Who is John Galt?
I am hanging out at the Broad having a Pimm’s cup and a hotdog. There is no wifi at the Broad. The building was hit by lightning a few weeks ago and it burned out the modem. The computer they use to run the projectors is hardwired to the cable company.
I am waiting for Miss Lard. We are going to play pinball and watch a movie. I forget which movie we are watching. It is not The Color Purple.
It is very quiet at the Broad. They opened today at 9:30AM because a group of senior citizens are watching The Color Purple. Other than the early showing, nothing starts before noon.
It is quite peaceful.
I just got back from playing a game of pinball with Larry, the ticket taker. He has nothing to do between shows. Larry has high score on all the machines.
The movie was American Fiction. It was very smart. Miss Lard and I laughed and laughed. We talked through the whole movie, too.
We also played the Jurassic Park pinball machine. Neither of us was familiar with the machine, so we played for fun, not to win. Life is more better when it is more fun.
Larry and I always play the Rush pinball machine. When you push both the flipper buttons, the machine says, “Hey, hoser! Put in a loonie!” Rush is a Canadian rock band with a long career and a deep catalog. In Canada, Rush is a national treasure.
In America, Rush is the brand name for bottles of amyl nitrate.
Everyone thinks I just fell off the turnip truck but I have been around the block. I am forever on patrol and my ears are always bent—not listening but hearing. It is much like not looking but seeing.
Once heard, nothing can be unheard.
Screening room Number 1 was actually pretty full, and we were at the noon show. There were more people when I went to the first show of Barbie, and Barbie was a blockbuster. There were more people to see American Fiction than were to see Wonka on Christmas Day.
There were not more people than were packing the seats for the Color Purple.
I took a photograph of a lady talking on the other side of a window. It was not Miss Lard. The Broad Theater is on North Broad Street, right by the Whole Foods Market. The lady on the other side of the window was in the French Quarter, close, but, also, a world away.
Now, if I may make a personal digression….