1994

I had a lot of fun in 1994. I went to quite a few movies: I saw Schwarzenegger in "True Lies", Jim Carrey in "The Mask" and "Dumb and Dumber", Mel Gibson in a great summertime movie, "Maverick", and Jack Nicholson as "Wolf". I also went to "The Client, "Star Trek: Generations", and "Naked Gun 3".

My two favorite movies of the year came out in the summer and I went out of town to view both (At this time, I was living on 5th Street in Winona near Midtown Foods).

In late June, I went with my friend, Brian Chadbo, to LaCrosse. There was a movie that we both wanted to see that hadn't come to Winona yet. We had time before the movie, so we stopped at a used music store called Deaf Ear Records. We went in and browsed a bit. I found a used cassette by an artist I had heard of and was interested in hearing more from. It was only 4 or 5 bucks, so I purchased "Under the Pink" by Tori Amos. And thus began my fascination and love for Tori Amos. I now have all of her studio albums and have seen her twice in concert (once in '99 and again in '01).

While we sat in the theatre waiting for the movie to start, I put my headphones on and listened to the tape. After a short time, the movie began and it was a fantastic thriller. It starred Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock (in a breakthrough role). Yes, indeed, my 2nd favorite movie of 1994 was "Speed". After the movie ended, we were invited to stay seated to watch a sneak preview of a new movie. That movie was called "Airheads". It was a decent movie. Adam Sandler was a supporting actor in the movie and had some funny lines (This was before he was a leading man like he is nowadays). After spending 4 hours at the King theatre, we headed back home to Winona. All in all, a great day in LaCrosse.

I saw my favorite movie of 1994 in July. Mom took me and all my brothers to Valleyfair. We went on most of the coasters and also had a fun time at Challenge Park where we rode go-carts and also mini-golfed. After Valleyfair, we headed to our hotel in Bloomington. I had heard great things about a movie that had just opened. Our hotel was just a few blocks from the Mall of America, so I checked movie times and decided to go to it on my own at the Mall's 14-screen theatre. It was totally a crowd pleaser and I loved every minute of it. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis who had directed my favorite movie of 1985, "Back to the Future". The movie went on to be the top-grossing movie of the year and also won several Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor for Tom Hanks. If you haven't guessed already, it's "Forrest Gump". By the time it let out (at about 10pm), the mall was mostly closed. I took a moment to look out at Camp Snoopy (where all the rides are located). The rides were lit up, but no longer running. I headed back to the hotel, visited with the boys, and then went to bed, another great moviegoing experience to add to my collection.

There were numerous memorable lines in "Forrest Gump":

"Run, Forrest, Run!"

"Stupid is as stupid does", and, of course,

"Life is like a box of Ex-Lax, You never know what you're gonna shit"