Open Mic for the Week of 4/7/2025
On this day in 1906, Mount Vesuvius erupted. Again.
There’s a phenomenon where someone writes an essay about this or that but someone else wants to discuss something that has not yet made it to the front page.
This is unfair to everybody involved. It’s unfair to the guy who wrote the original essay because, presumably, he wants to talk about his original essay. It’s unfair to the guy who wants to talk about his link because it looks like he’s trying to change the subject. It’s unfair to the people who go to the comments to read up on the thoughts of the commentariat for the original essay and now we’re talking about some other guy’s links.
So!
The intention is to have a new one of these every week. If you want to talk about a link, post it here! Or, heck, use it as an open thread.
And, if it rolls off, we’ll make a new one. With a preamble just like this one.
From Variety: Texting, Weed and Sing-Alongs: Four Radical Ideas for Bringing New Audiences to Movie Theaters
While I tend to agree that weed would make a movie better (at least it did back in 1992), I’m not sure how the ingestion would work. Edibles, from what I have heard, take a while to kick in and you can’t really titrate the experience like you can with a joint. If it is smoking that they’re going to be doing, the movie houses will have to get one of their rooms rebranded as a Cigar Bar (or just have a courtyard, I guess).
If my memory is accurate, it’s also the case where the most pleasant buzz to watch a movie would be categorized as “comfortable”. And, by “comfortable”, I mean “shouldn’t drive”. So you’re going to need a DD.
Which, I suppose, the movie theaters could push for… “bring a friend”, I guess. But being the guy who isn’t stoned with one (or more) stoned dudes is… well, maybe they could set it up and give a free ticket to the DD. Or a free soft drink.
As for cellphone-friendly viewings… ugh. There are a couple dozen reasons that I don’t go to the theater that often and cellphones are among them. But if there’s a cellphone showing, maybe it can be in a theater next to a non-surfing showing.
Of course, most of the responses to the tweet of this article were of the form “maybe make good movies?” but, as I look at the landscape, I see that Minecraft broke $150 million over the weekend and so that’s probably not on the table either.Report
“he says he would come more often if he could buy and smoke pot at the theater. “How fun would that be?” he says. “They have a bar here so that people can relax and enjoy a drink.””
You’d quite literally have to have a different building… pot invading public spaces is already creating a backlash… you’d nuke non-pot screenings anywhere and any time in your theater. Plus, there’s a pretty big lack of awareness comparing (or not comparing) the externalities of Pot vs. Alcohol.
It’s a content saturation problem… there are too many alternatives to films. And films as a medium don’t offer that much of an upgrade over 4k viewing.
If there’s a ‘new thing’ it will be something along the lines of immersive theaters like you get in a 90second ride at Disney Hollywood.Report
If the critical concern is ability to smoke weed during the film it is now easier than ever to do it in your own home, where even an early release streaming rental is cheaper than a trip to the theater.
Also (and to your other point) if we’re at a place where we’re just tolerating the odor in public, well the parking lot is right there. Why would anyone invest in setting up a special accommodation? As best as I can tell there is very little, if any, policing around public consumption regardless of what the law says. I get whiffs occasionally just driving my kids to school at 7:30 in the morning on a weekday.Report
When we got tickets to A Working Man, the theater was mostly sold out. The only rows that had two seats next to each other (with a bro seat on either side) were the front rom and the back row.
We got tickets for the back row.
The other night, I watched Nosferatu on my broski’s 85″ television in his basement that we were sitting about 8-10 feet away from.
The field of vision real estate taken up by the screens was comparable. And, during Nosferatu, we could pause.Report
Yea I would say very few movies benefit much from the big screen anymore, not with home set ups being so high quality amd affordable. Especially post covid that’s what the theaters are up against.
Interestingly Nosferatu might be one where I’d argue it’s worth the price of admission, given that half of the appeal is the atmospherics. My wife and I saw it at one of the places where you have a waiter and I didn’t regret the decision. Could just be the concept having a special place for us. When we were still dating we saw a screening of the silent film at the American Film Institute with a live orchestra in the pit doing the music (on Halloween no less). It was really cool. I also saw the Witch which was Robert Eggers’ first big movie in the theater and thought it benefitted a lot from the level of immersion. Conversely a few months ago my toddler mashed a bunch of buttons on the remote and ended up renting the early release of Anora for like $25. Since we had it we watched it but I don’t think my appraisal would have been any different if I’d seen it in a theater.Report
One of the reviews of Nosferatu I read opened with the John Waters quote “I believe if you come out of a movie and the first thing you say is, ‘The cinematography was beautiful,’ it’s a bad movie.”
Well, during Nosferatu, my bud and I wouldn’t shut up about the cinematography. Oooh! Look at that shot! Wow! Look at *THAT* one!
He also did the sound system up with multiple speakers in the basement and the soundbar up front and… wowsers. I’m not sure how much better it would have been to see it in a theater. I know that it’s smaller than the difference between a normal screen and IMAX used to be.
Theaters had best figure out *SOMETHING* because, lemme tell ya, watching something (anything) on the basement television has a lot less mental/emotional overhead than what is required to put on shoes and get in the car and drive to the place and talk to at least one stranger.
And that’s without getting into the difference in the price of chicken fingers at both places.Report
We have deadlines for Trump to bring back that guy he illegally sent to a Central American prison in a few minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80UzAKNadow&list=TLPQMDcwNDIwMjU25agnSH1wrwReport
This is a month old, but I just stumbled upon it this morning:
https://sootyempiric.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-agents-of-history.html
Relevant for the sizeable OT contingent clinging to the “If white people had been able to express their race-realist views in the classroom/workplace, none of this would have happened” theory of the (re-)rise of Trump.Report
Well you do have to admit that being openly racist and misogynistic seems to be a thing for these folks.Report
Part of the problem is that the Conservative Party is (usually) the Stupid Party.
There’s a point at which “moral agency” kicks in and it’s above a certain line and sufficiently stupid people are below it… and, in a group, you tend to get even stupider.Report
I think of it more as that the republicans are the “child” party and the democrats are the “adolescent” party. There aren’t enough adults around to make up their own party but their influence with the kids on either side waxes and wanes. Unfortunately right now it seems to be in a wane cycle on both sides.Report
I don’t think it’s useful to dumb down “racism” to the point where “everyone is racist”.
I also think it’s a naked power grab to claim “opposing Team Blue is racist”.
We’ve had constant cries of “wolf” to the point where no one pays attention. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Did this play a role in Trump’s 2nd rise? Maybe… but “Racism” is such a small part of Trump that I’d call it a non-factor in his unfitness.Report
Trump threatens more tariffs on China: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/04/07/business/trump-tariffs-stock-marketReport
Treasury Secretary Bessant believes that former federal workers will become the basis of a new class of factory workers:
https://x.com/JHWeissmann/status/1909273929333592170?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1909273929333592170%7Ctwgr%5E55851815251aaa4e614bd786b0858509e632d6f7%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com%2F2025%2F04%2Ffired-cancer-researchers-will-labor-in-the-new-factories-that-rise-from-the-soil-near-des-moines-as-100-manufacturing-flowers-bloomReport
That seems… highly unlikely.Report