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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

Taking May 19 Off? 82

Ant sent in wired story about geeks taking May 19 off. Not sure why. Is there a movie opening or something? *cough*. Some of us will be at Linux Expo. This is gonna get sticky.
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Taking May 19 Off?

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    Those comments come from the culture of the corporations. There's a corporate myth that employees exist only to serve the needs of the business. Also, that when business and personal needs collide the business will be the winner. This is, however, just a myth.

    There are plenty of people in every organization who really do believe this myth, though. These people tend to become managers and spokespeople. (This is why managers tend to be so shocked when you ask for time off or something similar -- they've forgotten you're a human being with a life of your own.)
  • by Anonymous Coward
    It's the stocks that make Intel release a comment like that. If Intel makes any comment about the bulk of their research, engineering, and development departments just ditching a day of work, for some reason that makes all the idiots down on WallStreet think that the company is doomed or something, and they start selling the stock before it goes down in price(which they don't seem to realize is what makes stocks go down in price) So Intel has to say stupid shit like that. Intel employees reading this, TAKE THE DAY OFF!! I just want to see yout media people dodge that one. Watching people squirm is fun
  • by Anonymous Coward
    I'm not sure if I should think that Intel and PeopleSoft spokespeople are a bunch of losers who have no idea who/what their employees are up to, or if they're just typical marketing weenies who are lying through their teeth.

    Come one, there must me some Intel and/or Peoplesoft employees reading /. who can say that these quotes are full of crap. I bet Intel and PeopleSoft will get a bunch of sick calls and vacation requests just like every other company, and if not, then there is something seriously wrong with either the companies or their employees:

    "No, you must not go have fun on this day! You must not be like everyone else and have a desire for entertainment! You must dedicate yourself solely to the well-being of The Corporation!" Yeesh...
  • Posted by DonR:

    That, and the range on wireless ethernet sucks ATM.

    Also, I noticed something odd while watching "Entrapment" last night. During the time when the movie was playing, my pager was telling me that it was out of range. Oddly enough, when the movie was over, the pager worked again. I'll have to talk to my friend to see if the theatre (which is brand new) has cellular blocking in its walls, or if teh projector generates enough interference to block cellular stuff.
    ---
    Donald Roeber
  • Posted by stodge:

    I only get 3 weeks holiday a year, so I'm not going to waste it on a film. Also I just don't have the time - damned deadlines. I'll wait until the queues die down.
  • Posted by el digito:

    hey you guys in 'the states' don't have to complain..... here in Holland it'll be in cinemas on september 30th.

    just wanted everybody to know this SUX HARD!!!!
  • by gavinhall ( 33 ) on Thursday May 06, 1999 @02:44PM (#1901776)
    Posted by Mac Daniel:

    In a society complete with Take Your Daughter To Work Day, I propose geeks in the U.S. and Canada unofficially declare May 19, 1999

    National Geek's Day Out.

    Although I must admit, the Jedi religion does have some appeal as well. ;-)

    Dan Knight, Mac Advocate, dknight@reformed.net
    Low End Mac, http://lowendmac.com/index.shtml
    the iMac channel, http://lowendmac.com/imac/index.shtml

    "In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man,
    it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity."
    - Konrad Adenauer
  • Officially, there's no private screenings. But if Oracle sends 10 of their interns down to wait in line at the box office hours before they start selling tickets, and each one buys the maximum 12, well that's a private screening. Of course, they could also just throw money at the exhibitor -- they don't care where they get the money as long as Lucas doesn't find out.
  • Andy Grove is going to be so disappointed when half his company doesn't bother showing up May 19th (and the other half are coming in late 'cause they caught the midnight showing). "Our engineers have too much work to do."

    Uh-huh.
  • From having asked around my high school in the last two weeks or so, I'm putting my estimate that at least 600 of the 2150 students and more than 2 dozen staff will be gone at some point that day. I, unfortunately, have AP tests on Wed and Thurs, so I'm not going to be able to go until Friday. All the students are hoping that May 19, 1999 will remain as a lowest-percent-attendance record for many years.

