At the beginning of the Oscars

this past Sunday night, Errol Morris, documentary filmmaker, interviewed

and filmed regular people talking about their lifelong movie experiences.

He should have picked me. For me to say that going to the movies is a

hobby is like Michelle Kwan saying ice skating is just a diversion. I

simply love the movies.

I just got back from a five-day

trip to California, visiting both Los Angeles and San Francisco and while

there, I saw five movies. Of the multitude of things to do, I always choose

going to the movies. When I travel, I don't have a night life and I don't

sleep, thus movies make for a comfortable, solid best friend.

If Errol Morris would have

asked me my first movie experience, I would have reminisced about seeing

Racquel Welch in "Kansas City Bomber," but that was at the drive-in

and to really qualify, a movie have to be inside. A drive-in movie is

more of a social experience than anything else, either to hang out with

friends or trying for the first time with a girl to get to first base.

" Walk-in" theaters, on the other hand, are all about the experience.

My first real movie inside

changed my life. It was Disney's "The Love Bug." Not that the

movie was so good, but it was just an all-encompassing experience with

popcorn, candy and soda, all while you watched in the dark. All accentuated

Most people are formed by their

first experiences in a given situation. Most people hate the dentist because

from the initial visit, all you do is get shots, have to spit large amounts

of drool in front of others and get your head zapped with multiple kilowatts

of radiation. Conversely, we all love McDonald's because our first experience

as children was great junk food, a Happy Meal toy and taking off your

shoes and playing in cage full of balls.

My first experience with "Herbie"

was the ultimate adventure. I went with a church youth group and as a

typical, lonely teen the attention was much needed. As we sat in our seats

in the dark, I felt a bond with the film, the audience and especially

with the floor, where my shoes were firmly adhered to the gunk. Some 30

years later, I still get the same warm feeling. I'm still eating Goobers

too.

Movies are simply that great

getaway. They are that great fantasy of the mind. They are that one place,

when you finish eating, you just throw all your trash on the floor.

Of course, there are many more

important things in life than the movies, like family, freedom and giving

your opinion on Greta Van Sustern's plastic surgery. Yet, all of us need

escape. All of us need something mindless and insignificant to distract

us from our daily grind. And all at the expense equal to your typical

monthly water bill.

So, go to the movies and don't

feel guilty about it. Quit seeing life so serious and remove yourself

from it for a few hours each week. It might just relax you. And worst

of all, if the movie is really bad, you might just catch up on some sleep.

[Visit Billy Murphy on the

Internet at https://ebilly.net.]