Fairway Cineplex going the way of King's College Cinemas?

In its last days, KKC could be a pretty grotty theatre since whenever possible its management avoided investing any money in what was clearly a doomed location. The low point came when about half the seats were broken and all of the urinals in the men's had been removed from the wall.

Last night I am told that the women's washroom at Fairway had toilet paper everywhere and there was no soap. When this was mentioned to the usher, he mentioned that in fact there was no soap anywhere in the theatre, a revelation that the manager (standing directly behind him, although I don't think he knew that when he spoke to us) did not react well to.

There was at least one broken seat in the theatre and the sound was loud but fuzzy (or whatever the right word for the aural analog of unfocused is). I had a hard time making out what people were saying even though the sound was loud enough to be uncomfortable.

Fairway Cineplex going the way of King's College Cinemas?

In its last days, KKC could be a pretty grotty theatre since whenever possible its management avoided investing any money in what was clearly a doomed location. The low point came when about half the seats were broken and all of the urinals in the men's had been removed from the wall.

Last night I am told that the women's washroom at Fairway had toilet paper everywhere and there was no soap. When this was mentioned to the usher, he mentioned that in fact there was no soap anywhere in the theatre, a revelation that the manager (standing directly behind him, although I don't think he knew that when he spoke to us) did not react well to.

There was at least one broken seat in the theatre and the sound was loud but fuzzy (or whatever the right word for the aural analog of unfocused is). I had a hard time making out what people were saying even though the sound was loud enough to be uncomfortable.

Fairway Cineplex going the way of King's College Cinemas?

In its last days, KKC could be a pretty grotty theatre since whenever possible its management avoided investing any money in what was clearly a doomed location. The low point came when about half the seats were broken and all of the urinals in the men's had been removed from the wall.

Last night I am told that the women's washroom at Fairway had toilet paper everywhere and there was no soap. When this was mentioned to the usher, he mentioned that in fact there was no soap anywhere in the theatre, a revelation that the manager (standing directly behind him, although I don't think he knew that when he spoke to us) did not react well to.

There was at least one broken seat in the theatre and the sound was loud but fuzzy (or whatever the right word for the aural analog of unfocused is). I had a hard time making out what people were saying even though the sound was loud enough to be uncomfortable.

Movies and theatres

No doubt I am crankier as I get older but it seems to me that theatres have a lot less to offer than they did 20 years ago. DVDs are out soon enough that I can be patient and the cost of a DVD (which will have extras) is generally less than a movie for two plus refreshements. Also watching a movie at home means not dealing with theatre chatterboxes. Admittedly, the screens are larger in theatres, which I suppose is important for movies whose main virtue is visual spectacle.

Is there any real need for movie theatres any more? Couldn't we just phase them out the way drive-ins went away?

Movies and theatres

No doubt I am crankier as I get older but it seems to me that theatres have a lot less to offer than they did 20 years ago. DVDs are out soon enough that I can be patient and the cost of a DVD (which will have extras) is generally less than a movie for two plus refreshements. Also watching a movie at home means not dealing with theatre chatterboxes. Admittedly, the screens are larger in theatres, which I suppose is important for movies whose main virtue is visual spectacle.

Is there any real need for movie theatres any more? Couldn't we just phase them out the way drive-ins went away?

Movies and theatres

No doubt I am crankier as I get older but it seems to me that theatres have a lot less to offer than they did 20 years ago. DVDs are out soon enough that I can be patient and the cost of a DVD (which will have extras) is generally less than a movie for two plus refreshements. Also watching a movie at home means not dealing with theatre chatterboxes. Admittedly, the screens are larger in theatres, which I suppose is important for movies whose main virtue is visual spectacle.

Is there any real need for movie theatres any more? Couldn't we just phase them out the way drive-ins went away?

Positive Spin

If print SF does enter a long decline then at some point it will once again be possible to have read all of the significant SF books released in any given year. No doubt this will create some much needed unity amongst its fanciers.

Positive Spin

If print SF does enter a long decline then at some point it will once again be possible to have read all of the significant SF books released in any given year. No doubt this will create some much needed unity amongst its fanciers.

Positive Spin

If print SF does enter a long decline then at some point it will once again be possible to have read all of the significant SF books released in any given year. No doubt this will create some much needed unity amongst its fanciers.

A question I keep meaning to ask

Seen in another thread scentofviolets said: Well, it's not just that the writers are older, or that the field is order; it is the basic tropes getting older as well.[...]

For a genre that styles itself as 'the literature of ideas', this is not a good sign.[...] If the genre wants to attract younger fans, it needs to come up with some new stories. If not, well, the only thing to do is add polish and technique.

My question, which I've been meaning to ask for a while, is "Do people have the same expectations of the mystery genre?"

