Phone Homo

[Like Bill, I fully expect to see E.T. this weekend, and I fully expect to cry. As far as I recall, the only movies that have ever made me cry are this Spielberg schmaltzfest and the last scene of Longtime Companion.]

[I saw E.T. the summer between 7th and 8th grades when my fellow nerd guy friend and I were hanging out with these dangerous girls from the wrong side of the tracks. (In my hometown, this meant they were from the "Mexican" part of town...oooh, scary, huh?) The group of us were at Sonoma's sole, single-screen movie house most Friday nights, and I know the anticipation for E.T. was intense - "event" movies tended to come only once a summer back then. I sat next to Lynda (though I was "dating" Beth, my one and only girlfriend), and I remember her bawling her eyes out, and I was surprised to discover I was crying, too.]

[If you haven't read Armistead Maupin's Maybe The Moon, READ IT to get the dirt on what it was like to be Tammy DeTreaux, the little person stuffed into the E.T. costume. (Maupin knew her personally, and tells it well.) You'll never see a Spielberg movie or an interview with him the same way again. But I'm still gonna pay full price to see the damn thing once more. Sucker...]

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