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First 802.11 Wireless Movie Theater?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the remember-the-alamo-drafthouse dept.

vern@austin802.11.com writes: "Imagine being able to IRC someone to pass the popcorn! The Austin Wireless Group has helped establish what may well be the country's first Wireless Enabled Theatre. The Alamo Draft House movie theater in Austin, Texas now has 802.11b wireless broadband Internet access that covers all screens in their complex. This "retrofit" theater had every other row replaced with tables and offers dinner and drinks with the show. So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons. Cool! :)"

18 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. what is the point? by progbuc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Movies are for being engrossed in a different world. If people have so little free time that they must read their email during a movie, what is the point of going to the movie at all?

    --
    Go ahead and waste your life with your inhibitions, just don't ruin other people's lives with your intolerances.
    1. Re:what is the point? by ackthpt · · Score: 3, Funny
      Movies are for being engrossed in a different world. If people have so little free time that they must read their email during a movie, what is the point of going to the movie at all?

      Maybe it's a dull flick. You'll know for sure if you hear someone in the audience say, 'First post! wh00t!'

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    2. Re:what is the point? by JabberWokky · · Score: 3, Funny
      I've brought my Thinkpad quite often - a friend brought his Toshichan as well - where else to dump your digital pics and laugh at them at Dennys after the show?

      Then there are the deep geek lines that I yell every so often:

      "How do you test if an IP address is reachable?"
      "...and your mind goes Ping!"

      Or, when Riff is turning around with the trident laser:

      "Slowly I turned, step by step, inch by inch, centimeter by centimeter, millimeter by millimeter, picometer by picometer, angstrom by angstrom... what the fuck is an angstrom? (point at an audiance member) It's a unit of measurement so small that this man measures his penis with it! Single digit, baby!"

      And then there was the one night that I did that when some association of planetarium directors was in town... I got a unison chorus of "one hundred-millionth of a centimeter!" right after "What the fuck is an angstrom?" Good Times.

      BTW - for Rocky geeks out there, Timewarp.org will be getting a massive update in about a month, at which point there will be a /. like Rocky site.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
  2. So by that logic . . . by cjpez · · Score: 5, Funny
    . . . you could set up your laptop to encode the movie you're watching in DivX in realtime and STREAM it to people sitting in the next theatre over who were unfortunate enough to have bought tickets to see Queen of the Damned.

    Neat!

    --
    Al Qaeda has ninjas!
  3. No distractions by Telastyn · · Score: 5, Funny

    No... Laptop displays create *no* distractions in a dimly lit theatre...

  4. They should make things that BLOCK wireless.. by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They should make things for movietheaters that block all kinda wireless shit when in theater.
    i don't want anyone using gsm while watching a movie, and certainly don't want anyone to chat with their friends on bigger screens than that. do people in usa really want this kinda sh*t in theaters? like, don't you go to movie theaters to see the _movie_??

    --
    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
  5. Re:um... by swb · · Score: 5, Funny

    The last thing I need is Mr. "Noisy Typist" and Ms. "I Refuse to Mute My Laptop" sitting next to me.

    They're usually pretty cooperative when they find out that Mr. "Gonna Break Your Laptop" is sitting next to them.

  6. I think _I_ would be disturbed. by SamIIs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So, you can park your laptop, order a burger/beer, then email in a movie review all w/o disturbing your fellow patrons.

    I hate to burst this capitalistic bubble, but I'm pretty sure I would be disturbed by my fellow patrons typing and ordering.

    We've all sat in computer labs before, and I bet we go somewhere else to watch movies. Now, if they used this networking to offer HEADPHONES for the movie, I'd be psyched. Not only would it block the munching and tapping, but it would allow much stronger stereo and volume.

    1. Re:I think _I_ would be disturbed. by Loligo · · Score: 3, Informative

      >I'm pretty sure I would be disturbed by my
      >fellow patrons typing and ordering.

      I can't argue with typing, but the ordering thing they've got pretty well handled.

      Ordering is handled by writing your order on a sheet of paper, then putting it in a memo-holder kinda thing on the narrow table in front of each row of seats. Each seat has a number associated with it, so the wait staff picks up the order, verifies they can read it, and scribbles the seat number on the piece of paper. Very simple, and 80% of the time no conversation necessary.

      There's enough elevation difference between the rows of seats that the wait staff can take orders without interfering with the other patrons. You can also put a full pitcher of beer on the tables without blocking the view of those behind you.

      It's a cool system. I like the new theater on the north side of Austin they opened up just fine, but something about the downtown location will always be near and dear.

      So far my favorite Alamo experiences have been the Bruce Campbell Marathon (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, with Bruce in attendance), The Big Lebowski (free white russian with admission!), and any Spaghetti Western night (all you can eat spaghetti with a great Sergio Leone-era western).

      I agree that it'd be cool to offer headphones, but it's hard to do surround with headphones.

      -l

    2. Re:I think _I_ would be disturbed. by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

      For years in Cambridge near MIT there was a small alternative cinema called Off-the-Wall. You'd order your stuff before the movie and sit at little cafe tables. It wasn't a distraction at all. Of course once the movie is running, people weren't hopping up to get food; by analogy these folks should probably cut off wireless LAN access during the actual movie.

