks up with his girlfriend is ridiculous to a degree that cannot be overstated.  It definitely wasn't a must-see film by any means, but it was a lot of fun to laugh at with your friends and exactly the kind of movie that makes these Patreon nights great.

Did You Hear About The Claustrophobic Astronaut?

Alien: Romulus

20th Century Studios (2024)
This is a worthy chapter in the Alien saga.  The events of this film take place ten years after the events of the first Alien film.  Alien: Romulus tells the story of a group of people who are essentially slaves on an off-world mining colony.  They make their escape to what they believe to be an abandoned spacecraft that has the cryogenic technology which would allow them to survive the journey to the nearest habitable world, but the ship is not as devoid of life as they hoped it would be.

May The X-Force Be With You

X-Force #1
Marvel Comics (August 1991)

The closest that I came to collecting comic books was when my Nana ordered a Marvel Comic Book Collecting Kit from the Sears Catalog to give me a Christmas present when I was ten years old.  It was a great present, but it never really took hold as a hobby for me.  I picked up a handful of other comics throughout the rest of my childhood, but they were mostly from yard sales and flea markets.  I enjoyed reading them, but didn't really understand too much about the character's histories or the artists and writers who came up with the stories.

X-Force #1 was one of the few new comic books that I had when I was a kid.  I remember that it was sold in a plastic bag that also included a Marvel trading card.  I'm not even sure where I got it, but I read that thing dozens of times to the point where it was in no condition to be called a "collectible" anymore.

One of the vendors at the Vinyl Records Flea Market at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater was S-Mart Collectibles.  His table was set up across from the Mahoning merch table, and most of his stock was comic books that were based on movies, cartoons, or television shows.  He had a small box of autographed comics, including this X-Force #1 signed by co-creator and co-writer Fabian Nicieza.  He and Rob Liefeld not only came up with the X-Force characters, but they also worked together to create Deadpool.

The price was more than fair, and although I strongly doubt that this is going to kick off a comic book collecting binge in my mid 40's, it's nice to have a piece of my childhood back.

The Greatest Sugar Free Soda Of All Time

Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut
Keurig Dr Pepper (2024)
I don't usually write about a limited edition food or beverage twice, but this one bears repeating because Dr Pepper Creamy Coconut Zero Sugar may be my favorite soda of all time.  I've been drinking them pretty slowly over the past few weeks because we haven't been able to find any in our local stores since late June, but we were lucky enough to find a big stock of them at our local Wal-Mart yesterday.  I bought four cases, and in retrospect, I regret not buying the rest of what they had on the shelf.

Seriously, if you love coconut and you're trying to avoid sugar, this is the stuff right here.  It was supposed to only be available as a limited edition product this summer, so if you want to try it, pick it up when you see it.

We're On A Mission From God

The Blues Brothers
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
There are times that a night at the Mahoning unexpectedly becomes one of my favorite nights of the season.  Last night was one of those times.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

The Blues Brothers premiered in theaters less than two weeks before I "premiered" on the planet.  I haven't really looked too far into it, but this might be the first movie that I've gotten to see at the Mahoning that was still in its original theatrical run when I was born.

There was a vinyl record themed vendor market on the lot in the hours before the sun went down, and it was a massive improvement in comparison to the punk rock flea market that they had two weeks ago.  Instead of filling up the lawn with forty different vendors and disturbing the folks who come here to relax with friends and watch movies, they had just a few different vendors, and they were all in or around the concession building.  With the exception of VHS Fest, this is how every vendor market should be.  I bought something from one of the tables that is among my favorite purchases I've ever made on the lot, but that's something I'll talk about in a separate post.

 

We were joined in the front row by our friends Mike, Kate, Carrie, Gene, and Ben, and some of Ben's friends that were visiting the Mahoning for the first time.  Ben busted out the Beyblade arena and we had some fun playing with that, after which time we played his Adventure Time card game.  I am only vaguely aware of either of these properties.  In fact, pretty much everything I know about either of them is something I learned from Ben on the lot, but we had a hell of a lot of fun relaxing and playing games on the lawn under the screen before showtime.

