MarkOnFire

It's a fantastic program, I'd love a free copy.

Naughty–I haven't played nearly enough games this year. Haven't even touched Call of Duty yet!

With the trial version of Things on my MBP. Only 7 days left!

I want it.

I've always been a fan of buying completing dino skeletons and assembling them in my house, leading to a pad so that looks like I robbed a museum to decorate it.

Sad to say it, but you'll never see a theater passing the savings from cutting staff on to the consumer. Most of that extra cash goes directly into bonus for the manager that understaffs their theater on busy weekends. Besides, isn't it hard enough to grab someone to help bust some noisy kids already?

Really, the best way to control costs would be to end the "open every day" customer service that costs theaters billions in overhead. Setting a minimum turnout of 20 or so people, depending on the day/part of the country, would prevent projectors running for a one man audience five days a week.

Booking fewer screens could also be an answer–do we really need five screens of Wall-E or Iron Man running for weeks at a time? Being able to see it every 15 minutes is convenient, but costs a fortune in redundancy.

"Believe me, there is pretty much always a reason to complain, and most chains will accommodate your issue if you seem honest enough and adamant enough. "

With all due respect, this is everything that is wrong with "intelligent" moviegoers–taking issue with every aspect of the presentation in the hopes of getting something for nothing. Would you refuse to tip waiters and waitresses because you can always find some small issue with their service? When a problem is fixable, demanding free passes every time regardless of whether you legitimately got to see your film in its entirety simply guarantees that the only theaters that will be around are the big, evil megaplexes you hate so much.

I agree, theater chains are sorely lacking in keeping their screen presentation up to a decent standard–but be realistic. Focus issues, volume, framing and even shaky picture can be fixed quickly and easily, and if busy theater staff don't notice right away you should at least ask them to fix it before you pitch a fit. High standards are good, but these theaters are still run by human beings after all.

This has definitely been done already, with mixed success based on the city (I work at a theater chain in Madison, WI where we did stand up for a while) but I wouldn't expect a movie/comedy mashup any time soon, especially for a reasonable price. Comedians can be more expensive than films to book unless they are a surefire draw for a crowd, so no theater will take the risk on a comedian preshow warmup unless its some kind of open mic thing.

Bioshock.

In The Big Lebowski, when John Goodman wrecks the sports car he thinks that some kid has bought with money from The Dude's stolen car.

"This is what happens when you f*** a stranger in the a**!"

Xbox 360 please.