      It's pretty clear this outfit is trying to merge two different kinds of institutions: the cafe/cinema and the Internet cafe. Frankly, I don't think this is a winner because you go to one to take part in a communal experience and the other to swill coffee with your nose in a your laptop.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  7. I would argue... by joshjs · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...that the clacking of keys, although sometimes pleasant, has no place in my movie-going experience. And if I hear the AOL "You've Got Mail" sound when I'm trying to watch Star Trek 20, heads are gonna roll. :)

  8. Huh. by jon_c · · Score: 5, Informative

    Last movie i saw there was Danny Darko at the Alamo North and I didn't see anyone with a laptop. I'm as big a geek as anyone and i don't see the need for it, espicially at the Alamo.

    Typically one orders a large beer, a hamberger and maybe some nachos. Beer, grease and cheese isn't the kind of thing i want next to my $1,000 laptop, besides it would be rude to the people behind me to have that bright LCD screen glaring, not to mention the sound of the keyboard.

    -Jon

    --
    this is my sig.
  9. It will only add to the experience by miked1001 · · Score: 5, Informative

    I frequent the Alamo Drafthouse quite a bit.

    This is a great idea and I really don't think it will take away from the experience that I've enjoyed for years. The atmosphere at the Alamo Drafthouse is different from any other theater because it is expected that there will be some disturbance during the show. This isn't to say that it's a roudy place where you can't enjoy your movie (except maybe during Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings), but the experience is much more like watching a movie with a bunch of friends at home.

    Given the shear volume of wireless-enabled individuals in Austin, this can only enhance the experience.

    Next time I go I'll take my laptop and hack other patrons if they're noisy :)
    Miked

  10. Adult Theaters by White+Roses · · Score: 3, Informative
    I myself had the good fortune to go to an Adults-Only (non-pr0n, dammit, how do I refer to this type of theater?) theater outside of Boston. It was great, no screaming kids, no idiot teeney-boppers. They had a bar and a restaurant, popcorn was free and delivered to your overstuffed leather chair. Too bad they were only showing The Art of War. The draw of that place is the quiet more than anything else. I'm more than willing to pay $20 for a movie ticket if I can get some silence.

    Wireless 'net access though, sounds counter-intuitive to the real draw I found (the aforementioned quiet). We'll never see anything like this around Phoenix until someone razes Awahtukee and Anthem. Or at least until movie tickets are more expensive than babysitters.

    --
    Do not touch -Willie
  11. Hello? Blue Glow anyone? by joshamania · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just what we need, a bunch of assholes with blue glowing laptop and pda screens clicking and tapping away at their devices in the middle of a movie.

    I don't know about you'all, but I get livid when they don't turn the house lights down all the way. Now I'm going to have to have the bottom half of my night vision ruined by idiots with glowing laptops?

    No thanks!

  12. Movie about Open Source, same theater by The+Panther! · · Score: 5, Informative

    2002-02-14 17:39:39 Linux movie gets some big screen in Austin (articles,media) (rejected)

    sigh.

    On March 22, "Revolution OS" will be shown at the north location of Alamo Draft House, in Austin, TX. Not only that, but the owner will be burning Linux cds (dunno what distro) for people in the lobby.

    Tell me that isn't a serious geek cool thing to do.

    --
    Any connection between your reality and mine is purely coincidental.
  13. "IRCing someone" to pass the popcorn... by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...would go something like this:


    *** You have joined #MovieTheater
    *** Topic for #MovieTheater: The Animaniacs Movie: The Best Thing Ever Ever Ever, Or Just the Best Thing Ever Ever?
    *** GreasyGuy has joined #MovieTheater
    *** Chanserv sets mode: +o GreasyGuy
    <Me> Hey, um, mister Greasy, could you pass the popcorn?
    <GreasyGuy> No! Fuck you! What the hell is wrong with you? Get it yourself! Stop making me feel insecure!
    *** You have been kicked off #MovieTheater by GreasyGuyMinion_1 (No popcorn-begging)
    *** Attempting to rejoin #MovieTheater
    *** GreasyGuy sets mode: +b *!*you@seat_37
    *** You have been kicked off #MovieTheater by GreasyGuy (Because I'm too afraid to get up to kick your ass in person!)
    /quit

    bash-2.1# ping -f -s 65535 greasy_guy_seat
    .......
    --- greasy_guy_seat ping statistics ---
    239123 packets transmitted, 103 packets received, 99% packet loss

    w00t!

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  14. The reverse by jchristopher · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The first movie theater chain that DISABLES all wireless access on their premises will get ALL my moviegoing dollars. No phones, no laptops, no beeping pagers or PDAs.

    I'm dead serious. I, and most people I know, would choose a wireless disabled theater every time. I would spend extra money. I would drive further across town to get there.

    Someday, someone is going to realize that there is a market for such a theater. If it doesn't happen, I predict that we will start to see "theater rage", and I'm not joking. I don't consider myself a violent person, but I've been on the verge of punching another patron on several occassions, and I don't think I'm alone.