The Most Epic Doc Night Ever...kinda.

We're taking a break from the usual Doc Night format for reasons that will become clear soon.

To explain last night's Doc Night we have to go back a few weeks. The original Doc Night crew came out of the Five o'Clock Special crew. Since the first night we all met freshman year, we have been eating dinner at five o'clock on the dot. Failure to show at five is one of the greatest sins you can commit. 

A few weeks ago we were leaving dinner at around 5:40 when we noticed a poster where the announcements of specialty dinners are usually placed. As Bryn Mawr is dealing with the recession by cutting out every aspect of food that they give us until all we're left with is non-organic peanut butter and the waffle bar, there were no "fun dinner" announcements up. Instead the board has become a regular bulletin board, with posters of upcoming activities. We noticed that there was a notice up from the Hepburn Foundation (Katherine Hepburn is our most famous, nay, our only notable, alum) promoting a documentary that would be shown in February. We all crowded around, "Hey! We love documentaries!" we all exclaimed (in unison, like a Disney movie) to each other. I checked the date "Gee Golly! (remember, Disney movie)" I exclaimed "It's on a Wednesday too!". It was fate. Bryn Mawr was sponsoring their own documentary night, during documentary night time. To say we were excited would be a gross understatement. 

We anxiously  began to await the king of documentary nights. We researched the film online, found out that it was about a filmmaker who lives with four actors in LA and films them constantly while they try and get jobs. In a strange twist of fate, three of them become (in their words) incredibly famous (read: I saw them and said "Oh dammit, what was he in again..."). Paige took it one step further and contacted the head of the Hepburn Foundation, who is one of her professors, and told her that she was the president of the Bryn Mawr Documentary Society and we would love to meet the director and producer if possible. Done and done, her prof was THRILLED with the idea and a meeting was arranged. And THAT is how we became a real club!

Yesterday I stopped by Paige's room before heading over to the meeting. We began getting the text messages "sorry, I can't make it" "I have class" "I'm in LA" "I don't go to Bryn Mawr". We didn't actually get the text messages, I thought it added a nice touch, but those were the excuses we got for why people couldn't make it. Paige and I sat alone in a room in the Psychology building, panicking about how we were going to keep conversation going. Luckily, Catherine and Elizabeth showed up as well. We were worried, though, how would a producer and director feel if they showed up and there were four people there. Luckily it was not problem at all. The director, Tony, and producer, name to be determined later, were great people. They were delighted to talk to us about documentaries and this movie in general. We discussed what goes into the thought process of making a documentary, how documentaries have changed with reality tv and youtube and the psychological toll that separating yourself from your subjects can have on you. This is totally awesome, we're not a real club, we're just some lazy college kids with a Netflix account. How often do you get to pull the director of a movie aside and say "hey, listen, I have some questions". It would have been better if we could have seen the movie first, but it was still great.

We were really excited to see the movie later that night. As the time grew closer I felt myself getting  a little ill. Ever since dinner my stomach had been off and I kept getting woozy. I shook it off. Paige came to get me and we scampered off to the movie. Megan pulled out a big bag of M&Ms and Paige pulled out a pack of Junior Mints. I couldn't bring my laptop so I had a notebook on my lap to document Doc Night by hand. We were ready to go.

The producer gave the introduction speech that night, Megan was pleased as she was worried that we wouldn't have a starting speech as per usual. A very professional and well done speech, although I could have used a bit more humor. 

The movie starts and the lights go all the way down. Crap. I can't write in the dark. I decide to try and write anyway, we'll see how it turned out in the end. The camera starts and it's less than professional work. Tony appears to employ the same quick turnaround move that I operated our own video camera with when I was 8. Remember when I said I was woozy before? The feeling in my stomach comes back. We meet the guys, some guy I don't know, the guy from October Sky that's not Jake Gyllenhaal, Brad Rowe (who I recognize but can't for the life of me think of what he's in) and Wes Bently from American Beauty. As the movie goes on only one thing becomes clear to me, Wed Bently circa when this movie was made is gorgeous. Also a good, sweet guy. The other guys are a bit out of it, full of themselves, Wes Bently is introspective, kind and has a killer smile. Tony keeps up the jolty camera work and also adds a new shot where he zooms in on someones face so that the whole screen is filled up with face, but the face is jumping around because he can't hold a camera still. 

About an hour into the movie it all goes downhill. I start having to close my eyes because I'm just too motion sick. The movie was good, but it wasn't that good. Against everything that I stand for regarding Doc Night I realize that i have to leave or else the entire lecture hall is going to see what I had for dinner. I drop my notebook and skidaddle on out of there. The cool air outside the library snaps me back to reality. As I walk back to my room I hang my head in shame. I couldn't handle the most epic Doc Night ever.