Bag secured for Star Wars Episode 9

How was I not informed that tickets for Star Wars Episode 9 was going to go on sale last night? Did anybody know? The only thing I saw announced was the release of the final trailer during Monday Night Football.

Honestly though, I had forgotten that Episode 9 was even coming out this year. We’re deep into October already so there’s only about two months until the film plays in theatre, and the excitement - for me at least - just isn’t there. Either I’m still massively hungover from the madness of Avengers Endgame (a masterpiece), or Rian Johnson really did kill the enthusiasm with his Episode 8 effort.

Of course, JJ Abrams will redeem it for all of us, won’t he? While his record of properly finishing things he started isn’t great (looking at you, Lost), from what I’ve seen so far in the teaser trailers, he’s at least sprinkled enough enticement to get me into the theatre on opening day. One word: Palpatine. It turns out what we truly want is an endless nostalgia trip: for the few criticisms of The Force Awakens being a rehash of A New Hope, the severe lack of continuity in The Last Jedi was a step too far in the other direction, to put it nicely

Anyways, yesterday evening I started to notice on twitter that people were successfully buying tickets for Episode 9. Alarmed that I’ve missed the memo and the good seats for opening day are completely gone, I decided to check on the Cinemark app anyways, to see if there’s any luck for me. I had flashbacks of trying to get tickets for Avengers Endgame, and that it was only due to the fortune of my friend that our group was able to secure an opening day show. To my surprise - at least for Cinemark theatres - the craze for the final episodic Star Wars film (for now) is not nearly of the same timbre as Endgame.

Because, I was able to secure a 7 PM Friday showing with ease; smack-dab center seating, too. There was no virtual line, and the app didn’t crash - I was done with purchasing in a matter of minutes. Perhaps the commotion I saw online for tickets is for Thursday shows? I can see how for those tickets it would be massively more competitive. Good thing I’m not in a position to go to the movies on Thursdays: one, I have work, and two, I’m too old to be watching a movie at midnight - even if it is Star Wars. Hashtag sleep.

I’m looking forward to The Rise of Skywalker. It’s going to be the last time we see the famous scrolling words in space for a while, so let’s savor the moment to fullest.

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I do wonder how fast one of those little yellow things can go…

Got tickets to Hamilton. Again.

The beloved musical sensation Hamilton is returning to San Francisco in 2019. Having the pleasure of seeing it when the tour first made its way to our neck of the woods back in 2017, I can only say its very well worth the hype. So much so that the group I went will be seeing the musical again next year. As a person who doesn’t like to do things a second time once I’ve already experience it (unless it’s traveling to Asia), spending proper money to see Hamilton once more is rare occasion indeed.

Tickets for the 2019 tour went on sale to the general public yesterday. Instead of allowing tens of thousands of customers crash its ticketing website at once, the fine folks at SHN implements a virtual waiting room. You are quarantined as soon as you visit the website, and once the clock strikes time for business, you get assigned a wait number like a grocery store counter; when your number is front of queue you’ll be then taken to the actual ticketing site for purchasing. It’s a brilliant system, far superior to the ‘website crash then click refresh a million times and pray you’ll get in’ format that I’m sadly accustomed to.

My friends and I of course went the route of divide and conquer: we each logged-on to SHN, and whoever was furthest ahead in the line was tasked to the do the buying. Each of us could also have respectively used multiple devices to try for a better number amongst ourselves - I was home at the time so I personally had four opportunities, but that strategy seemed a bit on the wrong side of ethical. We were lucky too that we got done within an hour and a half after tickets went on sale at 10am. Others I saw waited nearly six hours before they were let into the system.

Nevertheless I ended up with the third highest wait number within our group of four, so unfortunately I was unable to earn points on my credit card.

Obviously, maximizing credit points is, uh, not the point; we are locked in for a second viewing of Hamilton next May, and this time we got better seats as well - no longer up on the balcony with the peasants. I guess in the span of two years our respective financial situations have all improved to such that we can easily spend over two hundred dollars on a musical we’ve already seen. A prime example of being a coastal elite that’s been so maligned in the media.

There’s lot going on between now and next May so it’s nothing to be excited about yet, but it’s something splendid to look forward to.

I’m decidedly not fond of waiting in lines, even virtual ones.