My birthday wish this year is that the movies survive

During this terrible, deeply strange period we're living through -- with the double whammy of the coronavirus and George Floyd's murder -- there has been a new normal that we've all had to get used to. Part of that means not seeing movies in theaters, which I might miss more than anything after basic human contact with my friends and family.

Going to the movies was an incredibly huge part of my routine before all this happened. Before I moved to my new apartment in January I was at the Alamo Drafthouse at least once a week because the theater was like a block away. Now, it's a couple subway stops away -- with the equally incredible Nitehawk within walking distance.

Both face an uncertain fate. Neither could function in this environment -- in addition to presenting all the obvious problems a movie theater does right now -- these places special feature is they both serve food (very good food, albeit bad for you) during screenings. Basically you're begging to spread germs or in this case a virus in a place like this.

I'm not a moron and I get there are far more important things that need to eventually open up before the movies -- although the I am sure underpaid people who work at theaters are definitely in need of financial relief -- but goddamn it I miss it so.

Going to the movies, for me, is my favorite form of escapism. I love the waves of laughter or gasps from an audience. I love the trailers. I love the sound. I love discussing what I just saw (usually, with my wife Liz) when it's over.

I usually do enough reading in advance that I rarely am too disappointed when the lights come back up. There's probably nothing that drives me more insane than people talking during the movies (ok, Trump supporters) -- and every outing is a role of the dice -- but it's a testament to how much I love the filmgoing experience that I tempt fate again and again.

Tenet

The mass shooting incidents that have happened far too many times for comfort at theaters have always made me more anxious -- I still go -- although I do find myself planning my escape route before the lights go down.

I know one day when I have kids I won't be able to go as much or at all for a long while, so I think part of the appeal is I know this is a fleeting pleasure that will become a smaller part of my life as the years pass on.

Because of on-demand and streaming, you can get caught up on almost everything -- even though some films by the nature demand to be seen on a massive screen. This is perhaps why the expensive Tenet, Christopher Nolan's new film, is the movie yet to succumb to the coronavirus. The Bond movie, No Time to Die, is still on tap for the fall, but every other big budget extravaganza has been pushed to 2021 or delayed indefinitely. People are literally asking if movie theaters are even going to exist anymore.

I'm cautiously optimistic. There's no communal experience quite like watching a movie in a theater. And with the whole world on the case, I am hopeful that a vaccine is coming, if not as quickly as Trump wants to pretend it will. When that day comes -- and to be real it still won't be available widely enough -- I think people will run back to the movies again just to enjoy the freedom of that experience and the pleasure of being in a crowd again.

I know when it's safe I will be running to my local multiplex. Even if it starts to fall out of fashion -- I want to get in as many screenings as I can while I can.

Today is my birthday, I won't tell you the number because it depresses me, but take my word or it that I am almost fully middle aged. In fact I might already be unless I live longer than the average black guy. For a myriad of reasons, I don't feel like celebrating anything.

I'll wait to celebrate, when I can sit in a room with the lights out with a bunch of strangers and be transported someplace else, hopefully much better than the world we're in right now.