We went back to Korea this morning for a quick visit to the bar of the Hamilton Hotel on the street in the Itae-wan district of Seoul. It was 1981, tensions were “high,” and there were several parties in town conducting a variety of licit and illicit activities. None of us are going back, though a couple of the Salts sighed about the memories that followed port visits down in Pusan. Happy Hour in Seoul still brings back some memories, which is how we veered across what is going on now and what used to be normal activities in the America we lived in. The one before this one.

We understood that one pretty well. There were a lot of things that were perfectly routine. “Hey, wanna grab something to eat and then take in a movie?”

That is where the discussion started late yesterday. It was an innocent enough question. “What was the last movie you saw in a theater?” There was some debate about that, but the one we actually remembered getting cleaned up and driving to see was one called “Master and Commander: Far Side of the World.” Release was in 2003, which was a little breathtaking for something that used to be completely routine. It was a pretty good film, to the best that anyone could recall. Russel Crowe starred in the Napoleonic War drama produced and directed by Peter Weir. The film’s plot and characters are adapted from three novels from author Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin series. That was about as far as we could go with material so old. It sparked a dispute, since Splash and Rocket recalled seeing the new Top Gun film as a new release.

“Must have been streamed,” was the consensus, since the Hollywood folks are still complaining the audiences have not returned after the pandemic shut-downs. There was no indication any of us were going to return to a practice that used to be common.

“So,” said DeMille with a dismissive wave. “This was something that had problems before World Health Organization shut everything down. Does that mean an American institution died before we all joined in the social over-reaction?”

“Or did Hollywood just start making a crappy product?” You can imagine where that discussion wandered off to. There was general agreement that the last time we spent money to share the Marvel or DC Comics view of our world, the available product cost less than a buck, which is just about what we were willing to pay for Spiderman’s view of things across meta-verses.

We agree there used to be something sort of special about seeing things projected on the Big Screen. Some of us are now Geezer-enough to recall things like “Cinerama,” a projection so enormous that you had to drive downtown to the single theater reconstructed to demonstrate the capability. But time and technology march on. With the gigantic flat-screen the Chairman purchased in the new HQ suite, it is almost as effective for viewing right here at the office. And Splash noted the bar service was a lot better.

That in turn led into the parallel discussion about messaging. Apparently what they are doing is shooting the same movie over and over. We recall the excitement about the original “Star Wars” film, which was made in a different century than the one we currently occupy.

There have been six or seven in that franchise, which now includes sequels, prequels, and episodic versions opposing something called “toxic masculinity.” Which was the topic of the original movie everyone seemed to like, despite who Luke’s father actually was. There was general agreement that we didn’t care enough to shower, get changed, find the cars, see if there was enough cash in the wallet and go find out.

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