  • My wife and I are expecting our 2nd child sometime around the end of May. Woops! Gotta go get the wife, boss! This might be the big moment!

    The hard question is, if she goes into labor during the movie, do I stay and deliver my kid at the theatre, or do I send her on her way to the hospital in an amulance? Hmmm...
  • The true die-hard Star Wars fans are taking May 18th off, and showing up to work a few hours late on the 19th. Since the first showing is going to be at 12:01AM on the 19th, you'll need to get in line plenty early on the 18th. Don't forget to take a nap after lunch so you can stay up until 8AM and catch the show 4 times.

    Seeing as the big THX theatre here is showing it 24 times on the 19th, I think I'll be able to get into at least one showing!


  • Heh..

    My boss has scheduled an "off-site meeting" for that date for our entire department.

    I wonder where we will be?

    *grin*
  • May company gives us two "floating holidays" to accomodate varying relgions or personal needs. I am now the only official Jedi in my office. Of course, this year's Jedi Holiday is on the 19th...

    (When I booked plane travel to L.A. leaving on the 18th and returning on the red-eye on the 20th, the ticket agent guessed "Star Wars?" -- this is gonna be huge).

  • That's why it kicks ass to have friends that work at theaters. I saw the three Star Wars rereleases (2 years ago?) at an 'employee only' showing at 12:01AM for each flick.
    A friend of mine just started working at one of the theaters that managed to get 2 prints of Phantom Menace, so I'm there too.
    The best thing about the 3 re-releases was the fact that open intoxicants and tobacco (and wacky tobaccy for that matter) were permitted.
    Life is good. :)
  • That's the hot question right now, isn't it? I'm in the same predicament. Damn Lucas and his need to release the best movie on the same day as the opening of the best conference of the year...
    grrrrr.
  • Put in my req for the day off the day after I saw Trailer B for the first time...noone else knew why, so I got it off.
  • I think you're on crack. :)
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
  • Hmmm... this could cause a new form of the /. effect.... we'll have to call it the TPM effect or something :)
  • It would not suprise me if the theatre was blocking the phone signals during the movie. There are a couple of manufacturers that sell devices that block the phone/pager frequencies. The Japanese use them a lot at restaurants and cafes. Very effective enforcement of ettiquette. ^_^
  • Another possibility:

    The Park Place 16 Cinema (in Morrisville technically, but juuust outside the Cary, NC city limits) might have TPM showing. All I know is that they're remodeling the theatre for "stadium-style" seating, and will be reopening on 5/12.

    But I have no idea if SW:TPM will be there at all.

    Very close to the Park as well though.
    -----

  • Hmm, that sounds familiar.

    [checks calendar]

    Ah, that's right. I've got a root canal scheduled at 2:00.

    Oh, and SW:TPM opens, too.

    My boss is never gonna believe that I'm leaving early for a root canal. [sigh] Assuming he's at work, that is. [g]
  • > Although I must admit, the Jedi religion does have some appeal as well. ;-)

    I'll be using the Jedi mind trick on my boss, come the uk release...


  • Hopefully, everyone's remembered the day of release and asked for May 19 off well in advance. With all the media hype surrounding the movie and the impending "sick-out", I wouldn't dare to call in sick that day!
  • off for the premier? I know I just told a recruiter even if 5/19 is the only day she can get me an interview for a certain job (at $80K) I am NOT availible. $80K jobs come and go, but this....well, in some ways I'm still 10. Herb
  • Ummm dood! You can start watching the movie at 12:01am correct? Well if that is so the movie is not 24 hours long so go watch it at 12:01am sleep a little and then wake up and go to the expo. I see no reason why this is so hard to do unless there are theaters near you that are open 24 hours a day and your planning on watching the movie 50 times taht day.

    --MD--
  • but I could be wrong.

