prices rising, and they're not for gas

This has been bothering me for quite a while, not that I'm going to the movies any more with baby Doodle in the picture, but I am reading the NY Times on line now more than ever.

It wasn’t long ago that going to a 7:15 p.m. movie would set you back $5.00. Not only have movie prices doubled in the last twenty years, it now costs full price to see a “matinee.” The latest trend among most movie theaters (Loews, Ritz etc…) is to charge matinee prices for only the first showing of the day leaving their costumers paying about $9.00 to see a movie in the traditional matinee time slots.

The very definition of matinee, according to my Webster’s dictionary, is “a musical or dramatic performance or social or public event held in the daytime and especially the afternoon.” It makes no reference to the “first showing of the day” which might be at 10:00 a.m. In fact the true definition of matinee specifically says that the performance is in the afternoon. Unless you want to wake up early, and request that your date do the same, on your only two days off from work for the sole purpose of seeing a movie not at half price, but at the bargain cost of $6.50, then you are stuck paying say $9.00 to see a movie at 1:30 in the afternoon.

With movie studios making more money and taking less time than ever to make their films it is a wonder why we are not only paying more to see a movie at the most popular time, the evening, but we are paying much more to see them in the afternoon.

In 1986 a gallon of milk in the United States cost $2.22, a dozen eggs cost $.87, and a first-class stamp cost $.22. Today, at least in Philadelphia, a gallon of milk cost $3.05, a dozen eggs cost $1.20, and a first-class stamp everywhere cost $.39. These rates of increase – 37%, 38%, and 50% respectively – are not astronomical, they are expected. The cost of going to the movies at night, however, has increased dramatically – 90% since 1986. The cost of a movie after the first showing, but before 5:00pm has increased by even more – 116% in the same time period.

Needless-to-say Mr. Doodlebug and I were annoyed yet again when we got out of the house on a miserable, cold, rainy Saturday afternoon in February to see Capote at 2:30 p.m. and were charged $9 each.

Clearly I don't forget easily; we saw Capote 3 months ago.

The New York Times web site now charges to read the columns by their famous columnists -- Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman etc . . . -- but not for the op-ed contributors -- those experts who submit columns about their particular fields. How much do they charge? $7.95 per month or $49.95 per year. I miss the days when you could read the whole paper on line not just the parts that won't generate revenue for the NYT.

That's enough ranting for one day.