# .... A man in a room.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369 "2007-10-03T13:06:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![leese87](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4af34b/32.png) [@leese87](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leese87)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/1 "2007-10-03T13:06:05Z")
You are watching a short film The entire film is one shot, one framing The room is a hotel room. The walls are thin. You hear everything that is going on in the surrounding rooms. crying. sex. arguements. the hum of a television. A radio. general chatter. All of these lives are playing out beyond the walls. No one knows what significant events are unfolding just next door. There is a man in the room… What is the man doing? ---
**Author:** ![pope\_hentai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@pope\_hentai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pope_hentai)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/2 "2007-10-03T14:25:31Z")
moping. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/3 "2007-10-03T14:28:37Z")
Watching a movie? Is this a “Brain-Buster” type question? Is ther ea prize? ---
**Author:** ![tirial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@tirial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tirial)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/4 "2007-10-03T14:35:19Z")
Playing solitaire? Packing to leave? Are you looking for ideas, or do you have a film in mind you’d like identified? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/5 "2007-10-03T15:12:25Z")
[QUOTE=leese87] There is a man in the room… What is the man doing? [/QUOTE] Running the camera ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/6 "2007-10-03T15:18:53Z")
Reading _L’Etranger_ by Camus. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/7 "2007-10-03T15:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=Telemark] Running the camera [/QUOTE] I think we have a winner. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/8 "2007-10-03T15:38:37Z")
Trying to fall asleep. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/9 "2007-10-03T17:09:20Z")
Is this a description of a Life in Hell panel? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/10 "2007-10-03T19:52:40Z")
Slowly, and methodically, cleaning a handgun. I’m thinking a .38 special sort of revolver, but I’m not picky. With great deliberation he loads the rounds, one at a time into each chamber. The astute observer will note that he does not leave an empty chamber. This whole time he does not look up from where he is working with his gun. Once the gun is loaded, he picks it up, and hefts the weight. Not handling it as a weapon, just holding it, as if to measure something about it. He puts the gun down, and cleans up the materials from the cleaning. He has a small case or satchel that holds the cleaning tools and supplies, and carefully puts all of them away in their obviously accustomed places. Puts the box of ammo into the satchel, as well. Now he’s sitting, still looking down at the small hotel room table. The audience can hear all the noises of life going on around him, and so the implication is that he can hear it as well. Again he picks up the gun, weighing it in his hands. Puts it down again. Rather than offering any closure, that’s how I’d end the film, actually - just the man, his revolver, the figurative and literal seperation from life, and the question: what will he do? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/11 "2007-10-03T19:59:32Z")
He’s masturbating like a motherfuck, of course. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/12 "2007-10-03T21:45:33Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] He’s masturbating like a motherfuck, of course. [/QUOTE] DAMN IT. Seconded. ---
**Author:** ![ShakWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f9b8f/32.png) [@ShakWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShakWave)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/13 "2007-10-04T00:09:46Z")
Listening ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/14 "2007-10-04T01:01:51Z")
[QUOTE=leese87] You are watching a short film The entire film is one shot, one framing The room is a hotel room. The walls are thin. [/QUOTE] So is the hotel room the frame? Is the missing link between the one framing shot and the rest of the text deliberate? ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/15 "2007-10-04T01:06:35Z")
Posting to the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/16 "2007-10-04T01:38:41Z")
Writing. Occasionally he stops and looks up in thought. Sometimes he crosses out what he has written. He gets up to pace and finishes his work. He shows the camera what he has written: You are watching a short film The entire film is one shot, one framing The room is a hotel room. The walls are thin. You hear everything that is going on in the surrounding rooms. crying. sex. arguements. the hum of a television. A radio. general chatter. All of these lives are playing out beyond the walls. No one knows what significant events are unfolding just next door. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/17 "2007-10-04T06:35:53Z")
How do you teach a TV to hum? I’ve got high def, and it still can’t carry a tune. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/18 "2007-10-04T06:42:39Z")
If the film was directed by Andy Warhol, he could be sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/19 "2007-10-04T08:29:41Z")
Decomposing. He died of a heart attack while filming a sex tape with a hooker, and she fled in terror, leaving his corpse to be discovered by the cleaning crew the next morning. Hey, this is one of those personality questions, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369/20 "2007-10-04T13:00:11Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99] If the film was directed by Andy Warhol, he could be sleeping. [/QUOTE] If the film was directed by Andy Warhol, we’d all be sleeping. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-man-in-a-room/421369.md?page=2)