I like going outside without my pants. Sadly it seems socially unacceptable to this poor 31 year old. And I have a kick ass collection of boxers.
I guess it doesn’t matter if I leave my phone on during a Sepultura concert…
Stop chastising for things I don’t say. I have high tolerance for people who have to go to the restroom or even to go get refreshments. Why should I be the one to stay home when I’m not the one bothering people for mainly frivolous reasons.
My take is that 99.99% of those who say they must be in touch for society’s benefit are nothing more than self-important twits.
This sort of discussion could go on forever so if you want I’ll let you have the last word.
Wait, so how do you know why the hell I’m getting up? Maybe I am going outside to make a call or maybe I’m going outside because I have to pee or want a soda. What the hell difference does it make?
I don’t mind someone passing in front of me every now and then but if you’re next to me and taking calls and leaving the hall 3-4 times during a show that would be 6-8 times you’d be distracting me.
Are you going to say that wouldn’t bother you one bit? What if everyone in the hall acted like that? 300+ people leaving the hall 3-4 times during the show to take phone calls. That wouldn’t bother you either?
You better put yourself in the asshole camp because there are several people in this thread telling you your behaviour in movies would bother them.
You shrug it off that people are too “delicate for human interaction”.
No. I’m sorry sir. Leaving 3-4 times during a show to take calls IS RUDE. Just turn your damn phone off.
If I want human interaction, I’ll go to a bar or a coffeehouse. When I got to the cinema or theater, the only interaction I want is between me and the screen/stage. I’ll acceed to the necessities of physiology but I’m fresh out of consideration for someone who believes that their need to be connected at all times supercedes my ability to view and enjoy the show that I’ve paid to see. I sure don’t need some Locutus of Borg jerkoff with a glowing headpiece one row in front of me to suddenly start talking randomly in a normal tone of voice, making it impossible to pay attention to the screen or hear the soundtrack. Nor do I need a dramatic scene in the theater to be interrupted by some ringtone abomination cover of Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”.
If you have to be so hyperconnected that you can’t switch off for the span of two hours (and again, my sympathies to those who are forced into such circumstances by inconsiderate employers who regard their hirelings as one step above indentured servants) then perhaps you don’t have time to waste on a trivial entertainment, either. You’d better be out there saving the world from dastardly villians or somesuch, seeing as how you are so vital to the continued rotation of the Earth.
Stranger
I’m not a neurologist, but I am a doctor who is on call every other night. Sometimes–fortunately, not very often–those calls are of the “this guy isn’t breathing; get your ass over here” variety.
Let me also say that I love my cell phone. I resisted getting one until about six months ago, and now I’m not sure what I ever did without it.
That said, I would be thrilled if theatres started blocking cell phone signals. If I could check my phone at the counter and get a vibrating pager for it, that’s what I’d do; if I couldn’t, I’d just not go to the movies on my call nights.
The on-call thing is a red herring, anyway. Out of all the cell phones in the average movie theatre, how many of them are being carried by people who are legitimately on call for something? I’d also guess that most people who are actually on call do what I do–turn the pager or phone to vibrate and sit as far back as possible on the aisle.
As for parents and “emergencies”, the problem there is that the cell phone defines the “emergency” downward. As it becomes easier to reach you, the number of situations in which the babysitter is going to consider it worth calling you goes up. And, once again, how many of the cell phones that ring during movies belong to parents who are being contacted about legitimate emergencies?
There are work-arounds for every problem that this would bring up. My only problem is that I’m pretty sure the people who do talk loudly about pointless shit on their cell phones during movies will just find some other way to be annoying.
Jesus Christ, people. I said even if it happened 3 or 4 times it wouldn’t be a distraction. When was the last time you had someone get up that many times during a show? I honestly can’t remember the last time a cell phone distracted me from watching a movie. In fact, I’ve been to see movies with people and afterwards they complain to me about the people behind us who were yakking the whole time. I’m astonished, since I didn’t know there was anyone behind me yakking the whole time. It’s a gift, I guess, to not allow minor distractions to ruin my day.
I’ll make a deal with you people. I promise to be as discreet as possible with my cell phone (just as I always have) if you promise to remove the yardstick from your ass and accept that other people have just as much of a right to exist as you. Deal?
When they come back with a bag of popcorn it leads to the inference they went for refreshments. If they are fumbling at the belt or in a pocket it’s a good tipoff they are answering a cell phone.
And not too many of them bother to get up. They just answer the thing right there, after it rings because they don’t turn it to vibrate either.
Make excuses as you will, as a group cell phone users have an almost overwhelming ability to behave as if they were in a telephone booth.
I have the solution. Instead of jammers, the theatre could install a transmitting device that sends a signal to cause any ringing celphone to explode. That way the offending cretin is taught a painful, shrapnel-accented lesson, and the movie-goers entertainment is not interupted, as we ususally go to the movies to see stuff blow up anyway.
Maybe you only get up once. And maybe the guy in front of you gets up once. Then the woman in back of you gets up once. Pretty soon you have everyone getting up once to tell someone what they’re doing. You’re the intruder. If you can’t live in an unplugged state for two hours, you are the one who needs to stay home.
Doctor J, great take on the whole issue. That should end the debate on what the ideal approach is to handling the issue.
Of course, I think BMalion has the most entertaining solution. 
But only if the explosion is quiet and doesn’t disturb the rest of the punters.
