Checkus Factibus

For the second time in two weeks I have to concede that the Catholic League's Bill Donohue has a point. At this rate I'm going to be at 4:30 confession tomorrow and condemning gay marriage by Monday. Replying to this Fox News story about selective distribution of Da Passion of Da Christ, he provides some helpful listings:

Roger Friedman says the movie will be shown in two Chicago theaters; in fact it will be shown in seven. He says it will not be shown in the L.A. neighborhood of Century City; in fact it will be shown at the AMC in Century City. He says it will not be shown in the 'wealthier and trendier parts' of Los Angeles; in fact it will be shown in Marina del Rey, Burbank and Santa Monica. He says it will not be shown in New York's Upper West Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and Broadway. He says it will be shown only in the 'fringe areas' of the Upper East Side; in fact it will be shown at 86th and 3rd and 64th and 2nd. He says it will be shown at one theater below 34th Street; in fact it will be shown at three. He says it will be hard to find in Nassau County, Long Island; in fact it will be shown in seven theaters there. He says that theater-goers will be 'hard pressed' to find it in 'either the south or north shore' of Long Island; in fact it will be shown in towns like Glen Cove and Port Washington on the north shore and Merrick and Seaford on the south shore. He says those who live in Westchester will also find it difficult to see the movie; in fact it will be shown in Larchmont, New Rochelle and Yonkers. And so on.

I can't vouch for all those places, but when last I checked here in the city of St. Francis, there was a wall-sized coming attraction notice for the movie at the UA Galaxy, centrally located at the corner of Van Ness Ave. and Sutter St. It's also an independently distributed picture, so you shouldn't even expect it to be opening in any as many major houses as it apparently is. The real story here is not how selective the distribution is, but how wide. I just hope all these theaters will honor their agreement to provide every moviegoer with a pair of 3-d glasses and a copy of Fred Wheelock's Latin Grammar.