There have been studies on rats about the effects of receiving a reward and the anticipation of receiving a reward on the brain. What they noticed was very interesting and it applies to all animals, including humans. They discovered that when a rat received a reward, such as an addictive drug or food, their dopamine levels shot up. No surprise there. But what was a surprise was that if they presented the rats with a lever to receive the reward, dopamine levels shot up in the brain before they even had the reward because the brain anticipated the reward. The anticipation dopamine increase was just as powerful as the dopamine increase that they received after they got the reward.
Anticipation is a powerful drug.
Which brings me to The Batman. Ever since the Covid era began, aside from the gym another large component of my life that changed immediately was going to the movies. I used to go to the movies fairly often prior to Covid. A night out with my wife of dinner and a movie was a go to way to spend the evening. But because of the crowds, we were just too scared to go and we weren’t alone. Movie theaters across the country shutdown, including the one in Southampton, which I loved. That was that, I thought. I guess I’ll never go to the movies ever again.
But today, I’m back at the gym, I’m back in restaurants (I never left those) and it never even occurred to me to go the movies until an ad for The Batman came across my iPhone while browsing the internet.
Oh my God. I think I have to see this movie.
I really thought I was going to break back into the movie theater with Tom Cruises’ movie Top Gun II. The trailer, which came out years ago, still gives me chills when I watch it. But how can I pass up Batman? I can’t do it. I have to go. I’m going. Covid be damned. It’s over. I’m going. But WHERE? Are the movie theaters still open? The answer is YES, SAG HARBOR MOVIE THEATER!!!
What??? Sag Harbor movie theater has Batman???!!!! Yep, they do, and it’s playing all the time, and I’m going, and so should you. The time has come, I heard it’s awesome, possibly even better than The Dark Knight, so that says it right there.
We all have to thank our lucky stars that we can go back to the movies. It feels like yesterday that the Sag Harbor movie theater had burned to the ground. Now I’m going to see The Batman there. I’ll have a big smile on my face and a big pile of popcorn with me.
