Did Alamo Drafthouse get sued or did they just change policy?

[Bobby Henderson]

The thing is... this kind of behaviour is actually embraced in some of the very movies we're being shown in movie theaters. I recently ended up watching "Bodies Bodies Bodies", which I now consider "TikTok the Movie"...

Selfish, rude behavior is being championed by more than just certain movies. We're living in "reality TV" culture. The loudest, most brash mouths get the attention. Behaving like a civil, grown adult is seen as boring. Hell, even our elected, so-called "leaders" have to behave this way in their campaigns just to get on the radar scopes anymore. Media outlets aren't interested in people who avoid behaving like a complete asshole; they love drama. It helps generate ratings and sells more advertising.

Edit: regarding 5G signal performance and reach, it really depends on various factors like the signal's frequency band. Some frequencies have very limited reach and need things like lots of small cell sites repeating the signal to provide any effective coverage. I'm definitely seeing a mixed bag of sorts with 5G performance on my somewhat new phone. In some locations it's outstanding (download speeds over 400Mb/s); in other places it's no better than 4G. And there are still gaps in coverage. I'm pretty sure if someone wanted to do so he could build a cinema auditorium that could passively block out even 5G mobile signals without having to resort to building the theater underground.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I thought that we live in a world where cell phones are considered "normal". It's great to have access to the shared wisdom of the Internet everywhere you go. It's great to know that you can reach someone if you need someone... But somehow big commercial entities have found a way to addict us to a never-ending stream of unimportant self-exposure of others. I guess they succeeded to tap into some of most primal instincts to make that happen. I guess some level of disconnect between generations is bound to happen, it's not abnormal for one generation to counteract the other, but to me, what's called "Generation Y and Z" or "millenials" or whatnot, it looks more like a bunch of spineless, brainless zombies to me than anything else.

We recently had a few new hires from this "new generation" and maybe I'm "age discriminating", but I've never seen such a bunch of lazy motherf*ckers before. They show up when they want and if they want and if you even dare to say anything about their behaviour, they go home and call-in sick... Meanwhile, while at work, they're glued to their, constantly beeping and burping, shiny smartphone... don't even tink about taking that away, it's their BASIC RIGHT to own one and use it whenever they want...

In general, 5G works best if you're essentially in a line of sight with the repeater station, but those giga-high frequencies also easily find a gap somewhere. There is a lot of stuff going on in 5G, including beam forming and whatnot, all to get the most of limited ether space... But actually, you don't need 400 MBps to be irritating, just a few megabit/s is sufficient to keep on texting, WhatsApping and even TikTokking, as the quality of the video streams will adapt to your available bandwidth...

Getting back to the faraday cage: It really is exceptionally hard to pull off and generally not worth the effort. Burrying stuff underground may actually be the cheapest option to be sure. It's been a few years, but a then newly built datacenter-business actively promoted the fact that they had built a "cage of Faraday", with all kinds of metal foil in the wall and whatnot. So, we took an old transistor radio with us and when they came up with their marketing speech, we pulled it out, put it INSIDE a 19" rack and turned it on: Perfect reception... the look on the guy's face: priceless...

There is also are some interesting discussion on-line that even a closed metal box will probably not work as a perfect Faraday cage for modern phones, working at those GHz 4G and 5G frequencies as the metal in the box will not be a perfect conductor and as such will work as an areal itself. I don't know all the nitty-gritty details, but the geek in me finds it interesting stuff...

Apparently, the best way to get rid of signals you don't like is to actively jam them with some pink noise on those frequency carriers. The problem is that modern telephones work on so many channels, it's hard to jam them all and in most jurisdictions, jamming those signals is pretty illegal, even within your own premises.

[Mike Blakesley]

As much as I'd love to disable texting or calling during movies, I think a lot of people use them to check the time every 45 minutes or so (I'm guilty of that myself). And, or course there is the "emergency" factor.

[Bobby Henderson]

One thing I like about my Galaxy S22 Ultra: when the phone is dark/off I can touch the screen and it will just dimly display the time and a fingerprint unlock icon on an otherwise black screen. That's something which is more friendly for checking the time in a dark cinema auditorium. Also a smart phone doesn't necessarily need a signal just to display the time.

