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August 2, 2007
Q & A at the Hammer's Inland Empire Event
Filter Magazine and the Armand Hammer Museum (10899 Wilshire Blvd.) sponsored a free screening last night of Inland Empire followed by a Q & A with the film's director, David Lynch. Here is a rundown of the event for the folks who could not be there:
Me: It is really crowded here, where do I go to see Inland Empire?
Mr. Anonymous Hammer Museum Usher (Mr. AHMU): We are filled to capacity. We have no more room to let people in to see David Lynch and the film.
Me: But I made a reservation.
Mr. AHMU: We can only seat 500 people.
Me: But I made the reservation two months ago and it is only 5:30 and I'm here a whole 90 minutes early.
Mr. AHMU: I’m sorry. I should clarify. We took 2,500 reservations for 500 seats.
Me: But I left school early. And my companion here left work early. Why didn’t someone warn me that your reservation system was merely a formality? Why take reservations for 2,000 seats that you don't have? Why bother to take any reservations at all? That's just bad planning.
Mr. AHMU: We are setting up some chairs and a TV in a storage area if you just want to watch the Inland Empire DVD.
Me: You mean like a broom closet?
Mr. AHMU: But unfortunately that will be almost filled to capacity too.
Me: (Silently staring at Mr. AHMU in annoyance.)
Mr. AHMU: The line for the “additional screening room” is over there. You can get on that line just in case someone leaves.
Me: Nah, that’s okay. We have to go now to retrieve our car from the parking lot that we just paid to leave our car in for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
Photo by bcostin via Flickr.
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Yeah. Can anyone say "bad press"?
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wow, are you really that naive? it's called first come, first serve dude. most screenings are the same. plus, you could have still hung out in the museum / courtyard with free drinks until lynch came out for his Q&A, like i did...as well as most others.
ps. welcome to LA because clearly you're new here.
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Debaser... to paraphrase Seinfeld, apparently the Hammer knows how to TAKE reservations, they just don't know how to HOLD reservations.
If they don't want people to complain, don't take reservations.
"First come, first served" is the antithesis of taking reservations.
Welcome to the English language, perhaps you're new here your own self.
Love,
Rob
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The only thing that could've salavaged that frustrating reality is if you'd stormed out to your car and found a cow parked there instead and then looked in a stagnant puddle of water and seen with absolutely no explanation that you've become a completely different person then you were a second ago and then you close your eyes hard in shock and when you open them you're naked somewhere out in the desert with a squirmy chinuahua under one arm and a blood-spattered butcher knife in the other and standing next to you is midget giving David Lynch a piggyback ride while he reads today's weather report.
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I'm so glad we didn't go, even though we did RSVP. After failing to get into the Jonathan Gold event a few weeks ago, I had a feeling something similar would happen here.
Why do they do this? The reservation system is already in place, there's no reason not to create an RSVP list and a wait list and save everyone else from wasting their time.
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Wow, well this is good to know. After having made reservations a week ago I left work from Downtown at 5:15 last night and thought to myself "If I drive to the Hammer, will I even get in, or will I be left with nothing but the free cheese they also promised?"
My laziness made the better decision for me last night it looks like.
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Well, I go to the Hammer often and spend my money there and donate and feel good about it as it is a non-profit. NO MORE. After hustling out of work to get there 1.5 hours early (with a reservation) to find the type of organization generally seen in post offices and DMVs in refugee camps and third world countries, NO F-G MORE. I'll gladly go to the for-profits exclusively. And Filter blows also.
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it's called an RSVP list. "reservations" into an extremely elite film screening are nowhere near the same as your Seinfeld "reservations." seriously, you really must be the most naive person. also, if you truly thought your "reservations" GUARANTEED entry, why would you even show up 90 minutes early???? you're just pissed you didn't think far enough ahead. better luck next time.
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People request an "rsvp" for two reasons, 1) to take specific names to allow entry to those specific people to an even or 2) to get an idea of how many people will show up to an event and then plan accordingly.
Apparently, the Hammer did neither. Common courtesy would have dictated that the rsvp line would be closed once they went a little over their capacity.
Overbooking a little to allow for no-shows is fine. Overbooking by 500% is thoughtless and rude.
The "extremely elite" screening you speak of was open to the public. I take it that your definition of "elite" is anyone or thing that can use a phone.
If one had actual reservations for this sort of event, it would still be prudent to show up early if one wanted the pick of the seating. It's the difference between buying a ticket in advance for the Grove versus the Arclight. Both guarantee a seat, it's just that the latter guarantees a specific seat.
Finally, I'm neither naive nor pissed off that I didn't think far enough ahead. I did think far enough ahead and never planned on attending in the first place.
I'm just writing to point out how wrong you are.
Love,
Rob
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i am posting as a person who helped plan the event last night. 80% of the people who showed up got into one of the 2 theatres(over 600 people).
Not bad. We are very sorry everyone was not able to get in but thats why the bounce back email said your entry was not guaranteed.
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Why didnt you ask to talk to a manager?
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bullshit overbookers can go to hell - that kind of bad planning is just asking for negative exposure and if anything, publicists in LA want the opposite so whoever set that up needs to get dumped.
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wow, extremely bitter people here! wasn't this event free?? it's not like you paid for a ticket then were turned away - then i could see a justifiable anger. i didn't make it out there, but when i rsvp'd, the email i got back said admission wasn't guaranteed, so i expected a huge crowd. i mean, it's david lynch, sillies!
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The response I got to the RSVP clearly stated that entry was not guaranteed and it was first come first serve.
The guy told me this when I got to the counter and said I could get in the line but it was a 50/50 shot by that time (this was around 6 PM), so if you arrived at 5:30 and actually stood in the line instead of complaining, you probably would have gotten in. I got there 30 minutes later than you and I got in!
And the Q&A with Mr. Lynch after was phenomenal. If you were a true fan, you would have actually bothered to wait in the line to see if you would end up making it in or staying for the Q&A portion which was in the courtyard with plenty of space for everyone that came.
Yay Hammer Museum for hosting a FREE event like this. Who else does that? And YAY to David Lynch for doing it!