bens_dad

I'm off this evening to watch Top Gun 40th anniversary screening in the local IMAX. This is probably the very definition of a problematic fave, even before you get into Tom Cruise's cult membership. But also I watched this film for the first time on my twelfth birthday, on a coach trip with school, and will probably never not love it. I think I've seen it once in the cinema, the summer Armageddon came out[1] and our local cinema did a Bruckheimer retrospective[2] leading up to it - that's when I learned I knew every line.

I probably still know every line, there's a couple of friends where we'll casually greet each other quoting the film, or throw lines back and forth in a conversation. Regrettably both of them were unavailable to come see the film with me, but I'll be thinking of them too, as well as the planes.

I'm wearing my Svaha rainbows+planes dress with a very faded Top Gun hoodie I found in a charity shop some years ago.

[1] 1998, huh. I'd mentally assumed one friend was there for this set of films but we hadn't met yet, and bonded over them later. But that summer had a lot of meaningful stuff going on for me and my friendships, it's when I shifted my career ideas from "scientist" to "software", and of course there was DWCon too. Gosh this is even more nostalgic a post than I'd expected.

[2] Beverley Hills Cop, Top Gun, Bad Boys, [one or both of The Rock, Con Air] and then Armageddon on release week. Honestly that was a great summer programme.

• I have had a migraine this afternoon and evening, which is the warning sign I'm pushing my sleep schedule too much, again
• I read the new Murderbot book, very hard to put down, enjoyed it very much
• earlier this week fanf and I joined 20th wedding anniversary celebrations for atreic and emperor, who remain lovely people who collect lovely people around them, yay
• last weekend Kodiaks lost to Coventry Phoenix 1-8, but I got my first ever WNIHL point with an assist on that goal. And then the next day we turned a 2-1 lead over MK Falcons into a 4-2 loss in the last ten minutes of the game and that hurt quite a lot. But also it was lovely to see some Hull camp friends on the MK side, both on and off the ice
• I started watching Ted Lasso, currently half way through season 1 and enjoying it very much. The episodes are short enough and the people / plot engaging enough I'm managing to stick with an entire episode at a time without getting distracted
• next week I'm seeing a 40th anniversary screening of Top Gun in the local IMAX screen. I got teased about did I remember seeing it on original release, which no, not quite, but it's very nearly 37 years since I first saw it on a tiny coach TV screen on a school trip to Germany. I still know most of the lines by heart