I thought that we live in a world where cell phones are considered "normal". It's great to have access to the shared wisdom of the Internet everywhere you go. It's great to know that you can reach someone if you need someone... But somehow big commercial entities have found a way to addict us to a never-ending stream of unimportant self-exposure of others.

Mobile phones have not yet reached the product maturity cycle of devices like personal computers, television sets, etc. Lots of people still upgrade their phones on a relatively frequent basis. They trade in still perfectly functional phones just to have the latest, greatest models. Companies like Apple and Samsung wouldn't be able to charge such ridiculous prices for those devices unless the demand was high. Not everyone is on that frequent upgrade habit. My previous phone was a Samsung Note 5. I bought it in September of 2015 and used it over 6 years until I was forced into upgrading. The existing 2G/3G towers were being shut down for 5G transition. Some people don't upgrade phones frequently because it's just too expensive to do so.

Over time more and more of the general public will tone down its love affair with smart phones. I do think Apple, Samsung and others are struggling to come up with features compelling enough to convince users to keep upgrading when it isn't necessary.

I guess some level of disconnect between generations is bound to happen, it's not abnormal for one generation to counteract the other, but to me, what's called "Generation Y and Z" or "millenials" or whatnot, it looks more like a bunch of spineless, brainless zombies to me than anything else.

I don't agree with the scapegoating of younger generations on topics like obsessive mobile phone use. Teens, young adults, etc are indeed way too fixated on their phones. However people my age (in Generation X) and even older people (Boomers) are just as freaking guilty of this behavior. Inconsiderate, self-absorbed, self-obsessed behavior is worsening across all generations. Personal computer technology has been around for more than 40 years. The Internet began almost 40 years ago, but has been popular with the general public for roughly 30 years. That means there's lots of now old people who know how to use technology and get obsessed with it.

Also, traits like laziness, not wanting to work, etc -young people don't have a monopoly on that kind of negative behavior. Again, I've seen plenty of people my age and older pulling the same shit.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I don't agree with the scapegoating of younger generations on topics like obsessive mobile phone use. Teens, young adults, etc are indeed way too fixated on their phones. However people my age (in Generation X) and even older people (Boomers) are just as freaking guilty of this behavior. Inconsiderate, self-absorbed, self-obsessed behavior is worsening across all generations. Personal computer technology has been around for more than 40 years. The Internet began almost 40 years ago, but has been popular with the general public for roughly 30 years. That means there's lots of now old people who know how to use technology and get obsessed with it.

Also, traits like laziness, not wanting to work, etc -young people don't have a monopoly on that kind of negative behavior. Again, I've seen plenty of people my age and older pulling the same shit.

Those traits certainly aren't an exclusivity for the younger generations, but they are much more prevalent there. Watching a movie like "Bodies bodies bodies" in a mixed audience only makes this clear... There is a pretty big disconnect between the young generations and the older generations. Not that this is something entirely new and bound to happen somehow, but at least to me it feels like those gaps are widening.

I'm also not laying blame on those newer generations directly, they're a product of their environment. The problem here is that we've had our society hyjacked by hyenas the likes of Zuckerberg, who created the adrenaline-fueled feedback-loop driven monstrocities like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Our politicians for letting this happen and abusing those very systems to profile themseles and us in general for being so ignorant and just letting it happen...

Those traits of lazyness and not wanting to work are also a byproduct of the way we've structured our society. The younger generation, at least in the western world, was born into a world of abundance, while those that came before them were born in a world where you still needed to do some actual work to earn your place in society.

[Bobby Henderson]

I'm also not laying blame on those newer generations directly, they're a product of their environment. The problem here is that we've had our society hyjacked by hyenas the likes of Zuckerberg, who created the adrenaline-fueled feedback-loop driven monstrocities like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Our politicians for letting this happen and abusing those very systems to profile themseles and us in general for being so ignorant and just letting it happen...

You've skipped over the biggest factor of all: PARENTS. Or lack thereof. Nothing has a greater influence on a child's development than the choices made by the parent(s) raising that child.

For a long time I heard Gen-X people complaining about lazy Millennials. I finally started suggesting they needed to direct their complaints at the Gen-X parents for raising those kids to be that way. Now we're hearing the same flavor of gripes about Generation Z.

