I went to a film screening today, for a film everyone is talking about and was a hassle to get to see. The biggest hassle was getting in.

They had at least four security cards; two to secure mobile phones, one to bag search, and one to wand.  It's 2009, these phones are a fact of life, do they really think anyone in that theater was going to record anything? they are ways to monitor in the theater, right? 

So one stop to hand over my phone and to sign a form saying I wouldn't hold them culpable for what is my primary communication device with a lot of private data on it.  There's a whole table for that. But they want to search my bad, which I have to hold open.  I was already having a bad day, so I copped quite a bit of attitude. Not gracious, I know, but Austin doesn't have an issue with people being stupid with their cell phones.  And there was no table to set down my bag for the search. And for the record, I had about 6 different, places I could have stored electronic devices that they didn't check.  I could have easily kept my phone with me.  In fact, I could have easily kept it in the one compartment they searched.

Then there was the getting of the phone. In having to pull things out for the security guard to poorly search, I lost the ticket for my phone so I had to pull out my identification for that.  While I appreciate the fact they verified I matched my phone, the whole process wasn't necessary. The only time I've seen anyone use a camera phone in a theater was when a studio guest had to take pictures throughout a special screening.

All that hassle for a film that wasn't in focus, with unimpressive 3D.