    Erik
  • Just called the Raleigh Grand (the major theatre down here) and they said they aren't allowed to rent out theatres for SW. Oh well :(

    Erik
  • ... but decided not to. My wife is not the biggest Star Wars fan in the world, but I want to share the experience with her. She gets a kick out of watching me watch the Star Wars trailers and numerous TV reports on it, plus she's started to become more interested in it because of my excitement.

    This is one of those things that you might want to share with your loved ones, specially your family and friends. The repeat viewings that will follow (for sure) I can do alone, but the first one has to be shared :)
  • ... tsk tsk. Of course many weren't going to like the movie (although even the negative reviews say they liked it) , but others loved the movie too. Did you see the latest reviews at the www.aint-it-cool-news.com ???

    Anyways, even if Darth Maul is not in the movie for too long, he seems dark and cool enough. And remember, Lucas has said this will be the least dark of all the prequels, probably so it better contrasts to the clone war in 2 , and 3 which will probably be too dark (Darth Vader's birth).

  • Johnny Storm, the Human Torch says that. You need to buy more comic books pal ...
  • I booked May 19th as a Vacation day about two months ago and therefore I get to enjoy it. Being out of the office, our rules for "backup person" prevent others from taking that day. These loose restrictions are actually quite flexible for an old-fashioned company like ours.

    Claiming sickness would not cut it either, just a little too obvious.

    I'm also the "boss" in IS and will have to enforce the fact that others will need be at work. Wish I could take them all, but the rules are ...

    If you book it ...
  • Oh, no, I've got two finals the 18th and one the 19th...Guess I HAVE to take those two days off (and, if I have the time (wink,wink,nudge,nudge), squeeze in a midnight movie...)
  • It is 3pm, Eastern. I checked moviefone.com.
    ---------------------------------- ------------------
    Jamin Philip Gray
    jgray@writeme.com
    http://students.cec.wustl.edu/~jpg2/
  • Our whole office is going on the 19th to an early show, then to lunch, then back for a 2nd showing!

    Man I love my job at times :)

    -TopFlite
  • I just got home from buying my tickets...

    12:00am June 3rd (i'm in Oz) the movie starts, I can see it and be home in time to leave for uni. After my lectures have finished i can go and see it again.

    Sleep??? whats that?
  • I'm in the Triangle right now, putting of studying for my math and econ exams tomorrow. I'll be back home by the 19th, but I looked into the ticket-thing a little bit. The Raleigh Grand Cinema, probably the best theatre in the Triangle, is starting to sell tickets Wed, May 12th, at 3pm. They are listed under Moviefone as well. Your best bet is to try Moviefone (which lists about 30 theatres in the Triangle) on May 12th, when they start selling (but I don't remember what time Moviefone starts selling).
  • Actually, the moved TPM into the Expo slot. I'm still going to Linux Expo, and perhaps a bunch of Linux geeks will get together for a viewing ;^).

    BTW, LinuxWorld probably screwed over the REAL Linux Exp more than this will. (I really, really, really hate what they did).


    -- Keith Moore
  • Luke Skywalker was 19 in STAR WARS: A New Hope... and I was 19 when I first saw it in 1977 (only 9 times that summer).
  • My company also rented a theatre, however with the rules in place, we still have about 400+ people from the company goin, but 2 weeks after opening, already have 4 tix booked :) jvanbrec@uu.net for now, my other email addy is toast
  • my b-day is on the 20th, but hey, its an excuse to take the whole week off :)
  • Too right.
    I was going to fly out to the US (from the UK) to see it, but then I realised that I reall ywanted to see it with all my mates. We'll make a massive day of it, relive so many times from our youth and just have an amazing day.

    That walks all over flying out to some city I've never seen before and sitting alone in a cinema.
  • When a James Bond movie comes out, Boston theatres are packed with college students-- can't wait for this one!

    -m

  • How long do you think it will be on the 12th until MovieFone's servers die? Everyone in America trying to do an http post to get tickets at the same time...

