13 MAR 09: The Bigger Screen
Columbus is about to finally have something many other cities have enjoyed for decades. No, not a Costco store. Not even a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. It's something even more remarkable - competition between movie theatres.
The news media received a sneak preview of this competition Thursday. The National Infantry Museum showed off its new IMAX theatre - a theatre with a screen that's five stories high. All they need to add is a stairway to the top, and Fort Benning could have another jump tower.
Some of the other measurements for the IMAX theatre are equally stunning. The movie screen is 70 feet wide - so films showing Humvees will be almost lifelike.
And the National Infantry Museum staff boasts its IMAX theatre has more than 12,000 watts of sound. Isn't this amazing? A movie theatre will have more audio power than WRCG radio.
Staff members say when the IMAX theatre opens next week, it will operate on two schedules. During the day, it will present documentaries - which could prompt teenagers across the area to request field trips there, to watch sex education films.
But the evening schedule could be even more interesting, because the National Infantry Museum plans to show "Hollywood blockbusters" on the IMAX screen. For instance, the movie "Watchman" has an IMAX version - although I'm not sure the Army is ready to admit it needs help from superheroes.
A staff member at the National Infantry Museum drew a line in the proverbial sand, when he claimed the IMAX theatre has a better picture resolution than a digital screen. That's a challenge to the state-of-the-art screens Carmike claims to have. But then again, the museum's screen is in a part of town Carmike abandoned several years ago.
The National Infantry Museum hopes to make money by packing its IMAX theater for big-name movies. It might also be packed for another reason - because some people admit they can't stand Carmike Cinemas, and openly have longed for someone to take on the local monopoly. Since military minds are involved here, they know superior size matters in combat.
The new IMAX theatre is also a challenge to the Space Science Center. It's shown IMAX movies for years in the Omnisphere Theater, with visitors staring up toward the ceiling. Now Columbus will have an alternative, where viewers won't need their necks adjusted after the film ends.
I've only been to one IMAX movie in a real IMAX theatre. It was at Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina about ten years ago. But apparently it's been replaced by one showing three-dimensional films. Do you need extra-large funny glasses to watch those?
But a check of IMAX theatres around the Southeast Thursday night reminded me they're not guaranteed successes. One closed a couple of years ago in Charleston, South Carolina -- so the phrase "too big to fail" obviously does not apply here.
-> We're having a "double-down" two-tournament poker week. Keep up with the twists and turns at our other blog, "On the Flop!" <--
E-MAIL UPDATE: A couple of local topics have readers talking. One is the arrest of a Columbus Police officer, for actions before she joined the force [3 Mar]:
With the allocation of 100 new Police Officers positions with the Columbus Police Department, you have to wonder about the investigating skills of Chief Ricky Boren when he allows bank robbers to work at his department. You would think that question would come up sometime during the hiring process. You would also be surprised at some of the crimes current employees have committed.
Keep in mind the bank robbery charge against Shatoya Wright only came in the last couple of weeks. So that would NOT have been on a criminal background check when she applied months before. And Wright may have been cool enough to avoid detection on a polygraph test. After all, she was blasé enough to work as a teller.
Another reader checked the earmark list which we mentioned Thursday, from that big federal spending bill:
I also see where $50,000 for Kenneth B Walker Residential Home Columbus Ga
He didn't obey the law and now WE have to pay for it....
Please don't use my name.
I noticed that as well, and admittedly was prepared to let it go by. But I don't think this is the actual house where Walker lived with his family before he was killed. Last year's list of earmarks from Rep. Sanford Bishop indicates it's a "safe haven" for abused teenage boys. So none of the money even goes to the Columbus City Attorney's legal settlement fund.
But oh please - do we have to go down the finger-pointing road involving Kenneth Walker one more time? Former Sheriff Ralph Johnson offered his own semi-confessional on that case last fall [27 Oct 08]. And you'll notice the Columbus Fraternal Order of Police has yet to endow a David Glisson scholarship.
By the way: Columbus Planning Director Rick Jones told WRBL Thursday the city has received about eight million of its federal stimulus dollars so far. The city asked for 60 million - but apparently it takes the Treasury Department some time to print all that free money.
Contacts are pending about another reader's message, so we'll hold that for another day. Now let's see what else made news Thursday:
+ Columbus State University confirmed it's laid off 12 staff members due to state budget cuts. It's also eliminating 4.5 positions. At least that half-position was unfilled, because it would be hard for a midget to stand in an unemployment line.
+ Aflac admitted Wal-Mart has turned it down, in a bidding process for offering insurance to employees next year. The duck may have been stared down by that stack of dollar bills from Geico.
+ Georgia Tech stunned Clemson 86-81 in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference basketball tournament in Atlanta. Thank you WLTZ, for showing the game live - as I'd rather see future Doctor J's than a Doctor Phil any day.
+ To my alma mater Kansas Jayhawks: Aw, c'mon -- Baylor?!?! That loss Thursday in the Big 12 tournament reminded me of the first-round NCAA games against Bradley and Bucknell a few years ago. The last thing I want is the return of the "killer B's."
COMING SOON: The man who thought I was a millionaire....
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