I think the world would be a much better place if those who are offended by the verbal communication of others weren’t so amazingly reluctant to offer stern rejoinders, in real time. I don’t care if someone text-messages in a theater, or if their cell phone rings, but if it bothers me, they’d be assured of a visit, by me, who will tell them to their face to stop their offensive behavior. At small, a flashlight and encouragement by those near me to loudly ridicule nearly every aspect of their countenance and behavior seems to do the trick.
This is really a problem which should be handled by mediation between those who are offended and those who offend. I don’t expect a theater to micro-manage each and every ticket-holder. Same deal with the “overheard” conversationalists. Have some fun with these types, right to the limit. Why are those who are offended unwilling to complain to the person causing their grief?
Christ on a crutch. We have a doctor saying he can live without his cell goain off, and Ashtar staing "Suck it up. If i have to disturb you 3 or 4 times (which really means 6 or 8 times), during the course of a two hour movie you should be ok with it. I seem to have missed some sort of perspective here. What was it you did Lord Ashtar that was more important that being an on call doctor?
This has been bugging me for two days now.
This is why as a smoker and non-slave to the cell I’m just tickled about the idea of the phones being jammed.
You can’t function and the fall of Western Civilization will happen if you have to be incommunicado for 2 hours? OK. Just keep in mind that the majority here want them banned.
You enjoy going to a bar to drink and enjoy a leisurely smoke while doing so? OK. Just keep in mind that the majority here are against smoking when alcohol is involved. (For health reasons.)
It’s already been shown time and again that a city or state can ban use of legal products in private establishments. (Again, don’t give me the second-hand smoke bullshit. In CA and NYC you can have 100% of employees that are smokers and still can’t get an exemption.) I don’t even want seperate theaters. I want a total ban, no matter the situation.
So, yeah, when you head out into public you’re subject to what a majority wants you to do or not do. I and my ilk didn’t make the rules, we were just the first to suffer in having the way paved by those you’ve railing against.
I think you missed the part where Ashtar explained how he was completely oblivious to everything going on around him and doesn’t mind people stepping on his toes or holding phone conversations in the row behind him, despite the fact that his companions are extremely aggravated at such disturbances. The rest of us, who paid good money with the intention of viewing the film or show with a minimum of interruption and who prize being able to hear dialog or view the screen without being distracted by iridescent blue screens, would appreciate it if cell phone users would turn the damn things off or on vibrate for the spare two hours, and if significant numbers of them cannot manage this bare minimum of social courtesy, would petition cinema and theater owners to press for the ability to block signals.
This whole argument reminds me of my father’s wife who insists on affirming her right to use the kind of profanity that would make a sailor blush in any and all social circumstances and at top volume as a way of expressing her feminist ideals, i.e. the kind of stupid c*** who gives her alleged sisters-in-arms a bad name.
As for confronting offenders, as Marius suggests, at this point I lack no forthrightness in doing so, using the “shhhh…Shhhh…SHHHHH…Take it out in the lobby, please…SHUT THE F**K UP!!!” progression. The well-meaning are usually corrected by the first couple stages, and the some are intimidated by the last, but for the Paris Hilton-ites of the world it is just encouragement to continue their ill-mannered behavior. (Plus, some viewing companions don’t share my same sense of umbrage about it, even as they complain post-cinema about the couple who wouldn’t shut up in the row behind.) Although this sort of rudeness has no doubt existed since the Sermon on the Mount was interrupted by people complaining about each other’s noses, I don’t doubt that Campion’s theory has some merit to it, although I think it a bit unfair to limit the blame strictly to Phil Donahue…I think Rush Limbaugh, Mike Wallace, David Letterman, and Ted Kennedy, among many others, all deserve their place in the heat lamp. Being polite often seems to be more of a vice than a virtue.
Stranger
The other night, a friend and I went to have drinks at a wine bar. (The one at Paseo.) It’s all outside, pretty much, so we sat under a heat lamp, ordered wine and appetizers and generally had a great time. Close to the end of our “meal” a couple showed up and sat at the next table over. The woman leaned over and said, “Do you mind if we smoke?”
I was, honestly, flabbergasted. We’re in a bar in California, where smoking is illegal, but in the outdoor section, where smoking is perfectly legal. She had every legal right to light up, and since we’d chosen to sit outside, that was a risk we knew we took.
We chatted with her for a minute, and she said that she always asks when people have food whether they mind her smoking, because that’s only polite.
Makes me kind of happy to know that there are still people in this world who know that even if they have the right to do something, when their actions impact others, they might want to think less about their “rights” and more about the people around them.
Nothing, really. I’m not on call 24/7. In fact, I leave my cell phone behind on the charger when I’m at the gym. That’s my time, and I will not be disturbed. However, I like to have it with me when I go to a movie. If it vibrates, I’ll take a look to see who it is and, based on who’s calling me, decide whether or not I want to answer it.
Bottom line is that it’s there for my convienience, and I find it inconvienient to have my cell phone signal jammed.
If you go back to page one, you’ll notice I already said that I wouldn’t patronize a movie theater that jammed my phones.
If it bothers you, do what Marius suggested and say something. Don’t expect me to champion your cause.
Even if I were an NFL linebacker with black belts in several martial arts, I would hesitate to confront anyone. And confrontation doesn’t really solve the problem . It’s just another, longer and nastier interruption of the performance.
:rolleyes: x 1000