I caught a Critics Week film over at the Miramar a couple of days ago. (I didn’t like the film that much so we’ll let that part go.) I was sitting on the right aisle with four empty seats to my right. The theatre was filling up quickly. A group of five well-off Asian kids (early 20s) came along and piled into the four but with one of their group stranded. The kid next to me asked if I’d mind sitting in the row in front so they could all sit together, but the seat in question was two seats in from the aisle and I like to stretch out so “sorry, nope.” So the fifth kid took it.

Then they all decided to sit in the row behind because it had five open seats, but then some guy and his girlfriend returned from the bathroom or someplace and said “wait, two of these seats are ours…we saved them.” The couple had followed the ancient custom of leaving an article (jacket, bag) to mark the seats so the quintet had no argument. So four of them re-occupied the seats in my row with the fifth guy again left high and dry so he sat right behind them.

The four hypers were chattering, giggling. Two girls got up just before the film started (presumably to hit the head), returning about six or seven minutes later. I managed to keep my eyes on the subtitles as I stood up to let them pass.

Somewhere around the 20-minute mark the film began to feel a little slow. Not just to the kids but to me also, truth be told. Naturally the kid next to me pulled his phone out and started texting. What else was he gonna do — keep watching the film and hope for the best? Then another kid started texting, and then another. I figured they were texting each other so as to not bother anyone by talking. Around the half-hour mark they all got up (including the fifth kid behind us) and bolted.

This is but one of the reasons why Sean Parker’s Screening Room start-up might attract subscribers.