The Ohio Sci-Fi and Horror Marathons

This is a copy of the primer that is on the old borad. Please if possible make this a offical thread.

For the first timers at the Sci Fi thon, here is some helpful hints:
Since the Sci thon is at a Drexel mutiplex this year be mindful with the other patrons who is seeing other films at the Gateway.

Do not forget personal hygene. Take some mouthwash or gum to get rid of bad breath.

Be nice to the Gateway staff. We want the Sci thon to be at the gateway for years to come.

There is internet hotspot. at the Gateway. I have trouble connecting my DS to the hotspot. Unknown about the PSP.

Money and ID. Gateway sell booze. They have a pretty good theater food as well. Jeff or Bruce is there any word for an Sci Thon combo for unlimited Soda Popcorn for seven to eight dollars?

The theaters are nice. Please keep it that way.

To get to the theater there is stairs and an esclator. Be orderly when they lets us in the theater.

Addtions would be nice

New Addtion is that be prepared for any weather changes. Remember this is Ohio and remember the snow storm last year? Long sleeve shirt would be wise.

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Oh my Gwad... Some one remember this movie and make a sketch about it. Robot Chicken about the Sleepaway Camp sketch.

I was just thinking about this. I just finished writing something up for my nephew's parents telling them what he can and can't (or shouldn't bring.)

1) Don't sneak in food. Buying food from the concession stand helps support the marathon and keeps ticket prices reasonable. Usually they have some more than fair combo deal. If you have special dietary needs, check with the staff, but most likely you'll have to eat that outside. (edited for clarity)

2) Your metabolism may vary, but I try to keep off the caffeinated drinks until the wee hours of the morning, I experience diminishing returns if I start off early and often.

3) I just know weird people. I had a music teacher in high school who was allergic to antiperspirant. I’ve smelled a lot of nasty things in my life, so this one doesn’t bother me, but I know it does bother other folks. If possible, wear it before hand and maybe give yourself another few swipes as the marathon progresses. I think those who advocate a change of clothes and what sounds like a mini bath in the sink may be going a bit far, but they are more than welcome to do it.

4) I have a blackberry. I check my mail sometimes during breaks or play brick breaker. I have the ringer turned off. I have brought a laptop in the past, but not the last few years. Please don’t have these on during the movies. I really haven’t seen or heard much trouble with these, but just throwing it out there.

5) Enter contests knowing you have a good possibility of being booed, heckled or otherwise ridiculed. The audience can be brutal. Reacting only encourages us.

6) Comments during films. I occasionally say a few things myself. Usually not too loudly except maybe when someone is lost and yelling for the rest of their party. Then, I cry out, “Carol!” and usually get a response of, “Dad!” I don’t beat this into the ground. It is a joke for those of us who have been around for many years, so I do it knowing not everyone will get it. Some movies are more open to commentary than others. This year looks like few films are open to constant heckling, but that is my personal feeling. If folks ask you to hush, please do so. You may fall asleep…

7) I would recommend wearing a pair of shorts under sweats and a tee-shirt under a sweatshirt. Then you can adjust as you need to for the temperature. I tend to just go with the shorts and tee-shirt, but I like the cold.

8) I usually bring a pillow to sit on, not sure how these seats will be. The Grand I didn’t really need it. Some folks like a blanket for additional warmth. My thought is a pillow and blanket make it too tempting to sleep.

9) Get in line early and socialize. You probably have a lot in common with the other folks who are coming. Try to bring friends, but if you can’t make friends. If you have friends and see someone alone, try to introduce yourself. I skipped the line for a couple years at the Grand with reserved seating and found I really missed the experience.

10) Follow the golden rule or hope you can stay awake. Also, while it is funny, what Bruce says at the beginning is almost 180 degrees wrong. Look around at what other people are doing and do that.

11) Don’t throw stuff at people. This hasn’t been an issue lately, but I still recall the girl who got clunked at a marathon with a full can of soda.

12) If you are a woman, take your top off for the mating call contest if we have it. Try not to do it the first round or two. It is hard to top, no pun intended. If you are a guy, you might as well try it. Otherwise you will lose to the women.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Good advice on all counts. One note about napping: I find if I don't try to sleep then I sleep less. If I plan a nap in the middle of the night for a movie I'm not excited about, then I'm done, forget about it. If I don't plan my snoozes, I'm more alert. Just a suggestion. As a matter of fact, the struggle to stay awake for me is part of the whole beauty of the marathon. Sleeping for several hours or leaving the theater for a while and coming back just wouldn't give me the same experience.

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Aliens? Us?
Is this one of your Earth "jokes?"

Exactly. I pride myself on not falling asleep. I think I have nodded of once in all the years I attended and that was a year I had a nasty cold/allergies and was taking cold medicine so I could breathe.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

In almost 20 years of 'thons I have never seen this happen but a few women have come close a couple times. I remember a scantily clad girl beat out gamara one year at the Riffe Center and the girl accompaning gamara did lift her shirt but she was wearing a bra so that doesn't really count although it was cool. But than Gamara pushed a Klingon off the stage and that was very uncool.

