In May 2015, I started a weekly an almost weekly blog series titled “Pizza and a Movie.” Why?
Because, most Friday evenings, my husband and I go to (the) Corner Pizza in Atlanta and then to a movie.
We always share a medium 3-topping pizza (choosing from their list of 27 different toppings). I always almost always have white wine, and my husband has a beer.
We go to a show starting at either 7:15 or 7:30. One evening in May 2015, as we walked out of the theatre, discussing the film (as usual), I mentioned the idea of writing a weekly blog post about our evening.
“I could write a short review of the movie we saw.”– [we’ve seen LOTS of movies, some good, some bad, and usually, all of the Oscar nominated films each year] – “And I could mention the toppings we ordered on our pizza that night.”
“That’s a great idea,” my husband, ever the encourager, said. “You could call it Pizza and a Movie.”
“Perfect,” I said. “I wish I’d have thought of this a long time ago, and been doing it since.”
“No time like the present,” he said. Then, as he is the more analytical, logical, and mathematical (left-brained) of the two of us, and I’m the more intuitive, thoughtful, and creative (right-brained), he came up with his own idea.
“With 27 different topping choices, we could order a different combination of them each week, and it would take years–probably decades–before we order them all!”
Later, he gave me the formula for the combinations (though I didn’t ask for it):
“The number of combinations of n objects taken r at a time is: n! / (r! (n – r)!). So the number of possible pizzas with 27 toppings taken 3 at a time is 27! / (3! ( 27! – 3!) = 27! / (3! 24!) = 27 * 26 * 25 / ( (3 * 2 * 1) = 2,925.
“Which means, we will have to go to the Corner Pizza every Friday for the next 56 years and 3 months (2,925/52 = 56.25) to exhaust every combination.”
“But I don’t necessarily want to order every combination,” I said, as if we had 56 years and three months ahead of us, and would also never miss an upcoming Friday night. “Besides, you know I don’t like jalapenos.”
Undeterred, my husband pressed on. “It could be years before we get to the jalapenos,” he said. “In fact, I’d bet on that.”
“What if I want to order the same three toppings we’ve already had before, on some future night?” I asked.
“Well, we’ve had anchovies twice in the last few weeks, and I could go another six months before we order them again,” he said.
Though we both like anchovies, I heartily agreed with that. “But having some goal of ordering a different, new pizza topping combination every time wouldn’t be the point of my blog posts!”
“Do what you want to do,” he said, “but I think…”
(That’s when I stopped listening, began nodding, and started thinking of ways to make my posts more interesting.)
“I could take a picture of my first piece of pizza each time,” I cut in. He took my cue to stop offering advice. “And when I write about the movie, I could say something personal and quirky about it, something one of us said about it, noticed, or we disagreed about. And sometimes, maybe, something funny.”
“Do it!” he said. “I think it would be great!”
And there you have it: Pizza and a Movie was born.
[The majority of this blog post first appeared under “Pizza and a Movie” tab, which is no longer up.]
JULIA MCDERMOTT 
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