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Bill Brown

A complicated man.

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I stumbled this weekend across an intriguing Ask Metafilter post about backyard theaters. With the idea of community building on my mind, visions of neighborhood movie nights swirled in my mind. People love drive-ins and a well-considered slate of movies could really bring out the people.

In the ensuing thread, I found an awesome site for doing it right. It covers all the technical details as well as the logistical ones. For example, showing a movie to anyone interested in attending is considered a public viewing and would therefore require a public performance license. But showing a movie only to invited guests is a private viewing, like watching your DVD at home.

In addition to the possible community aspects, I could see using a backyard theater for poolside movie watching or the inevitable slumber party fun. I am really jazzed about the idea, but I'm going to wait to act on it because there's so much other groundwork that is more pressing.