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December 18, 2002
The Line Party
This was the first time I had been to an event like this. Except when I was working in a movie theatre back in high school, I had never gone to see an advanced screening. My general impression was that most of them were just people showing up at a theatre and watching the film. Maybe there would be some talking and some contests before the show or what-not.
This was different.
The evening started at 5:30 with dinner. I didn't arrive until 6:30, but that's my own choice/fault. By the time I got there, the people that I was meeting -- Dani, Rebecca and Liz, later joined by Carrie -- were already pretty much done with dinner and had moved into the after dinner conversation phase. The group had somehow managed to secure the entire lower level seating area of the Mama Sbarro's at 49th and Broadway, which made for lots of Italian food and a warm and festive atmosphere. There was excitement in the air and lots of anticipation.
Dinner was followed by a costume contest with groupings of Elves, Hobbits, and Miscellaneous. An Arwen won the Elf category, a Frodo won the Hobbit category, and... wish I knew the name, the dead Dwarf in Moria won the Miscellaneous category. Yeah, some guy dressed up as the dead Dwarf. It was the most novel costume there and I wish he'd had better execution on the costume because I think he should have won instead of the Arwen. Allowing myself to be a little uncharitable for a moment, I think she won because she was... attractive.
There was a raffle which, sadly, netted my friends and I nothing. We did get to see the guy that won the One Ring replica later in line and ogle it some, though.
There was a written trivia contest, which I didn't participate in, though even with my limited knowledge, I was able to answer many of the questions. The trivia contest was continued at the theatre where they had six finalists in a rapid fire quiz and answer contest.
The end of the activities at the restaurant was a parody skit taken from some fiction that had been written on a messageboard on the web. Having not been privy to the original exchange it was just amusing cheese, though I suspect the long time readers and posters probably got more out of it. Still, it was hard not to be amused by Boromir's insistence that he wasn't dead and the Kazoo of Gondor that sounded a lot like a giraffe dying.
About 8 pm, the group loosely moved over to the Loews 42nd St. E-Walk near 8th Avenue. The line was pretty orderly and stretched down the street and around the corner at one point. My friends and I were able to snag a spot about 3/4 of the way down the line, which wasn't bad considering none of us had been hawkishly sitting on Paypal to reserve a spot in line at the 5 pm starting gun last Friday. Considering I had been on the waiting list, I was just happy to be in the line at all.
The screening was held in one of the "smaller" theatres, which sat slightly over two hundred. It was all stadium seating and there really wasn't a bad seat in the house, except maybe some of the seats at the very front. We were able to get seats against the back wall, slightly off-center to the left. The view was great from the nosebleed seats. One of the nearby viewers actually got a nosebleed, though was able to get it under control before the movie began.
I'm sure the previews helped. Though it was practically a private screening, the theatre decided to show previews anyway. So how many would you expect? Three? Four? Well, to whatever embarrassment my companions may have had, I pulled the Count Dracula stunt and counted each one.
Eight! Eight previews! Ah! Ah ah ah ah ah!
It was just... extreme. Eight. Nice auspicious number and all, but really, it's a little extreme. At this point, I can't even remember what they were anymore. I recall previews for Terminator 3, X-Men 2, Bad Boys 2, Final Destination 2, Bruce Almighty (a new Jim Carrey film where he gains the powers of God) and When Harry Met Lloyd: Dumb and Dumberer. Okay, maybe I recalled better than I thought I would. The previews were preceded by a short film for Coca-Cola. Basically an amusing commercial. I can deal with previews, but I really hate ads at movie theatres.
After that, it was all movie. Booyah!
My one regret evening was not meeting Cassie Claire. Should have had a "t00b" t-shirt made.
Posted by KinCross at December 18, 2002 01:08 AM