simple stuff: a movie projector.

the TEA NOTES edition

We don't have a TV. Like other radiantly aging millennials, not having a TV doesn't mean we don't watch TV or movies, but it probably does mean that the *way* we watch them is different than if we had a permanent fixture attached to the wall. For one thing, there's no one place in our apartment that's dedicated to screen viewing. For another, if we want to watch something we need to take a beat to set that something up. I don't mean this to sound onerous, just to explain that there's a slight barrier to entry, an extra step to take between flopping onto the couch and getting transfixed by a moving image on the screen.

A few years ago, we got a small digital projector. Having previously only been able to gather 'round a laptop screen to partake in cinematic experiences at home, the introduction of this bit of technology was welcome and novel and nearly four years later, we're just as pleased.

Most often we project our movies right onto the white wall of our living/dining room, with the projector itself on our dining table. This set up requires the least number of moving parts, the most comfortable viewing, and the possibility for the child in our family who refuses to sit on our new couch because it is "too comfortable" to watch from the relative discomfort of a hard wooden dining chair. Also, it makes it easy to serve ice cream *while* finishing a movie which is a personal plus for me.

On evenings when we'd rather the movie viewing experience be relegated to the kids' room, we screw our projector into my camera tripod and project the movie onto a wall in there. This set up has the very real advantage of being in a room with doors that can close and where there's maximum floor space (not to mention three beds) for lolling around on, piling pillows and blankets, and making the kind of nest that kids generally love and parents generally tolerate.

On summer nights when we want to be romantic and festive and possibly also mosquito bitten, we've taken the projector onto our unsanctioned rooftop to enjoy a film under the starless city sky. On these occasions we've sometimes projected right onto the wonky brick wall of the neighboring building (don't recommend) and have sometimes tacked up a wrinkly white sheet (moderately recommend). More recently I spent five entire minutes elevating the set up to one that actually works and is easily stored and our outdoor movie nights have become truly delightful (highly recommend).

If you're curious about the ins and outs of our set-up, including specifics about the projector we use, there's a longer notes-included version of this piece below! This week, the TEA NOTES version is free for everyone, but eventually I'm going to start offering these longer pieces to paid subscribers of this newsletter. I'll still publish some full length pieces on readingmytealeaves.com, and particulars might shift as I test the waters and get the hang of things, but I'm hopeful this is a change that will ultimately allow me to spend more time with all of you! Join me?

Notes for the curious:

The Projector: I bought the Nebula Capsule based on the slightly-hotter-than-lukewarm recommendation of a friend and a smattering of online reviews and I've liked it enough to to continue to use it and to write about it now. Do I think it's the best possible projector out there? Doubtful. Has it worked beautifully for our family for four years running? Yes, it has. Do I have any desire to change it out for something else? I do not.

Pros:

+ It's really very small—the size of a can of soda/beer/seltzer and weighing in at less than pound—so it's extremely easy to store, move around, and prop up in different spots. It screws onto my camera tripod, so it's possible for us to set up just about anywhere and were we the type of people to carry movies with us on the go, it'd be eminently packable, too.

+ It's compatible with nearly all of the streaming services that we use, so our subscriptions to services like Hulu or HBO or Netflix are available directly through the device as long as we have internet service. (So far, the only thing we haven't figured out is a way to connect it to Gazebo TV, the only place on God's green internet to stream the 1985 CBC version Anne of Green Gables, which may or may not remain a lifelong sorrow.)

+ The projector connects both to an app on our phones and to a remote control so it's accessible and easy to operate (probably easier for adults to use than children, but I count this as a bonus.)

Cons:

+ There's no pause button on the machine itself (or on the remote). The addition of this feature would admittedly be very handy in home with small bladders, sudden desires to recount playground soccer sagas during key plot twists, and parental negotiation tactics involving pajamas and putting them on before the end of the movie. It's not a deal-breaker but it might be helpful to know that pausing a movie is slightly more cumbersome than just hitting the space bar.

+ It does require a fairly darkened room for projecting. This is mostly only a problem in the summer when even waiting until after dinner to watch a movie means starting it while the sun's still out. Probably a more robust model with more lumens would work better in brighter light, but more robust models have more robust price points and so we draw the shades and try not to worry about missing details in the shadowy corners.

+ It can be slightly glitchy. In other words, sometimes we need to turn it off and back on again. In my experience the YouTube app is the glitchiest, so when my kids want to watch the six-part BBC series of Edith Nesbit's The Five Children and It there is, I confess, often some amount of consternation.

The Set-Up:

Screen: An at-home movie screen does not need to be terrible or terribly complicated. To "make" ours, I tore an old ripped top sheet into an approximate rectangle, leaving the wide top hem in tact. With the side hems removed, the hem became a pocket, where I slid a small 3/4-inch diameter dowel. To that I added a length of string, and hang the whole thing from an old iron nail that someone else once pounded into the wall. To keep it from getting too wrinkled, I just roll up the sheet along the dowel when not in use and I stretch the screen taut-ish when its hanging up by placing some terracotta pots along the bottom of the sheet. C'est tout, etc.

Lights: Not required for movie viewing, but v fun to have. We got our string of solar-powered outdoor lights to add ambiance to our summer nights two years and they've been terrific.

Questions? Just ask!