Cinema Paradiso

Been reading a weblog chronicling one couple's efforts to finance and startup a small "art house" movie theater (link here). Interesting tidbits, including a breakdown of a theater's finances. Some of their proposed ideas make a lot of sense, e.g., selling beer and wine at the concession, packaging tickets with pre-fixe dinners at neighboring restaurants, etc. To maintain anonymity, they have disguised their real names as well as the name of the town they are considering for the cinema. They refer to it simply as "Midwestburg". Clever. And a nod to The Simpsons in which the exact location of "Springfield" (nearly every state in the Union has a town named Springfield) is always kept a closely guarded secret and has been the longest-running joke in the series (link here). In an increasingly bland and standardized world of cookie-cutter multiplexes and retail chains, it's reassuring to see ventures like the two-screen cinema continuing to be developed and promoted. Kinda makes me nostalgic for the dollar movie house in Irving, Texas. Yes, the floors were sticky and the seats creaked, but unlike the cineplex at the mall, the place had a character that was distinctly fixed to its locale, truly an Irving institution. How can you forget a theater that employed its own organist and let you in for free on your birthday?