So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[V.C. Brunswick]

[

During high school gym class, in the days when a wooden paddle with holes
in the middle was used by the coach to punish offenders.

"I'm not a man who enjoys violence. In fact I find that I get much better results when I use patience. And this, Mr Dunn, is Patience."
...Brother Constance, Heaven Help Us (1985)

 

[GHT]

[

"I'm not a man who enjoys violence. In fact I find that I get much better results when I use patience. And this, Mr Dunn, is Patience."
...Brother Constance, Heaven Help Us (1985)

Years after I left school I just happened to meet one of my former teachers. He was a real sadist when it came to corporal punishment. I confronted him about his flippant brutality and he denied it. Denied even knowing me. We held eye contact as I said: "You're pathetic." Then turned and walked away.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The "Moviepass" thing. How do they get off starting a business that requires theatres to cooperate without even asking if they want to be involved? And then when something goes wrong with the card or the transaction won't go thru, we have to take the blame. Nuts to that.

 

[Edward]

That's exactly the kind of paddle that aforementioned "coach" used. By the time I got to high school the coaches had become more creative with their discipline, and instead of getting paddled we were required to run laps on the school's track. They claimed the number of laps would be determined by the severity of the infraction, but it became immediately obvious they were making it up as they went. And if you didn't run those laps to their satisfaction--too slow, complaining or making a joke of it, or for no reason in particular--just as you thought your punishment was coming to an end they'd add more laps to your "sentence".

I hated games "lessons" at school. The best punishment I ever got was the teacher who decided that because we'd made no effort in doing some running, I and two others could do the four laps over while the rest of the class played football - "I don't care if it takes you all afternoon." We had a lovely afternoon, saunter in in the sunshine while the rest of the class had to play soccer, which we hated. Another games "teacher" tried to break me when I was seventeen by making the rest of the class sit and wait rather than get their promised game of football while I completed my 1600 metres. It took twenty-three minutes, and not once did I break into a run, and then we were sent to the changing room. How I avoided the kicking in the changing room that the teacher was clearly hoping for I'll never know, but he never tried to break me again. Looking back, I just pity him; 'games' was his full-time teaching gig ,and those guys have short careers. I also think that in retrospect he knew we ere his intellectual superiors, and resented it a bit.

 

[Edward]

Also, I have a Mac, on top of the lap top is built-in camera.
Someone suggested I should keep it covered.
Polo has a habit of walking around in his birthday suit.

Ha. Greta Cat sometimes slips her collar, and it really does seem as if she's somehow gotten naked. She does often like to climb onto the keyboard and lie on the laptop; it seems to her that if it is made of warms, then it clearly is meant for sitting. Rule two after 'if I fits, I sits'.

 

[2jakes]

Ha. Greta Cat sometimes slips her collar, and it really does seem as if she's somehow gotten naked. She does often like to climb onto the keyboard and lie on the laptop; it seems to her that if it is made of warms, then it clearly is meant for sitting. Rule two after 'if I fits, I sits'.

I took my malfunctioning Mac to the
geeks at the mall for a checkup on
what was the problem.
Checking later I was told:
"It appears that acidic fluid of some kind has gotten into the internal parts causing a malfunction."

I told him,
"Sometimes, I'll have a soda nearby but I don't recall spilling the drink by
the lap top."

He then asked...
"Do you own a cat?"

 

[Edward]

I took my malfunctioning Mac to the
geeks at the mall for a checkup on
what was the problem.
Checking later I was told:
"It appears that acidic fluid of some kind has gotten into the internal parts causing a malfunction."

I told him,
"Sometimes, I'll have a soda nearby but I don't recall spilling the drink by
the lap top."

He then asked...
"Do you own a cat?"

Knew a guy years ago who had the experience of a dog peeing on his speakers at a gig. Never got the smell out...

Polo get jealous of the laptop for attention? Greta is forever trying to get between me and it.

 

[Zombie_61]

...Also, I have a Mac, on top of the lap top is built-in camera. Someone suggested I should keep it covered. Polo has a habit of walking around in his birthday suit.