Parenting isn't easy. But so many "parents" have largely opted out. Some parents are present under the same roof as their kids, but they're not really there as participating actual parents. They're leaving the kids occupied in their bedrooms with game consoles, smart phones, TV sets and other distractions -that way the adults can devote their attention elsewhere. The situation is harder for kids being raised in single parent homes. More grandparents are getting stuck having to be parents again, raising their kid's kids. It's not hard to imagine how a child can grow up in such environments and end up not having any sense of self worth or motivation. And these are contemporary "normal" homes. There are parents out there who are into doing far more harmful, even illegal things and adversely influencing the development of their children in the process. And those kids pass off what they've learned to other kids.

It can be just as harmful for children to be raised by "helicopter parents" who hover over the children 24/7, making all their decisions for them. Children can't learn how to be self-motivated and self-reliant unless they're allowed to do so. Looking back 40 years I can't believe the kind of independence my brother and I had growing up. Our parents would attend our little league baseball games, but they didn't go to every practice. We were able to walk or ride our bikes to the park by ourselves. Parents are getting arrested for letting kids do that today. Oh, and crime was a LOT worse in the 1970's and early 1980's than it is now. We just didn't have 24 hour cable "news" networks instilling fear and anger into everyone back then.

Social media and various outlets of popular culture can be harmful influences to kids, but parents make by far the biggest impact.

The younger generation, at least in the western world, was born into a world of abundance, while those that came before them were born in a world where you still needed to do some actual work to earn your place in society.

That is a very over-simplified description. The actual reality is far more complicated.

[Andrew Thomas]

If there has been any softening on the issue, it is because the co-founding couple, TIm and Karrie League were ushered out of the business on the back of some #MeToo fails and the results of the pandemic on the overall business. Tim in particular was the driving force behind those strict rules and the marketing around them. Now the place is owned by some hedgefund money.

[Bobby Henderson]

I don't know about any MeToo controversy regarding Alamo or Tim League. During Alamo's bankruptcy process Tim League stepped down as CEO. A former Starbucks executive took that job. Tim League became Chairman of the shareholders board.

[Randy Stankey]

You need to block a lot more than just 800 MHz.

Yeah, I know. I was being a wise guy.

Oh! What's all that chicken wire behind the drywall? Oh! That?
Yeah... we put it there to help protect the building from lightning. Ya' can't be too careful, y'know!

One of the shops I used to work at was Faraday Caged because they ran an SMT fabrication line.
If you needed to use your cell phone, you had to go to the employee break room. A: Because that was the rule. B: Because they didn't want EMI from phones and things to potentially damage any electronic chips and components.

It didn't block everything but, unless you were standing in certain places, signal strength was virtually zero.

[Martin Brooks]

For the movies and theaters I attend (in NYC), I don't find phones to be a problem anymore. (Maybe it is at Saturday night Marvel screenings.). It's very rare that I see anyone checking their phone during the movie. I thought I was going to have a problem with a bunch of kids talking at a recent screening, but as soon as the feature started, they all shut up and behaved. I still see lots of people being complete slobs and leaving a mess, but I've also seen that at the U.S. Open, which mainly attracts rich adults (I was gifted tickets).

The biggest problem I have is when I go to a local independent theater that happens to attract very elderly people (in their 80's), THEY don't shut up during the movie. And their flip phone will start ringing and they don't know how to stop it. I have slightly lost my temper a few times, but I think I frightened some of them.

[William Kucharski]

That's definitely not the case for me.

Not only do I regularly see texting and posting, almost every new movie has someone taking video of the opening credits so they can post to their friends which movie they're seeing.

I agree about older patrons not knowing how to shut off their ringer or stop it from ringing once it goes off.

[Bobby Henderson]

All the phone-related stuff in theater auditoriums annoys the hell out of me. It's not all that difficult to put a phone on silent before entering a theater. Nevertheless, so many people either don't remember or just don't care to do so. At my AMBUCS civic club lunch meetings, once the meeting is underway anyone whose phone rings or makes other noises gets fined a dollar by the Sergeant at Arms (and gets laughed at by everyone else).

Here's a newer thing that bugs me that I'll encounter when attending any sort of special event screening or a screening at a film festival. Some audience members over-do it with the applause or any other kinds of reactions. You hear it before or after the show or even while the show/movie is in progress. It's as if certain people are having a contest to proclaim how they're "enjoying" the event more than everyone else. God forbid anyone is live-streaming the event on social media or doing video news coverage of it. Because then you'll have a bunch of these narcissistic nit wits yell-laughing and doing anything else to draw attention to themselves. It's like those YouTube videos where someone happens to videotape some kind of interesting incident, but they have to flip the phone around to record their face over-reacting to it, "yeah! Me, me, me! Let's make the moment about me!"

