Yeah, I get that, though I think a lot of people who used to listen to music that way will still have that experience. It's going to be less common, but people who really love music and are deeply interested in it will still obsess over certain albums and come to know them in the same way.

I agree. I think that there will always be people who click with a certain bit of media (movie, book, album, whatever) and will immerse themselves in it. Isn't that the nature of fandom for anything?

I agree. I think that there will always be people who click with a certain bit of media (movie, book, album, whatever) and will immerse themselves in it. Isn't that the nature of fandom for anything?

Yeah, and I honestly don't see that having changed except for that the clickers can find fellow clickers more easily these days, be it clicking with a piece of music, or a movie, or a TV show, or book, or a style of bathtub.

There's a lot of OFFAMYLAWN I see cropping up, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Umm... there's an app for that?

Seriously, the Grindr model could be ported to a lot of things.

I don't often see movies in the theatre. Too much money for something I'm not sure if I'll want to spend a few hours of my life watching. I did see a movie on Friday! In a theatre! For SIFF! And as much as I enjoyed the movie (which I did), I HATE going to movies where the audience large crowd of well-mannered film buffs who are outside my social circle. They have this 'tude. I want to smack them and make them STFU while we wait in line. I do not bond with them over our shared enjoyment of the movie, these strangers. I find them annoying, and find that they detract from my viewing pleasure. (As this was a festival movie having its first NA showing, and I have no idea if it will ever be available on DVD or Blu Ray stateside, it was worth dealing with Film People. BARELY.)

Yeah, and I honestly don't see that having changed except for that the clickers can find fellow clickers more easily these days, be it clicking with a piece of music, or a movie, or a TV show, or book, or a style of bathtub.

For example, it's a LOT easier for me to find other Goths who like vampire books, punk pop, and fancy clothes, but don't like Joy Division.

There's a lot of OFFAMYLAWN I see cropping up, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Yeah, most of the complaints I see read like "Oh noes! Now there will be no Important Gatekeepers Of Knowledge", which does seem very OFFAMYLAWN.

I love going to the theater for a movie. It's definitely cost-prohibitive now, sadly. I still try to go for anything that seems like it needs a big screen. I've always loved the whole experience of the darkness, the popcorn, the trailers, walking out and listening to what the rest of the audience is saying.

I wish there were more second-run and dollar theaters around.

With the ability to sneak food into $7 movies here, it's not so bad. Hardly romance, though.

Sara doesn't like popcorn (IDEK) so when I take her, we split a small soda, I get a small popcorn, and I smuggle in candy for her in my bag. And we always go to a matinee.

Kids' movies make up probably more than half the movies I see in a theater now.

Yeah, most of the complaints I see read like "Oh noes! Now there will be no Important Gatekeepers Of Knowledge", which does seem very OFFAMYLAWN.

That's not really the essence of my interest or question, but I guess I'm not articulating it well.

I'm glad that I still have a (very big) record store to go into, but I'm not particularly nostalgic that I used to have go to a dozen small ones to find something I was looking for. And I probably had more unpleasant than pleasant interactions with record store clerks over the years, and I'm fairly genial with the social niceties.

I do think film in a darkened theater is a very different experience than watching it at home. For somebody like Ple, who dislikes the moviegoing humans, the difference slants towards the benefit of home viewing. I think the experience is far more immersive in a theater (with a much bigger screen and better sound) and I can easily blot out the other humans. And I do think comedies in particular have much more effect and power in a large group viewing.

But that's all a matter of individual taste.

Cultural product (film, books, music) is just where we're hitting a post-scarcity society. I just don't think we understand the implications of that quite. I'm really looking more at the philosophical question of value. If the supply is infinite there's an effect on demand, on "the economies of desire."

These will still be curated, though - the magic of meeting new people, being exposed to new stuff? Crazy random happenstance? Not sure how that is going to happen.

I'm not sure if I'm missing a connection here or not. Are those things that happen when you go to see a movie in a theater? I agree that seeing a movie in a theater can be a different experience from seeing it at home, but... I don't know, I'm not meeting new people at a movie. I'm just sitting near them.

I think, as sort of suggested here, having so much readily available content is more likely to lead to specialization than dilettantism. Which has a different set of problems.

I wish there were more second-run and dollar theaters around.

I am a fan of AMC's pre-noon $6 movies. That's how I see most movies these days. And I do love Going to the Movies. Big screen, loud sound, communal laughter and reactions.

Are those things that happen when you go to see a movie in a theater?

When you go to the Roxie for the noir fest, it is a social scene as well. There are bars nearby filled with people talking about it before and after the film. Even if you don't engage in conversation with somebody new, the buzz is part of the experience.

However, I've mostly talked about movies with video store clerks.