The 3D Experience

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Wednesday - February 17, 2010

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I know this will sound hard to believe and you’ll think I’ve been living in a cave the past few years, but up until two weeks ago I had not seen one of those new 3D movies.

Yeah, I saw them back in the day, when the 3D glasses consisted of cardboard with one red lens and one green lens. The quality of those movies was so poor that you actually took off the glasses to watch the movie, blur and all.

But I guess, with extreme technical improvements, 3D movies have gotten to the point where it may soon be the only way to watch them.

The fact that Avatar has made more than $2 billion worldwide is proof of that. Nearly everyone I know has already seen it, some of them multiple times, and they could not stop raving about how good the 3D effects are. That still didn’t motivate me to go see it.

Then my wife’s two 8-year-old nephews came into town with their dad. I’ve written about these two before, and if you remember anything about them, it might be that they make Dennis the Menace look like an altar boy. Actually, they’ve grown up a bit and aren’t rambunctious as they used to be.

They’re cute boys and they seem to like hanging out with me. The other weekend I volunteered to take them to see Avatar IMAX, the 3D experience, solo. They loved the idea, as they had not seen it, and it would give me the chance to get my virgin new technology 3D experience.

I was amazed at the 3D glasses we were given, as they were yellow quality plastic, and if it was the ‘80s, you could wear them to a nightclub or the beach. I was kind of caught up in it and donned the glasses before the movie even started.

People were finding their seats when some 3D movie previews came on. I was blown away by the effect and put my outstretched hand to “grab” some of those objects. One preview had a group of people in it, and I swear there was a woman standing right in front of me. I reached out to grab her.

It was actually a real woman who was passing in front of me to get to her seat. She let out a loud squelch and the two boys screamed in laughter. The next thing I know, I had non-3D popcorn flying at my head. Hey, you sure can’t get that experience on a DVD.