Thank you Linda Holmes of NPR, for this heart-felt column about NOT TALKING IN MOVIE THEATERS. I think it is because people are used to watching movies at home or listening to director commentaries or checking their Blackberries in the middle of a conversation, but for goodness’ sakes, please, as they say in the movies, do not add your own soundtrack. I once sat next to a man who not only ate very noisily, he repeated every punchline (drowning out the next one). Holmes says:

I don’t want to be a bad sport. I’ve talked back to the screen at Honey. You’re not a bad person for wanting to goof around with your friends. But please, seriously: choose your moments. Because when you pick the wrong one, you take something away from everybody else in the room. This isn’t a stodgy etiquette rule run amok; it’s got a purpose.

Thank you.