SF/46 is wrapping up virtually.

Post your comments here.

And, if you didn't attend the Virtual Marathon - what did YOU watch on Marathon weekend??

Over 6 days I watched 45 short films and 18 feature-length films. I attended a few talk-backs with filmmakers and watched three panel discussions. The films came from the US, the Netherlands, Argentina, the UK, Belgium, Canada, Andorra, Mexico, Spain, Hungary, South Korea, Iran, Estonia, Australia, China, Ireland, Japan, Germany, Singapore, Italy, Brazil, Luxembourg, Colombia, and France. It was all virtual so the socializing with friends I did was on fb, Instagram, text, and the online platforms provided by the fest. All in it was a ton of fun. See you next year at #SF47

PS ....after attending SFBoston for 4 decades, how did I not know about this forum? ;-)

zosa wrote on Feb 15^th, 2021 at 5:06pm:

PS ....after attending SFBoston for 4 decades, how did I not know about this forum? ;-)

Better late than never! It's been around since Netscape and Ask Jeeves were big websites!

Overall I enjoyed sf 46, not the same as seeing it at the Somerville, but fun in its own right. I really liked the idea of bookmarking both ends of the ‘thon with different versions of the thing.

Lile wrote on Feb 15^th, 2021 at 9:22pm:

Overall I enjoyed sf 46, not the same as seeing it at the Somerville, but fun in its own right. I really liked the idea of bookmarking both ends of the ‘thon with different versions of the thing.

I take partial credit for that (although I would have reversed the order). Still, I have to give a tip of the hat to Bruce at the Ohio Marathon. They've done something similar once or twice

There were a few technology issues, as you would expect.  The "extras" in the thon like in memorium and Garen's addresses were not playable on the big TV if you have Apple TV.  I was eventually able to figure out that I could watch them on my small cell phone, which is Android, but not on my ipad or the TV.

It wasn't clear that you need to refresh the app frequently and that that is what the circular icon at the top is for.

Still, considering everything, I'm surprised that it went as smoothly as it did. 

This is the first time that we have been able to take part in the Fest because Somerville is too far away and we are not retired yet.  I found many of the shorts/films to be depressing and/or disturbing.  There were some good films, however.  I wish that there was a track of films and shorts for people who do not want to feel suicidal.

This isn't something the Fest can control, but for non-English language films, I really wish that there was an option to be dubbed or at least put the closed captioning in a large font on a black background.  It was tiny and hard to read many times and when the background picture was white, it was unreadable.  Also, closed captioning can just summarize speech instead of being word for word.  We enjoyed the Chinese space opera (what was it called?), but it was very hard to follow because of the limited closed captioning and the very rapid speech.

The thon itself was a great selection of films.  We did not watch Slither or Species (neither of us was able to get out of work completely the next day, so something had to be sacrificed).  We also did not watch Attack the Block, but saw it at the thon a few ago.

The in memorium was stunning.  It just keeps getting better each year.  Each year I don't think that they can top it, but they somehow manage to do it.

The team behind the thon and the fest are terrific.  This had to involve a serious amount of time and energy.  Honestly, hats off to everyone involved.  Thank you and see you (hopefully in person) at SF47!

BrianInNH wrote on Feb 16^th, 2021 at 5:11pm:

There were a few technology issues, as you would expect.  The "extras" in the thon like in memorium and Garen's addresses were not playable on the big TV if you have Apple TV.  I was eventually able to figure out that I could watch them on my small cell phone, which is Android, but not on my ipad or the TV.Thank you and see you (hopefully in person) at SF47!

I hear you weren't the only one who had issues. Glad you got past them.

As to next year in person --- Let's hope so!

garen did say he loved complaints so here goes
what the hell did the chick from "the flying nun" do to get on the memorium?
which movie was worse, "tenet" or "flight of the navigator"?

Marge Redmond, the actress from The Flying Nun, appeared in My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, The Munsters, My Mother the Car, The Sixth Sense, and The Six Million Dollar Man.

Rich Bartlett wrote on Feb 20^th, 2021 at 1:50pm:

Marge Redmond, the actress from The Flying Nun, appeared in My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone, The Munsters, My Mother the Car, The Sixth Sense, and The Six Million Dollar Man.