    -m

  • I wish they would of notified me when my B-day was
    made a nation holiday..
  • It's my birthday too...
  • I'm looking forward to seeming the movie, but I won't be taking time off to see it. I'll probably go in the first week, if Lady Genevieve has her way (It'll probably be the fourth time she goes by the time I swing in there). She's amped about it; lots of us are, just not all of us. I didn't like the way the wired article lumped all geeks into one "two thousand seething, roaring mass" I'm going to a festival two weeks later; I'll be taking Friday off to be there for m'pals' wedding the night before. I was a little tired of the way the
  • I missed "preview" (slipped on those damn slick-ass GUI buttons)

    I'll cut to the chase: I'm not cutting the 19th; it'll be the same for me if I go then or that weekend - why sweat the opening crowds? Heck, I see maybe two or three (or perhaps twenty-three) movies a year in the theatres. Wired's article made it sound like the "geeks" will rise as one and make like cattle for this movie.

    Not for me, thanks. Lot's o' geek.s *dont* care so much to leave their class/job/committed relationship(s) behind Wednesday to see this. Some of my friends might, but there are a heck of a lot of pencilnecks, dweebs, weeners and wierdos that will be there too. We're all different, every member of our family. But nope, Wired lumps us all together: file under "geek" which is the copywriters' "sexy" word for a propellerhead today.

    I'm hot because: there's so much diversity of taste & style in the Hellmouth Alumni Society, and this Hollywood mega-indulgence (of us as much as Lucas, ya'll!) is held up as the be-all-and-end-all for our culture.

    Truth: it's a huge part of "our" mythology; the classic SW trilogy *defined* our ideas of heroism, love, friendship, even what it meant to be good and to be evil.
    (until Dr. Evil rewrote the book, that isSHHH!)

    Truth: this will be a "big" movie for a lot of us(I'm thinkin' Lady G. & her sistahs ever'where)

    Another Truth: a lot of us think sitting down with a poetree 'zine or string quartet CD is culture. For me, s'kind music( SmileFest [lonelygoat.com]: referenced in my post-miscarriage above is going to absolutely kick. There's a helluva lot more live music than new movies anyway.)

    "Um...do you have a Point, Tangent Man?" Sure.
    Our world is a huge, evergrowing, fluffy cloud of sensitive sprites, bristling ardvaarks, playful but plaintive pixies, even frag-happy trolls and hookah-smoking caterpillars. Like it or not, we set the cultural pace for America ("like, Busta Rhymes is so freaky, he's the bomb and stuff!") but don't control the media which reports about the cultural phenomenon. Now ya'll, for most of us, we've "got to be there", but for John Q. Public, the story about the event is far more entertaining than actually attending the event itself. The much-vaunted American "liberal media elite" is no such thing; the dogs will report the easy story (what J.Q.P. wants: more COPS-style edutainment) every time[1]: it's high time to come to grips with this. Brothers and Sistahs, let us stand up & say "HAY" when some r-e-s-p-e-c-t is due. And Brothers and Sistahs, that time of our redemption has come! You've gotta stand up for your polycultural brethren; start by refusing any label you get slapped with, like I'm refusing Wired's notion of a "geek". Pick your own label; wear it proud, wear it loud. If you're Eurotrash, man, don't let them call you Goth! Brats, don't settle for Punk! There's a fine line between a skate-rat and a rave-kid, so it's up to you; make sure everyone gets your label straight and we're on our way.

    jaz

    [1] props to the news agencies mentioned in Katz's Hellmouth series & their journalists who brought the voices to a wider audience. And to Bonnie, my sister who's been working the pressroom for too long. Speaking of labels, she once (when I was 12) called me a jock; I didn't know what that was...

  • Crack is a part of my ass, ergo not a viable recreational substance.
    What be "quine", and do you smoke it or drink it?

    XXOX,
    jaz

  • I KNOW that the people-soft one was tongue in cheek, but what did you EXPECT to hear from an Intel marketing drone? And anyway, who wants to be stuck watching TPM behind some goober in a day-glo reflective bunny suit?
  • I happen to be seeing it on sunday, may 16 as a charity fundraiser for the childrens hospital [tchden.org] here in Denver. It is my understanding that we are one of eleven causes that are screening the movie early, all proceeds go to the hospital. I believe there are still tixs availible, while rather pricey (and I have become rather sceptical of the film after hearing reviews), it is for a good cause and can be tax deuctable.
  • Happy birthday dude.

