TEXTING ALLOWED IN MOVIE THEATERS?!

It was brought to my attention literally minutes ago that a theater chain (Regal, I believe) will have the ability to allow texting in certain theaters.  To that I say ----->


Texting allowed in movie theaters?  Are they gonna tell us next that people can bring in their pets? Maybe microwave their frozen dinners in the theater?  Although it is just a movie theater, it's not your living room!  Have a little respect!

There are dozens of things that tick me off when I go into a theater, but the big three are:

• Making out (One couple did it through most of "Thor" with a kid sitting right beside them)
• Movie commentary (Not unless your last name is "Ebert")
• And texting.  Actually I don't even care if you are texting.  It's having your phone out.  The light's a distraction from the theater.  Also, if you're playing "Words with Friends," I'll be tempted to look at that screen instead of the massive one in front of me.

A perfect case of this came during my viewing of last year's Best Picture, "The Artist."  It's ironic because, as "The Artist" was trying to usher in feelings of old, classic silent cinema, where people were fascinated by the moving pictures on the screen, I had an idiot in the front row texting about every other minute.  He missed a good half of the movie, and I probably missed about 2 minutes of the movie because I was giving him the evil eye.

People are going to text, make out, and commentate on movies for...well as long as movies are going to be around.  It's just a fact of life.  But Regal doesn't have to go and make it cool for people to whip out their phones all willy-nilly.  Now if I tell people to turn off their phones, they'll just snicker a little bit and keep on continuing their "Words with Friends" game.