The forecast was calling for thunderstorms that would last for most of the day, but we got lucky.  The rain held off for the entire pre-show, so we got to sit outside and hang out with our friends right up until the start of the films.  It started raining just a couple of minutes before showtime, but sitting in the car once in a while for a movie is not a bad thing, particularly when it's a single feature.

In place of trailers, Rob screened their copy of the 1968 Woody Woodpecker short One Horse Town.  We've seen this at the Mahoning a few times over the years, and I laugh every time as hard as I did the first time I saw it.  There's no better way to tee up a classic comedy flick than with a classic cartoon.

So, I started off by saying that this was unexpectedly one of my favorite nights of the season.  A big part of that was that is was a particularly nice night hanging out with our friends and playing games before showtime, but the movie was also a pleasant surprise.

I've only seen The Blues Brothers one time in my life.  It's another one of those movies that I brought home when I worked at Blowout Video when I was a teenager.  I had heard for a long time in the years prior to my seeing it, but it didn't really land with me the first time that I saw it.  I'm not sure if I wasn't old enough to fully appreciate the humor, or if I was distracted and not really paying attention when I saw it, or the fact that comedies in general sometimes take a little while to get their hooks into me.  It's probably a combination of the three, but the latter is something that has been on my mind recently.  Some of my favorite comedy films and tv series are things that I didn't love right away, but that I grew to love after a few repeat viewings.  I can't explain why that is, but there are too many examples that I can think of for it to be a coincidence.

I came out to the lot tonight knowing that I didn't have any especially fond memories or nostalgic feelings for The Blues Brothers from my one and only viewing of it in the late 90's.  At the same time, I recognized that this is widely regarded as a comedy classic, so maybe coming back to it as a 44 year old man, and seeing it on the big screen with no distractions, will let me see it from a different perspective.  I'm very glad to say that it did, because regardless of the reason why this movie didn't connect with me as a teenager, it absolutely connected with me as a middle-aged dude.  I spent the entire film laughing and smiling.  This movie deserves all of the accolades that it gets, and then some.

Deja Vu In The Woods

The Blair Witch Project
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Most of the booking decisions at the Mahoning Drive-In Theater make sense to me.  Even if the movies in question are not necessarilly my cup of tea, I can see that there's an audience for it and that people will show up and have a great time.  Having said that, I can definitely see the attraction in bringing The Blair Witch Project back to the Mahoning two years after it was last screened here, but the way in which it was done seemed a bit odd to me.

2022 show banner designed by Andrew Kern

My first time seeing The Blair Witch Project at the Mahoning was on July 24th, 2022.  The show ended up being an unexpected sellout, or close to a sellout, with fans from around the area packed onto the lot to see a modern horror classic in an atmosphere that extended the reach of the story beyond the screen.  The sounds of the wildlife in the trees around the lot made for an immersive experience in which it felt like you were in the woods with Heather, Mike, and Josh.  It was one of the coolest screenings that I've ever attended on the lot.

2024 show banner designed by Andrew Kern

This weekend, The Blair Witch Project was brought back to the Mahoning this weekend in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the film.  It's not uncommon for a movie to be shown more than once in a relatively short period of time, especially when it's brought back for an anniversary or as a part of an event.  It would have made sense if it was brought back as a single feature on a Sunday, or maybe as part of an announced double or triple feature on a Friday or Saturday.  What didn't make sense to me was to show it on back-to-back nights with a different "secret feature".

There aren't many things about the Mahoning that I dislike, but one of those things is the advertised secret feature.  They used this same gimmick last weekend at the Grindhouse double feature and I wasn't going to air any grievances about it, but this is now two weekends in a row that they've done this and it's a trend that I'm not happy to see.  Secret features can be a lot of fun when they're a surprise bonus that gets put on the screen for folks who want to say up late, but the gimmick of advertising two different secret features that will be screened after the same movie leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  It's exploiting your customers, plain and simple.  If you're going to show the same film two nights in a row with a different co-feature, have enough respect for the people who keep the bills paid to announce what the second films will be so that they can choose which of the two nights they would rather attend.

