2537 Movie

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Me: "Time is like a sausage skin. It has no set length of its own.
How long or short it is depends on what it's filled with."

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Last night I saw "Ray", the movie for which Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for his portrayal of Ray Charles. I hadn't seen it when it came out.

The movie was very good. I recommend it. The music alone was worth it.

I watched it in a private home theater, about 40 minutes upriver. Twelve foot screen, seven black leather recliners. Surround sound. Nobody crackling cellophane or crunching candy in your ear.

It was just the host, Chris, and me, but it was ok, his wife and children were elsewhere in the house. I don't understand, but that's ok. He said that usually there are a few neighbors who turn up, but not last night.

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I mentioned to Chris that I had joined several dinner and movie Meetup groups in the Kingston and Poughkeepsie areas, that many of them had been active for two or more years with 200 or more members, but that in just the past two months, several of them had lost organizers and no one would step up to take over.

He mentioned that it costs to run a Meetup group, and some people just get tired of paying the subscription fees. Members don't pay, but the organizer does.

I went out to the website this morning and looked up the fees to start and maintain a group. There are a couple fee structures, and I don't understand the difference between them, but just as an example, one is $19 a month.

At not one of the meetups I attended has the organizer mentioned a fee, although they are allowed to request a membership fee or attendance contribution if they wish. (An Albany dinner group I joined yesterday, but haven't been to yet, was the first - she asks for a $2 donation at the first event you attend.)

Now I wonder why any of them take on the role of organizer. Not only is it work and a pain, but it COSTS!
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