Why do people RUN to the bathroom or the snack stand during a movie? I was in an aisle seat the other day and people kept running past me. I wondered if it was considered POLITE to hurry in and out of your seat as fast as possible. After a while I had to use the pottie but couldn’t bring myself to leave my seat. I would have felt ridiculous RUNNING to the bathroom.
Solution:
Buy a dvd player and get a membership in the local Blockbuster. Seriously, I understand your feelings but, honestly, what can someone do when they gotta go? Just sitting there can be torture or even embarrassing if an accident happens 
simply because someone doesn’t want to disturb another patron.
Usually, I manage to take care of my, um, needs before I sit down but if for some reason I have to go to the bathroom, I try to move as quickly as possible in order not to bother others.
Personally, I have more complaints about people talking during the movie, either on the cell phone or with others in the theatre. :bluemad: Such behaviour is simply inexcusible!
I think, Cableguy, that (correct me if I’m wrong) Working Vaca was referring not to people going to the washroom, snack bar, etc. but rather that they RUN to them! I’ve seen this happen too in a number of different situations. It is actually more obvious when the runner is wearing those plastic slipper things because when wearing them, you cannot run without doing a kind of shuffle or they fall off!
Working Vaca, I think that it does have something to do with being polite, not wanting to “get in your way” or whatever. The senior crowd often give little repeated bows while in the shuffle run. With the younger ones I must admit that I don’t really think it’s conscious manners but rather conditioning.
My hometown has a college with a large number of overseas language students from Asia and this little action has been caused comments many times! A certain coffee shop sits in an outdoor mall with seating on the sidewalk. The Asian students when passing seated customers will most often break into a little run-shuffle as they go by - thereby not blocking the view of the parking lot!
BTW - feel free to break with tradition. WALK to the washroom (unless you really need to run) and spare yourself the indignity of leaving with wet pants!
Trip them up. 
I stay away from theatres at peak times. You still have selfish idiots talking on their phones here.
I remember one time watching a film and I was in an aisle seat and a guy walked past me and stopped to look at the film and farted in my face.
I took a look at him and he was standing there like the idiot he was watching the film…
It’s a lack of courtesy that I find is common here…
[quote=“European”]I stay away from theatres at peak times. You still have selfish idiots talking on their phones here.
I remember one time watching a film and I was in an aisle seat and a guy walked past me and stopped to look at the film and farted in my face.
I took a look at him and he was standing there like the idiot he was watching the film…
It’s a lack of courtesy that I find is common here…[/quote]
Sorry to laugh at another’s misfortune, but that is hilarious!
But its not just Taiwanese, my husband tries that stunt with me too! 
(however, he does it at home…)
European wrote:
Absolutely! The last movie I saw at a cinema was Gladiator (Oh, by the way, did you guys know that Russel Crowe is actually a New Zealander and not an Australian?
SLAP I’m starting to sound like a Canadian! ) 
Movies here are a rip off anyway. Better to rent DVDs and then you can drink booze while you watch.
Blockbuster has stores throughout the island. New releases cost (western movies) NT$100 and NT$80 (Chinese). Old movies cost NT$60. You can get a stored value card for NT$900 which gives you NT$1000 worth of rentals (i.e. a 10% saving), or a NT$1700 card that gives you NT$2000 value. You
Surely they run so they don’t miss so much of the film?
I find they are noisier here than back home - I think it’s because of the subtitles - they are conditioned to think that no one actually is listening to the movie, they’re all reading it, so it’s ok to chat.
[quote=“almas john”]European wrote:
I was very surprised when I learned that Mel Gibson was a New Yorker and not from Australia.
[quote]Movies here are a rip off anyway. Better to rent DVDs and then you can drink booze while you watch.
Blockbuster has stores throughout the island.[/quote][/quote]
I completely agree. When I was growing up, I went to movie theatres because, except for TV, there was no other place to see movies. Now, however, it is much better to just sit in the comfort of one’s own place and enjoy a movie. Honestly, I really don’t get the same enjoyment of going to a theatre that I used to mainly because of the people who go to watch a movie.
I was very surprised when I learned that Mel Gibson was a New Yorker and not from Australia.[/quote]
How about that famous Hawaiian - Nicole Kidman! We’ll claim anyone who can do a halfway decent accent 
I still enjoy going to the movies here (so far) - it does help when you can’t really understand what anyone in the audience is saying unless you really try…
You can’t drink booze in a movie theatre? That’s news to me. I always take a few cans on the very odd occasion that I go to the movies. DVDs on a decent-sized TV are much better though, especially if you’re like me and care more about story, plot and acting and couldn’t give a rat’s ass about special effects.
One doesn’t have to exclude the other, i.e. today you could afford a sound system to provide special effects that can get close to the cinema sound, or by spending a bit more you can even do better without the noise from handphones ringing or people talking. Or where those the special effects you were referring to?
taiwan seems to have two types of movie theaters: the old dumps and the new flashy places. personally, i prefer the old dumps any day. you can bring your own beverages and snacks in. the new places are just fruity with all their rules, disclaimers and inflated prices. the two movies for 120 NT hellholes are the best.
after the old dumps, the next best place is the MTVs. beautiful, clean chungli still has quite a few of these.
at the bottom of the taiwanese cinematic expereince for me is the new places. the warner village in hsinchu has assigned seating. sounds good, but you don’t get to select your seat like in HK. they herd you all together, after the film starts one is necessitated to get away from the talking of your seatmates. for such you pay a premium price.
One doesn’t have to exclude the other, i.e. today you could afford a sound system to provide special effects that can get close to the cinema sound, or by spending a bit more you can even do better without the noise from handphones ringing or people talking. Or where those the special effects you were referring to? [/quote]
By special effects, I mean things like LOTR, monster movies, you know, all that computer stuff. I know lots of people prefer to see such films on the big screen to get the full effect, but that kind of thing just doesn’t rattle my cage, so I don’t really need the big screen thing going on. If the story and acting suck, it just doesn’t matter to me that its got good CGI – the film will basically still be a suckfest.
You know, it’s funny, WOrkingVaca, but until you pointed this out here, I never noticed. So I went to a movie last night and sure enough, they were all running to the WC. Funny, how some things we never notice until someone points them out and we become concious of it. Interesting post.