My complaints are being made under the assumption that they are paying the licensing fees for the films that are being advertised as the co-feature that customers are buying a ticket to see.  I don't want to think that this isn't the case because it would be an asinine decision that could put the future of the Mahoning Drive-In Theater in jeopardy.

The poster for this show (right) was created by artist Tom Bifulco.  He's the same artist who created the poster for the Blair Witch screening two years ago (left).  Aside from the obvious similarities, I thought it was a bit odd that this year's poster doesn't have the name of the film.  I'm not sure if that's a first, but I can't remember seeing a Mahoning poster that didn't include the name of the movie prior to this one.

The experience of seeing The Blair Witch Project at the Mahoning is truly special.  I can't imagine a better atmosphere for seeing this film unless you somehow found a way to erect a massive cinemascope screen in the woods outside of Burkittsville where it was filmed.

Our friends Susan and Anthony joined us for this screening.  They're about ten years younger than us and this was their first time seeing The Blair Witch Project.  When we talked during intermission, I was shocked to find that neither of them really liked the movie all that much, but it started making sense to me when I thought about it.  This really is a movie where you had to be there back in 1999 to get the full effect.  This film may have had the strongest marketing campaign in the history of cinema.  It was released in the days of dial-up internet, years before streaming video or social media took over the world, and years before the overwhelming majority of moviegoers had ever heard of found footage filmmaking.  Between the perfect marketing, the general public's unfamiliarity with the technique, and television documentaries like Curse Of The Blair Witch, the word of mouth that spread about this movie was that it might be real.  This might actually be footage that was recovered from three people who went off in the woods and were never heard from again.  It seems ridiculous today, but back in 1999 when this movie first came out, every discussion I heard about The Blair Witch Project was a debate over whether or not it's real.  It didn't take too long for everybody to understand that this was just a movie, but it was the initial uncertainty that made this feel special.

When I try to imagine this movie from the perspective of someone who is seeing it for the first time in 2024, the only conclusion I can reach is that The Blair Witch Project really doesn't hold up.  It no longer feels fresh and original.  It gets lost in the sea of the countless mediocre found footage films that came out in the years that followed.  Speaking of which...

The secret feature for Friday night was the 2015 found footage horror film; Hell House LLC.  I typically don't write about secret features, but if they're going to advertise them as part of the show, I'm going to write about them as part of the show.  This shouldn't be a problem if everything is on the up-and-up.

I'm not a big fan of Found Footage filmmaking.  I realize that The Blair Witch Project wasn't technically the first found footage film, but films like Cannibal Holocaust weren't exactly household names in 1999.  The Blair Witch Project was the right film at the right place at the right time, and with the right marketing team to promote it.  Most of the found footage horror movies that have been released over the past 25 years came across to me as lame copycats that were thrown together to cash in on the success of Blair Witch, and Hell House LLC absolutely fits into that subgenre.  The acting is terrible, the story is dull, the special effects are basically costumes from a Spirit Halloween store, and you can replicate a lot of the cinematography just by hitting record on your mobile phone and waiving it around randomly in the air while shouting "what the f*ck was that".

One of the folks who was sitting next to us mentioned that they made four sequels to this movie.  If there's a lesson to be learned here, it's that anybody can make a horror movie these days.  Just grab your camera and a few friends and start filming because there's some distributor out there who will pay you for it.

The only thing that I found interesting about Hell House LLC is that it was partially filmed just down the street from the Mahoning at the Waldorf Hotel in Lehighton.  If it wasn't a secret feature, it could have been a cool opportunity to cross-brand with the Waldorf Estate Of Fear attraction; maybe to include a few passes for this year in the raffle.  I've never been to the Waldorf Estate Of Fear, but I'm told that it's one of the best haunted attractions in the country so I might have to check it out one of these days.  The rest of the Hell House LLC movies... not so much.