EXTENDING THAT WEEKEND FEEL... by a day has always been a bit tricky, but not in summertime. In fact there is a phenomenon known as "Summer Fridays" where some people are excused early from work. And, even if they're not, the late sunset makes it feel as though the weekend is ramping up ahead of schedule, before it typically does in the winter. But "Summer Mondays," as a concept, at least thus far in history, have not taken hold in our collective imagination. That's because, spoiler alert, Mondays tend to be rather Mondayish, regardless of the time of year, unless something fun is scheduled, though that's rather a rarity, given that the fun-schedulers typically look to the traditional weekend window. But not the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, no sirree. The Costa Mesa cultural hub is doing its charming best to make Summer Mondays a thing, if not in daytime happenings -- many people will be on the job -- then at nighttime, when stars and breezes and temperatures are summer-soft. The center does this through its popular Movie Monday program, which happens to be free as a summer-soft breeze. The whole alfresco, cinematic shebang kicks off on Monday, July 13 and keeps the movie magic flowing through Monday, Aug. 10.
THAT'S FIVE MONDAYS... equaling a quintet of cute flicks. "Little Shop of Horrors" starts the series, "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial" wraps it up, and "Pitch Perfect," "The Sandlot," and "My Best Friend's Wedding" fill out the film-fun middle. If you're a returning guest, you know picnics and blankets and beach chairs are a-ok, and you know that this community favorite will soon mark its first decade, in 2016. Why, do you suppose? Well, the Segerstrom is nifty, free good stuff is always welcome, movies are fab, and lending summertime Mondays more cool cachet is a pretty inspired idea. So even if your summer weekends wrap up in record time, you'll have a Monday night out-under-the-moon outing to anticipate, an outing with lots of laid-back summer flavor.
