A story on BoingBoing today talks about a movie chain which has promised to stop "lying" about its showtimes. You are no doubt familiar with the phenomenon: you go to a movie that's supposed to start at 7:15 p.m., but you're treated to 10-15 minutes of ads and previews first.
Look, people, it's really simple. When I was in the U.K. for a semester during my junior year of college, the movie theaters there listed their movie times something like this: "Program begins: 7:15 p.m.; Feature presentation: 7:25 p.m." That way, you knew how late you could safely show up and not miss the film while still avoiding the ads.
On the other hand, the theater I went to sold tickets with reserved seating, plus British advertising is so much cleverer than ours, but that's a whole other story...
