It was on July 4th that was the first time. I was working a summer job at a bindery and we had a few days off for the holiday. Ed, my best friend at Elon, and I caught the movie at the now-non-existent Janus Theaters in Greensboro, North Carolina. We loved it so much that we caught it again two days later. And then a little over a week later my friend Bennie from Belgium was visiting for a week, and we saw it together. Then a few days after that my friend Johnny announced that he was engaged and asked if I would be one of his groomsmen. I said yes and to celebrate I took him to see Independence Day, too. The following weekend I saw the movie for the only time on my own. Then the following week Ed and I caught it again and then a few days before classes started at Elon he and saw it once more with our friend Gary.
To this day I cannot explain what it was about that movie that had me going back over and over to see it. Maybe it was getting stoked about Star Wars's special editions coming out in a few more months and it made me want to see any big-screen sci-fi blockbuster at all. So Independence Day was preparing me mentally for that.
Well, I could say more, but actually I already did. Here is the essay I wrote in 2006 about Independence Day and it's pretty much what I would write today if I had to all over again.
(In case anyone's wondering, I have not seen the sequel. It came out during me and Tammy the Pup's epic journey across America and for various reasons I didn't catch any movie that summer while we were out and about. I really don't care to see it either. The original movie was too much "lightning in a bottle" and I don't want to diminish thinking that.)
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