Oh, hear that old piano...

The other day, the whole family went to the movie theater to see A Prairie Home Companion. I wouldn't have guessed that it was still out, because it came out on June 9, but we saw it on the marquee. The theater is near our house, but it's not one that we usually go to, and I now remember why. After going to a Muvico theater, you don't want to go anywhere else. No stadium seats at this little place. I don't even think they had stereo sound. And even though it was a Tuesday night, there were four other people in the theater, which was way more than I expected.

I'm surprised that it's taken us this long to see the movie, because my parents are big fans of the radio variety show of the same title. They've been listening to it for years and years and years. When I was little, I accepted without question that we had an enormous antenna attached to the house, but I never knew what it was for. It turns out that before I was born, the local public radio station stopped carrying A Prairie Home Companion, and my dad got a huge antenna so they could listen to it on another station. That's how much they like the show. Every week they record the show (on videotape because it's two hours long) so that we can listen to it at our leisure throughout the week.

I'll make sure that not too many plot or ending details follow, but suffice it to say that it was a simple yet entertaining film. The basic plot is that there's a long-running radio show called A Prairie Home Companion that's about to be cancelled... but not if the host, cast, and crew can do something about it. It was entertaining to see the real show's host, Garrison Keillor, playing himself, thereby putting a face to the laid-back voice that millions of people tune in to hear every week. Interestingly, several fictitious characters from the show are brought to life as real people; from the show's popular sketch "Guy Noir: Private Eye" comes Guy Noir, an out-of-work P.I. who, in the movie, works as a security guard for the show. Dusty and Lefty from the show's "The Lives of the Cowboys" are featured in the movie as real-life musical guests. Similarly, actual cast members from the show play crew members in the movie. I don't know, I thought it was interesting.

With the dramatic elements of the show largely removed, the fictitious version of the show focuses a lot more heavily on music, which is fine. It would have been nice to hear Keillor's usual monologue about his (fictitious) hometown of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, "where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average," but I guess that would have taken away from the other actors' respective subplots, making for not as good of a movie. If you want to hear "The News from Lake Wobegon," you can always listen to the radio show online at its official site.

Considering how much material from the radio show found its way into the movie (the screenplay was written by Keillor, after all), I think you'll probably appreciate it more if you've listened to the show, but it's not necessary for enjoying the film. Anyway, if you're looking for a strong plot in the movie, you might want to be warned that there isn't one. It's more like a documentary or a character study, really, but that's just fine. The film carries a message about life and human nature, if you want to look for that. I'm not really adept at finding that stuff, but I could feel that it was there. And that's all I have to say about that.

Speaking of Lake Wobegon, "the little town that time forgot" has given its name to a psychological phenomenon, namely, the tendency for everyone to think they're above average.

Find out How Stores Are Secretly Using Barry Manilow to Rob You. I had already known about the psychological tactics employed in supermarkets (placing certain items on eye-level shelves, playing certain kinds of music, putting junk by the cash register so you'll want to buy it, and so on) but I had no idea that these brainwashing techniques were so rampant in every kind of store.

One year ago: "It's a good thing, too: pages are falling out left and right."