A few years ago I was using my laptop when the camera light came on and the screen changed to an all blue background. A small square part of the screen showed the live feed from the camera, and the rest was some sort of poorly worded statement saying I'd been caught by the FBI browsing an illegal website and that I needed to call the posted phone number immediately or face prosecution. It also hijacked my browser. Fortunately I was able to use my wife's laptop to find out how to eliminate this malware, and when it happened again a week later I already knew what to do.

Ha. Greta Cat sometimes slips her collar, and it really does seem as if she's somehow gotten naked. She does often like to climb onto the keyboard and lie on the laptop; it seems to her that if it is made of warms, then it clearly is meant for sitting. Rule two after 'if I fits, I sits'.

Our cat much prefers my lap to my laptop, and only cares about my laptop when it's in "her" spot on my lap.

 

[Fading Fast]

The "Moviepass" thing. How do they get off starting a business that requires theatres to cooperate without even asking if they want to be involved? And then when something goes wrong with the card or the transaction won't go thru, we have to take the blame. Nuts to that.

Sincere question as I think I've read (without much thought) two articles on the company - don't they pay the theater the full price of the ticket? For example, if you charge $12 for a ticket, Moviepass pays $12? The only reason I even remember that is it sounded like a horribly stupid business model as I think the company offers their customers unlimited movies for around $10 a month (and some customers were going to tens of movies a month).

Also, the second article I read was more recent and - no surprise here at all - the company is bleeding money and looking for fresh funding (fancy word for "give us money") or it would fail soon. So your problem might disappear quickly.

I know I did not directly address your point - should you be forced to participate and my quick answer is no as businesses should be free to choose what programs, plans, other models, etc., they participate in. This Moviepass thing, again based on not a lot of background, appears to me to be - from a theater's perspective - not much more than another payment method and you should get to say yes or nyet to each one independently.

The only thing - and I'm reaching here - are you part of some movie association or payment process program that Moviepass made a deal with where every "franchise" in that process program is required to accept it? That is one legal way they might have forced it on you - but that's just a wild guess.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Nope, we're strictly independent -- but we do accept MC and visa, which is what they work thru. The problems come with the interface between the cards they use and the customers. I have people come to the window saying they've "reserved tickets" but we *don't* reserve movie tickets for anyone in any way, and we know nothing about any "reservation" until the MOviepass user comes to the window. Plus half the time the card they present doesn't work -- it comes back DECLINE, and the customers get all huffy when I explain that we have nothing to do with the declination, it's between them and MOviepass, and I can't let them in until and unless they get it resolved on their end. It creates a lot of ill will on our end, and leaves us holding a bag we never signed up to carry in the first place. And if we say SORRY WE DON'T ACCEPT MOVIEPASS, theyre's a ton of crap on the internet sayting that we *do*, and we can't do much meaningful to get rid of it.

 

[Fading Fast]

Nope, we're strictly independent -- but we do accept MC and visa, which is what they work thru. The problems come with the interface between the cards they use and the customers. I have people come to the window saying they've "reserved tickets" but we *don't* reserve movie tickets for anyone in any way, and we know nothing about any "reservation" until the MOviepass user comes to the window. Plus half the time the card they present doesn't work -- it comes back DECLINE, and the customers get all huffy when I explain that we have nothing to do with the declination, it's between them and MOviepass, and I can't let them in until and unless they get it resolved on their end. It creates a lot of ill will on our end, and leaves us holding a bag we never signed up to carry in the first place. And if we say SORRY WE DON'T ACCEPT MOVIEPASS, theyre's a ton of crap on the internet sayting that we *do*, and we can't do much meaningful to get rid of it.

I'm a bit confused - can you not accept Moviepass? I get that there will be on-line blowback, but that is different from the legal question of whether or not you have to accept it.

 

[2jakes]

I'm a bit confused - can you not accept Moviepass? I get that there will be on-line blowback, but that is different from the legal question of whether or not you have to accept it.

It appears that the tactics used by MP is similar to that site with regards
to uploading photos in which policies were changed without even asking.