I'm not saying that new things don't appear in mystery (and I am definitely not saying that mystery fans don't have heated disagreements over what should be in a good mystery book [1]) but is there an expectation that a new mystery should in some way be a progressive development over an old one?


1: I think we're all agreed that the presence of cats is an even worse sign in a mystery than in an SF novel and it's a very bad sign in SF.

A question I keep meaning to ask

Seen in another thread scentofviolets said: Well, it's not just that the writers are older, or that the field is order; it is the basic tropes getting older as well.[...]

For a genre that styles itself as 'the literature of ideas', this is not a good sign.[...] If the genre wants to attract younger fans, it needs to come up with some new stories. If not, well, the only thing to do is add polish and technique.

My question, which I've been meaning to ask for a while, is "Do people have the same expectations of the mystery genre?"

I'm not saying that new things don't appear in mystery (and I am definitely not saying that mystery fans don't have heated disagreements over what should be in a good mystery book [1]) but is there an expectation that a new mystery should in some way be a progressive development over an old one?


1: I think we're all agreed that the presence of cats is an even worse sign in a mystery than in an SF novel and it's a very bad sign in SF.

A question I keep meaning to ask

Seen in another thread scentofviolets said: Well, it's not just that the writers are older, or that the field is order; it is the basic tropes getting older as well.[...]

For a genre that styles itself as 'the literature of ideas', this is not a good sign.[...] If the genre wants to attract younger fans, it needs to come up with some new stories. If not, well, the only thing to do is add polish and technique.

My question, which I've been meaning to ask for a while, is "Do people have the same expectations of the mystery genre?"

I'm not saying that new things don't appear in mystery (and I am definitely not saying that mystery fans don't have heated disagreements over what should be in a good mystery book [1]) but is there an expectation that a new mystery should in some way be a progressive development over an old one?


1: I think we're all agreed that the presence of cats is an even worse sign in a mystery than in an SF novel and it's a very bad sign in SF.

Confirmed

I got a look at my prepaid tanning minutes sheet and Cute Young Tattooed Woman has never deducted any tanning minutes from my sheet. I've received about 60 minutes free so far.

Confirmed

I got a look at my prepaid tanning minutes sheet and Cute Young Tattooed Woman has never deducted any tanning minutes from my sheet. I've received about 60 minutes free so far.

Confirmed

I got a look at my prepaid tanning minutes sheet and Cute Young Tattooed Woman has never deducted any tanning minutes from my sheet. I've received about 60 minutes free so far.

Memory Lane

Yet another impractical method of going faster than light.

This section:

However, the Baylor physicists estimate that manipulating dark energy through the extra dimension requires energy equivalent to the converting the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy — enough to move a ship measuring roughly 33 feet (10 meters) by 33 feet by 33 feet.

reminds me of S.P. Somtow's Inquisitor series, where the remarkably obnoxious Inquisitors used up entire stars for each FTL flight. If I recall correctly, there was a less obscenely expensive form of interstellar travel that was merely lightspeed.

I see journalists still have not learned to round when they translate from metric to Liberian units.


Nicked from will_couvillier

Memory Lane

Yet another impractical method of going faster than light.

This section:

However, the Baylor physicists estimate that manipulating dark energy through the extra dimension requires energy equivalent to the converting the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy — enough to move a ship measuring roughly 33 feet (10 meters) by 33 feet by 33 feet.

reminds me of S.P. Somtow's Inquisitor series, where the remarkably obnoxious Inquisitors used up entire stars for each FTL flight. If I recall correctly, there was a less obscenely expensive form of interstellar travel that was merely lightspeed.

I see journalists still have not learned to round when they translate from metric to Liberian units.


Nicked from will_couvillier

Memory Lane

Yet another impractical method of going faster than light.

This section:

However, the Baylor physicists estimate that manipulating dark energy through the extra dimension requires energy equivalent to the converting the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy — enough to move a ship measuring roughly 33 feet (10 meters) by 33 feet by 33 feet.

reminds me of S.P. Somtow's Inquisitor series, where the remarkably obnoxious Inquisitors used up entire stars for each FTL flight. If I recall correctly, there was a less obscenely expensive form of interstellar travel that was merely lightspeed.

I see journalists still have not learned to round when they translate from metric to Liberian units.


Nicked from will_couvillier

Robert A. Heinlein Award

Science Fiction Awards Watch reports that Locus reports that the winners of this year's Robert A. Heinlein Award, given as a career award for a writer who has created “outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space", are Ben Bova and Spider Robinson.

Robert A. Heinlein Award

Science Fiction Awards Watch reports that Locus reports that the winners of this year's Robert A. Heinlein Award, given as a career award for a writer who has created “outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space", are Ben Bova and Spider Robinson.

Robert A. Heinlein Award

Science Fiction Awards Watch reports that Locus reports that the winners of this year's Robert A. Heinlein Award, given as a career award for a writer who has created “outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space", are Ben Bova and Spider Robinson.