So close, and yet . . .

As I'm sure I've mentioned somewhere on here, I work at a cinema as a projectionist. It has it's moments. One of which is sometimes being able to see certain films before they come out. Now, unless you've been living under a rock, you would know there is a new Batman film starting this week, a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, aptly titled "The Dark Knight". Being a huge Superhero fan and a Batman fan and a big fan of the first film, I have been eagerly anticipating this film.

Now, I can be an extraordinarily patient man, but up to a point. If I need to wait a year, a month, a week and a day for something, then fine. That's how long I will wait. But if I have waited that long, don't you dare ask me to wait a year, a month, a week, a day and 10 minutes. When I get to the point when I don't have to wait any more, I don't want to wait anymore!! The best example of this was when the first Spider-man movie came out. I patiently waited YEARS for that to be released. On the first day, I drove all the way in to where I now work, ironically, to catch the earliest session I could. I was finally in there, sitting in my seat, waiting for the movie to start. The music stopped, the lights dimmed . . . and I had to sit through nearly half an hour of ads and trailers. I was so pent up with frustration, wanting the damn movie to start, that by the time it started, I was mentally willing the opening sequence to hurry up and finish so the movie would start. I had to calm down and remind myself that this WAS the movie. And here in lies my current dilemma.

We had the prints for Dark Knight arrive yesterday. 3 of them. So I have had access to the film for the past two days. And it has been driving me NUTS!! I mean, here it is. This film I have been so looking forward to ever since they announced it. All made up, ready to go, on the platter, right next to the projector. I know how to thread it it up, I know how to set it going. And I've been on close for the last two nights, so it would have been no prob to hang around till after the last sessions had finished and turn it on.

But I can't.

We had an official memo come in from one of the big wigs of the Company, expressly forbidding ANY non-session showings of the movie. So, even after the movie starts, we can't put the film on after work for any reason. Security is so tight on this damn film, that we are even going to have security guards, sent out by the distributor, with night vision goggles watching the audience in every session. We get the film 48 hours before the rest of the world, so any pirate attempts of the film are going to be made in the next couple days.

So all of this added together basically means that I couldn't get the small thrill of being able to watch the movie before everyone else does. Sucks to be me.

Of course, I don't have to pay to see it and I'll more than likely see it several times in the next few days, so don't feel too sorry for me.