The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

I have found myself being a little quieter over the years. I think. VitruvianZeke tends to sit in front of me the last few years so he can confirm or deny this. I tend to sit about three rwos from the back, dead center of the theater. Part of it is I have started coming alone, so I don't have my, in theory, sure audience.

I do think age also has something to do with it. I think the average age has gone up (I have no way to prove this) and I think it was easier when much more of the audience was younger. I know that some of the folks who are older than I am (I started coming in my teens) were parents of kids I went to school with, but it didn't seem like there were as many of them in the old days. I am probably the age they were when this whole thing started if not a shade older. And I see a lot of folks who were there from the days of the North. Maybe not Year One, but Joe and Bob and others have been there a long time and have to be closer to 40 than 20. And I think with age we tend to be a bit more of a filter and I think that older vibe may put a bit of a damper on the younger folks.

Another reason is I have seen posts here over the years about people complaining about the snarking. And more importantly I have heard loud complaints during the marathons about this. And that gets to lineup. When you start with serious films or films that are not considered appropriate to snark, and you have folks reinforcing that early in the marathon, the new folks get the message that being quiet is what is expected. Bruce has done a good job trying to let people know during the welcome and intros about this but it still seems like there is a loud, vocal minority that want little to no snarking and so I would rather sit quietly than get in an argument over it and further diminish my enjoyment of the marathon.

I tend to go with the classics that were mentioned before as well as meowing, calling out Carol when someone is lost, etc, though I will throw out some situationally appropriate comments.

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You sir are never allowed to mention "Don't Look Now" Ever Again!!

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Jaws3dfan®
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That darn Jeff, he is always causing trouble

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Truthfully, I haven't noticed you ever being all that bad, but I tend to tune out the audience commentary these days. I'm bad for keeping a low-mumble commentary to people sitting next to me anyway.

As for ELECTROMA ... decent idea, lackluster execution, but shown on film - something you can seldom say these days. I wanted to like it more than I did. It does have one of my favorite Brian Eno songs in it, so that's something.

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Joe Neff not Jeff was in the minority when it comes to Electorma. Now in my opinion that JOE NEFF was blown away at the action pack melting ice cream cone scene. Or could it be the breath taken scenes of the aimless wandering of the android in the desert.

C'mon now, you know it was the extended driving scene that opens the film!

And Tim, Will was correct with his original comment. It's a little known fact that Jeff Frank has the Turkish poster for ELECTROMA hanging behind his desk, a bit of memorabilia that he prays to every night.

Not every movie needs riffing (to use the more modern vernacular over snarking). Not every comment in someone's brain needs to be said. That said, there are those golden prized movies to riff away at. I'm looking at you, "Lady Terminator."

I don't say as many as I used to "back in the day" for two reasons. First, I try to be an 'elder statesman' of sorts and make sure there is room for the younger blood. Second, I feel that I've gotten my filter better tuned than in the old days and try to go for the quality riff rather than beating-the-dead-horse-by-saying-a-variation-of-the-same-gag crap. "It wasn't funny the first twenty times you said it; why do you think it's going to get funnier?"

Do I succeed all the time? No. Alas, age does set in and the brain cells don't fire as they used to. However, the guy sitting in front of me at last year's marathon tweeted a pic of me during the marathon saying I was "the funniest guy in the room." .. ... ... Which is really sad. We need funnier people than me. MUCH funnier.

Since I've become a host myself every month, I hold back at my shows and RARELY say a peep (even at "Mega Python vs. Gatoroid") because the audience can do that if it wants to. And sometimes they do.

So, this is a long-winded way of saying, we do need the right blend of "snarky" and "non-snarky" (which last year was pretty good about, I thought) but we also need to bring the fresh blood. If you want more riffing, bring new people every year, teach them when to riff and (more important) when not to. Then they bring new people. And then .....

I think the average 45-year-old probably has a better sense of humor than the average 25-year-old. Now, I'm saying AVERAGE. Then again, I'm only 43, so I guess I wouldn't know. But I didn't grow up thinking that videos of cats playing the piano or idiots hitting themselves in the balls was the height of humor.

My point being, I'd rather hear snark from people who don't think Monty Python is a Nickolodeon cartoon from the early 90's. But if you know your stuff, bring it.

Hey I was the guy sitting in front of you who tweeted that … and I started this thread. Nice.

If I was at the marathon right now I would be torn between singing Can You feel the Love Tonight and The Circle of Life. Maybe I should do a medley. Or watch the Lion King less with my kids.

As and aside, I wonder if there is some poor guy out there named Jeff Noe that gets called Joe all the time.

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Thank you, kind sir. I hope you were there for the riff-tacular that was Lady Terminator and Big Man Japan back in 2008!

There are two persons who are invovled in the marathons.

Jeff Frank is the person who runs the Drexel Theater. He is the former owner of said theater. Drexel does sf marathons

Joe Neff is the guy who does the horror marathons.

For some reason deep in my subconcious brain I keep mixing up the two.

Joe Neff is supposed to be a friend to Bruce Bartoo.

Joe gets called Jeff on a regular basis. I think in part because folks condense Joe and Neff into Jeff. Hence my Jeff Noe question.

I called him Jeff at least once by accident. He is cool about it and I, from time to time, either call him or post about him on here as Jeff as a joke, as I did in the thread about removing 2012 stickies.

As for Joe and Bruce, I think it is a combination of friendship, collaboration and a mentor/mentee thing. I'm not sure if he will do it, but when Bruce retires from this, hopefully in many, many years, I wouldn't be suprised to see Joe take over both marathons. And while I would miss Bruce, I think we would be in very capable hands.

Actually I used to think that hosting marathons was akin to being pope, but now that Benedict decided to not die in office, he set a precedent for Bruce. So, some day, we may very well have an Emeritus Host Organsim. Who also happens to be in the HoF.

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Sing along to the Stingray Sam name combining song:

Joe + Neff = Jeff

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Wouldn't it be Joe and Bruce begets Juice? A callback of someone's snark during one of the Stingray Sam episode.