I feel stupid, stuck in a catch-22 as I lift the hot dog up towards my ugly little insignificant face with its pot marked forehead (a reminder of the stroke I had almost 2 years ago now). My eyes instinctually close as I smell the sweet aroma of relish and ketchup mixed with the sickening aura of oily hot dog flesh that likely sat on the rollers of the @cineplexmovies hot dog cooker before being stuffed into a soft warm bun, wrapped in a piece of paper foil lined on the outside to suck in the heat of the warmer it sat in before being rescued by a food service worker who handed it to me. The bun has a slight crunch like the morning toast I enjoy, just a little crisp but not browned deeply. My teeth slice through it, and chew as I hold the dog with my left hand, snapping photos with my iPhone cradled in my right. It’s hard to take selfies with the forward facing camera, as there’s no way to see it on the screen.
I came today to see Alfred Hitchcock’s NORTH BY NORTHWEST, a film I first saw in @engstromstan’s grade 9 class. I think it was an English class, although it might have been drama as I was fortunate enough to study both with him. It was very much the first time I seriously thought about films that had been made before I was born, a new generation of filmmakers for me to discover, an older generation who honed their craft and skills decades before I ever wandered the Earth. Hitchcock, a pioneer of cinema and of the thriller. NORTH BY NORTHWEST, a forefather of the contemporary action classics I knew, of films like DIE HARD.
I got to the theatre around 330pm, after having slept most of the day, my persistent cough having kept me up most of the night and leaving me frustrated enough that I needed to escape the confines of my bed. I ate the hot dog and downed a cup of tea before getting my popcorn, @cocacola, and a bag of @reeses chocolate covered peanuts. I need to stop eating this junk but I keep doing it.
The film was awesome to see. Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint made a great team, although I wonder if Saint’s character could have had more agency. An agency I should have too, when it comes to the food I choose to consume.
This was originally posted on Flickr and Instagram.
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