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Jaws3dfan®
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Yeah that one was tongue in cheek. Or wishful thinking. You decide. I wish I had that old post from a few years back where one of the posters knew her. She is a mom now. She should come back as a special guest.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

I'll sticky the thread ... but realize that these guidelines are the recommendations of attendees, and that the management may have a whole set of rules unto themselves.

I would like to make one personal comment:

If people around you are telling you to shut up. SHUT THE HELL UP. It's not rocket-science. I can butcher a film as good as the next guy, and granted, you may not find any redeeming value to something, but if people around you ask you several times to be quiet then maybe they actually care to watch the film uninterrupted. Please respect their wishes. This might be a good time to stretch your legs or grab some sleep.

If you're asked emphatically and repeatedly to keep quiet, then recognize that you're behavior is rude and obnoxious. If you're too drunk to realize it, you've answered your own question ... in either case stop immediately or leave. Find another hobby ... you're not welcome.

Remember, you too can be sent to a special level of Hell that they reserve for child molesters and people who talk during movies.

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David A. Zecchini; Creature of the Wheel, Lord of the Infernal Engines
"Damnati Im Ludum" (VitruvianZeke@att.net)

Try not to completely lose your mind whenever there's a technical glitch. I wouldn't know first-hand, but I'm sure that running the projector for 24 hours of films, shorts, and other ephemera in varying formats is a highly difficult process to keep running smoothly. So when something goes slightly wrong, try to do your best not to shriek "FRAME!" or "FOCUS!" or "PROJECTION!" or "MOVIE WRONG!" or "I STRONGLY DISAPPROVE OF THE WORK THOSE GUYS ARE DOING THERE IN THE PROJECTION BOOTH, YES INDEEDY" or "I LIKE TO YELL THINGS". I assure you that you yelling isn't going to get the problem solved any faster, and it's ruining the movie for the rest of us in a way that's much more intrusive than a blurry image. Sure it's still hilarious, but only because you sound like a bonehead.

That's really the only thing that bothers me. For the most part, I think everybody at the marathon is awesome. Especially you.

If you hear that if (okay let's be honest, when) there is a projection issue, it may very well be me. That might be just too tempting. I'd also yell, "I STRONGLY DISAPPROVE OF THE WORK THOSE GUYS ARE DOING THERE IN THE PROJECTION BOOTH, YES INDEEDY" but I think I would break down laughing before I finshed.

I think one group yell (after a film has been running a while fine and then gets out of frame for some reason) is fine. I agree, the focus, frame yells at the start of a film are a bit silly. I'm not sure how they will handle projection for the marathon at the gateway. I know some multiscreen venues have one maybe two folks covering all the screens and can't always watch the films. That was the nice thing about the grand, the projectionist was dedicated to the marathon. In multiplexes, the whole theater yelling does alert them of the problem. Continued yelling, I agree, is pointless.

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The wages of sin are royalties.

Having had way to much experience in a projection booth I can tell you the REAL funny thing is IN A PROJECTION BOOTH NO ONE CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM it's sound proof for the most part so yell all you want it doesn't effect the projectionist one bit however the best thing to do is quietly inform someone on staff of any projection or sound issues that may occur and they will get on it ASAP.

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Jaws3dfan®
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The most important advice I can give out is this:

Treat the restroom as if it belongs to your grandmother and she's going to have to crawl out of her wheelchair to clean it should you mess it up. I can't speak for the women's facilities, but MAN can the Men's Room get disgusting in the "wee" hours of the morning. I realize that drinking can impair one's aim, but you still have a large enough target that you shouldn't miss.

Other than that, pace yourself. The bar will probably be open till late that night so there's no need to get sloshed during the first couple of films. You'll regret it.

Oh, and anyone up for some multiplayer Mario Kart?!? WEEEHAW!!!

This is so true...shouting doesn't help. Just pop up and let someone of the staff know.

My big recommendation is this: Don't eat anything that gives you gas. There's nothing worse than being packed in one room with ppl dropping bombs around you.

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Six side is heaven/Nine side is go

So does that mean sneaking in food is OK if you need it? I've been wondering about this. I'd like to bring a bottle of filtered water and something to eat because I can't eat or drink most, if not all, of what is available there.

Sneaking food or drinks into a theatre is never ok, theatres depend on concession sales to stay in business, the greedy Hollywood studios keep up to 80% of all ticket sales leaving the theatre to only survive on food and drink sales. The Drexel used to let people bring in food back in the Drexel North Marathon days but had to stop it due to lack of sales and feared losing the marathons forever. Now of coarse you can keep food and drinks in your car and can run out to eat or drink whenever you like.

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Jaws3dfan®
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Yeah, that was badly worded on my part. You probably will have to go out to get your food. I wouldn't try to sneak at all, be honest about it. We have found here in DC a couple of the theaters will let my wife bring in her stuff, as long as it is clearly something the consession stand wouldn't carry. She brings some honey sweetened lactose free choclate mints. She can't have:

Yeast (bakers and brewers)
Beef
Broccoli
Coconut
codfish
coffee
corn (including corn syrup, corn meal, etc)
grape
grapefruit
cow's milk (or derivatives)
pork
strawberry
sugar cane
tuna
walnut
wheat

She does get the bottled water and she is openly honest about it, so the theater folks are pretty cool.

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The wages of sin are royalties.