[Randy Stankey]

Some audience members over-do it with the applause or any other kinds of reactions.

I used to have that happen a lot at Mercyhurst.

I think it was because Mercyhurst, being a relatively expensive liberal arts school, was home to a lot of snooty, pretentious people, many of whom donated sizeable sums of money and felt the need to show others how erudite they were. Those people are essentially trying to demonstrate to the rest of the audience that they are the ones who are somehow responsible for bringing some movie or concert to the venue for others to enjoy and be "educated" by... "Look at me! I am the one who brought you this wonderful, foreign art movie! You should be grateful to me!"

I remember one time when we hosted Ana Vidovic where she played a long piece in several movements. I remember it as something from Vivaldi but the recital happened a long time ago and memory fades. Anyhow, every time she paused between movements, certain people would break out in applause. The pause between movements is supposed to be silent and only lasting for, maybe thirty seconds, if that. Only just long enough for the performer(s) to reset their sheet music and get settled before resuming. On this occasion, the applause interrupted the performance for more than a minute, every time.

Vidovic, herself, walked off the stage after the performance and commented, "I've never gotten applause BETWEEN movements before!"

First, we had a few people in the audience who fancied themselves as some sort of impresario and who had donated sizeable amounts of money to bring Vidovic to Erie for this performance. Yes, it was kind of a big deal to have her play in Erie in that particular circumstance. I did notice that it was one of the donor/sponsors who was front and center of the affair who started at least one of the rounds of applause.

Second, those people didn't know the music. I, myself, wasn't familiar with the particular piece being played but, at least, I knew that there was more than one movement. Hey! I CAN read a program!

Essentially, there were a few hoity-toity, people who didn't even know what it was that they were seeing, who wanted to show off in front of the unwashed masses so that everybody would know how important they were while everybody else played along in order to hide the fact that they were just as naive as the rest... An "Emperor's New Clothes" scenario, if you will.

I remember Ana Vidovic in her dressing room after the show, talking to somebody else on the phone in her native language. I didn't understand what she was saying but she was laughing and carrying on in such a way that it was pretty clear that she was amused by the whole affair.

[Leo Enticknap]

Anyhow, every time she paused between movements, certain people would break out in applause.

This actually happened to me, many decades ago, playing Bach's Prelude and Fugue in E minor, BWV548, as an exit voluntary. I expected the church to be completely empty by the time I got to the end of the prelude and kinda hoped that it would be, because the fugue is a lot more difficult (if played at a decent pace and you don't drag the life out of it, Marcel Dupré or Albert Schweitzer-style) and I hadn't practised it as thoroughly as I would have liked. There was a small round of applause at the end of the prelude (mainly, it has to be admitted, from a couple of friends), which startled me so much that I forgot to make a couple of registration changes, and the first phrase of the fugue played with several stops open that I didn't want. Added to which, the change of tempo is supposed to grab the listener's attention (hence a short silence), but of course the applause killed that.

The only time I've heard it done in a concert was at the end of the first movement of Bruckner's 9th: given that this is arguably the longest and most physically demanding single movement of any mainstream symphony ever written, I can forgive that. If they'd done it between the second and the third, though, that would have been borderline criminal.

[Bobby Henderson]

Yeah, I've been to a few live concerts where audience members over-do it with applause, hooting, hollering as loud as possible -again, all to draw attention to themselves to prove how they're digging the show more than everyone else. Natural cheering and clapping is one thing. This shit is something else.

30+ years ago I witnessed cinema audiences naturally break out in applause or just go a little crazy at a pivotal, surprise moment in a movie. When I first saw Die Hard in 70mm at the Baronet theater in Manhattan the audience was coming unglued when Hans Gruber was hanging out the skyscraper window and bringing his pistol into the camera frame. In The Untouchables some of the crowd at the Loews New York Twin broke out into applause near the end of that Odessa Steps action sequence when Stone throws Elliot Ness a loaded pistol at the last second. The crowd reaction in those cases was "organic," no one trying to be louder than anyone else. Of course there were no cameras present, no social media, none of that shit. No opportunities for any self absorbed douches to make the moment about themselves.