    And may The Force be with you...always.
  • Moviefone will start on 12:00 pm that day (at least, that was what they were going to do a few weeks ago); So, stay at you desk for lunch and grab those tickets... btw, are there any theaters to try to avoid? I know if it comes down to it, I'll go to one of those, but I really would like a nice theater for viewing... -G.
  • I got the same thing, but my boss, co-workers, are all women 35-??

    Star Wars conquers all.

  • I am predicting that I will be too sick to go to school on the 19th. I have a track meet on the 18th, so I won't be able to wait in line until late that night. I'm almost as excited about a night of Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and acting out the first (or, rather, last) three films as I am about seeing TPM.
  • The 16th I graduate from my University with my COmp. Sci. degree, two nights later on the 18th I'll be waiting to sit down at midnight to see the one movie I've been anticipating since I was a child, I party a bit in bean-town, come home, party some more, repeat the party bit.

    god... it's gonna be a great week.
    cheers

    silly sllab

  • Gods, this is one of the more arrogant things I have read here. If you don't like the stories either:
    1) Don't read them
    2) Do something better
    3) Just bugger off

    Hey it's obviously a topic of interest to their target audience, or there wouldn't be so many posts.
    These guys do a hell of a lot of work for this site for YOUR reading pleasure, so at least be nice about it.

    Sheeesh!
  • Hey man it's coming out here on June 3....that's only 2 weeks later.
    Surely you can avoid reviews for 14 days??
  • Hmmm, it's my birthday, there's a bandwagon of people ditching work I can jump on, and there's the most anticipated movie of this decade. Sweet. Put that on top of the sweet 19" monitor I'm considering ordering and you have one bitchin' month.
    Hmm, May 19, I'll be 19, I may get a 19" monitor...let me know if I can relate 19 to Star Wars somehow.
    --
  • Hey - someone should go in with a wearable set up with wireless ethernet and a camera and BROADCAST the thing to the internet.

    This sounds naive - I don't think it could be done for a few reasons:

    1. They wouldn't let you in.

    2. The quality would suck.

    3. The /. effect of people trying to view the stream would kill whatever server(s) it was on.

    I am not going to see it - I am going to wait until the lines get smaller, or when the re-run it at the theater again. That, or go in the middle of a Thursday a few weeks after its release or something. I am not willing to get a crappy seat for a movie like this - and I am not willing to take time off (already doing it for two days this month) for a movie. It is, after all, just a movie...
  • My cousin called his daughter Mara Jade.
  • On the day when TPM comes out for no money I'll be near the theaters. Ones that come will understand my 10 years waiting in lines in Russia to buy stuff, how is it to be on the square in fron of White House (Moscow, yes we also have one) in 1991 and 1993, or try to get into a bus so full of people that it can't close the doors. We call it DAVKA (squishing). I'm glad that at least once you guys will experience it. Drop me a line after...

  • Everybody's taking my birthday off.
  • I can't believe after all the chest-swelling pompus news reports about "Mr Control Freak Lucas" not wanting any tiny part of the plot leaked, (plus no interlocking (why?), yudda-yudda-yudda), that they are going to release TPM in this part of the world almost a month later than the US.

    Multi-choice time. (Hey, I feel a new /. poll coming). Does he:

    a) Not think that anyone over here is interested?
    b) Not know where Australia is?
    c) Not care because he is a US-centric Yank?
    d) Not have enough money to get some extra prints run?
    d) Not realise that the Internet exists and people are going to post reviews and spoilers in every newsgroup and on every webpage?

    The next two movies are being made in Sydney, but I bet that even so, the release will be delayed over here.

    Roll on DVD players with hacked region codes I say! Hey, can someone take a video camera into the theater? You guys have to promise not to breath a word until next year, OK?

    Zilch

God help those who do not help themselves. -- Wilson Mizner

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