Yes, I wish Dan would include that more prominently in the scroll

will erin moran be in memorium when she croaks? sally struthers?

Once again this year, we've devoted an episode to recording our increasingly exhausted reactions to the marathon. Check it out here:

https://www.cinemaspection.com/2021/02/boston-science-fiction-marathon-sf46.html

UncleTim wrote on Feb 21^st, 2021 at 4:02pm:

Once again this year, we've devoted an episode to recording our increasingly exhausted reactions to the marathon. Check it out here: https://www.cinemaspection.com/2021/02/boston-science-fiction-marathon-sf46.html

Thanks for posting this. Enjoyable listen. Nice to hear from relatively new Marathoners. Us oldsters have seen some of these movies at the 'thon multiple times, but, it sounds like the pair of you haven't.
A little too much talk of being tired and sleepy far too early into the 'thon (wimps!  ;) ). Major props for hanging with it to the end and recording all the way.

will erin moran be in memorium when she croaks? sally struthers?

Yes. Erin Moran starred in Galaxy of Terror and Sally Struthers voiced Charlene Sinclair on Dinosaurs!

ha ha gotcha!trick question. erin moran died in a trailer park in wisconson 3 years ago.

kirok1 wrote on Feb 26^th, 2021 at 4:47pm:

ha ha gotcha!trick question. erin moran died in a trailer park in wisconson 3 years ago.

I believe Erin made the cut when she did pass. So, no ha ha

I think, while intending no offense, that the obit piece can be much shorter in the future. I believe this year it was 21 mins.
Just a thought, and only my own.

Caleb451 wrote on Mar 2^nd, 2021 at 10:38am:

I think, while intending no offense, that the obit piece can be much shorter in the future. I believe this year it was 21 mins. Just a thought, and only my own.

Oh, it's not just your own.  ;)

If we ever have to do another virtual 'Thon I would suggest (plea, beg) that a way is found to to stream all the content live, so everyone participating is experiencing the same material at the same time. And that a second element of social media is present for comments and discussions in real time among the tribe. I couldn't tell you what apps would provide what, but it doesn't seem like that big a reach in these modern technological times.

i have noticed the evolution of the obit piece. it used to be just stills and music? mostly stills with a spurious handful of clips.
there used to be cinematographers, producers, special effects techs all of whom have probably won academy awards but nobody knows who the hell they are other than the occasional ray haryhausen or roger corman caliber. so that got dumped and i'm glad.
i like a good lengthy obit with long clips of classic iconic scenes from an actors career. some would deserve 2 or 3 clips (william shatner). i would keep a close eye on all star trek and star wars major and minor characters.
i have no problem with a 20 minute or 30 minute obit loop.
p.s. william shatner is not dead.

Caleb451 wrote on Mar 3^rd, 2021 at 10:04pm:

If we ever have to do another virtual 'Thon I would suggest (plea, beg) that a way is found to to stream all the content live, so everyone participating is experiencing the same material at the same time. And that a second element of social media is present for comments and discussions in real time among the tribe. I couldn't tell you what apps would provide what, but it doesn't seem like that big a reach in these modern technological times.

Any other comments from folks who watched the virtual thon?

L.A. Connection wrote on Mar 7^th, 2021 at 1:51pm:

Caleb451 wrote on Mar 3rd, 2021 at 10:04pm: If we ever have to do another virtual 'Thon I would suggest (plea, beg) that a way is found to to stream all the content live, so everyone participating is experiencing the same material at the same time. And that a second element of social media is present for comments and discussions in real time among the tribe. I couldn't tell you what apps would provide what, but it doesn't seem like that big a reach in these modern technological times. Any other comments from folks who watched the virtual thon?

at the risk of going off topic: are you implying that the thread has gone off topic?

I liked being able to watch the movies out of order because we both could not get out of having to work the next day, so we were able to watch the movies that we were most interested in.   

We did miss being part of a large audience, but I don't think that any virtual medium is going to be able to capture that feeling.  Just having comments scrolling at the side of a movie would be an annoying nightmare.  I would be looking for a way to turn that off immediately.

Personally, I like the long in memorium.  It helps to get you in the mood for the thon before the thon begins.