As Lizzie stated, they accept MC and Visa, in which MP was able to dig in
without permission or consent.
If you subscribe to MP, there is a listing of theaters that will accept the pass.
Reading the reviews about MP, the majority of customers are not satisfied.
The lack of communication/information by MP is poor not only
with customers but theaters as well.






.

 

[Fading Fast]

So, legally, can Lizzie's theater say, we don't accept Moviepass? I get that there can be internet / public relation issue with that, but can her theater do it legally?

I've read (all of two articles) that seemed mixed on the Moviepass user experience. Yes, a lot of glitches and grumbling, but for heavy movie goers, the deal is incredible so they seem happy.

Unless movie pass can negotiate a discount with the major chains, their model is not sustainable. My guess, they are gone in six months or less.

 

[2jakes]

Unless movie pass can negotiate a discount with the major chains, their model is not sustainable. My guess, they are gone in six months or less.

Six months sounds about right !

BTW;

 

[3fingers]

Unless movie pass can negotiate a discount with the major chains, their model is not sustainable. My guess, they are gone in six months or less.

Unless they count on the vast majority of their subscribers going to one movie a year I'm not seeing how they even hatched this harebrained scheme. It simply will not work for 10 bucks a month unless they aren't paying the theaters for the admission.

 

[Zombie_61]

Nope, we're strictly independent -- but we do accept MC and visa, which is what they work thru. The problems come with the interface between the cards they use and the customers. I have people come to the window saying they've "reserved tickets" but we *don't* reserve movie tickets for anyone in any way, and we know nothing about any "reservation" until the MOviepass user comes to the window. Plus half the time the card they present doesn't work -- it comes back DECLINE, and the customers get all huffy when I explain that we have nothing to do with the declination, it's between them and MOviepass, and I can't let them in until and unless they get it resolved on their end. It creates a lot of ill will on our end, and leaves us holding a bag we never signed up to carry in the first place. And if we say SORRY WE DON'T ACCEPT MOVIEPASS, theyre's a ton of crap on the internet sayting that we *do*, and we can't do much meaningful to get rid of it.

Sounds like you need one of these in the theater window:

 

[LizzieMaine]

That'd be treated with the same respect as a sign which says WE CAN ACCEPT NO BILLS LARGER THAN $50

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
I made a sign reading NO SOLICITORS, NO RELIGIOUS PROSELYTIZERS, NO POLL TAKERS, NO POLITICAL CANVASSERS, NO DOOR HANGERS and taped it to the front door.

Perhaps that dissuaded some such pests from bothering me, but not all.

 

[Fading Fast]

That'd be treated with the same respect as a sign which says WE CAN ACCEPT NO BILLS LARGER THAN $50

I'm staying with my call - gone in six months (12 if they get lucky):

MoviePass majority owner Helios & Matheson's stock jumps after company discloses Citadel Securities stake

Published: May 29, 2018 12:12 p.m. ET

Shares of Helios & Matheson Analytics Inc. HMNY, +14.70% are up 15% in Tuesday morning trading after the company said in a filing that Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities had amassed 5.4% of the company's common stock as of Friday's close. Helios & Matheson is the majority owner of movie-ticket subscription service MoviePass. Shares have tumbled in recent weeks after the company issued an update on its cash balance. The company recently reported an earnings beat and said that it was "naturally seeing significantly reduced usage [of the MoviePass] over time" and that efforts to curb abuse of the system weren't impacting new memberships. The stock is down 80% in the past months, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.20% has gained 0.7%.

By EMILYBARY

 

[2jakes]

^^^^^
I made a sign reading NO SOLICITORS, NO RELIGIOUS PROSELYTIZERS, NO POLL TAKERS, NO POLITICAL CANVASSERS, NO DOOR HANGERS and taped it to the front door.

Perhaps that dissuaded some such pests from bothering me, but not all.

I found an huge bag of Purina dog chow.
It was empty.
On the cover is mean looking Pit-bull.
Ever since I placed the bag with a huge chain nearby in the backyard, the city gas
meter man no longer jumps my fence. Now he knocks on the door to see if it's safe.