Greetings and salutations, my friendly monsters!!

As I have drawn the straw for this week's minion musing, I will be espousing some knowledge. No, not
the article/tirade about comic book speculation and what it does to the casual collector. No, no indeed!
As we are just a week out from the first ever (to my limited knowledge) Wild Eye Releasing marathon, as
hosted by both M3wDB, show runner Bob Gilbert, and Wild Eye Releasing, I thought some advice from a veteran of more than four dozen movie marathons might come in handy.  Since I could not find one, I will do the honors!

First of all, what should you expect? Well judging from last years’ Mihm-a-Thon, unlike some marathons I have attended, with M3wDB the Wild Eye marathon will be tightly timed and set up. We (and by we, I mean the show runner!) start on time, schedule the breaks precisely and even include time for a dinner break. So, if the schedule says a movie will start at a certain time, it probably will!

Now some of you attending will be veterans of these events already and know that what I am saying is
good, maybe even excellent, advice. The rest can listen to us as they wish and learn as they go. In my
experience, staying up for the entire 24 hours and every movie is quite a feat, and rarely fully mastered.  You can use the traditional legal stims to help you like caffeine, coffee, soda pop, or just plain
stubbornness to try and stay awake, but be aware that things like 5-Hour Energy and other energy drink
supplements have an inevitable crash and if you schedule the crash wrong, well, you just missed a whole
bunch of marathon!  If you are that person that can down constant coffee and caffeine for 24 hours,
more power to you.  I am an old pro at this by now, and generally tend to take cat naps where and when
possible, sacrificing a movie or two when necessary. Trust me - sleep is important, but you will have most
of Sunday afternoon to catch up if you book the weekend right.

Comfort is always an issue at a movie marathon, but not in this case; the Gateway Film Center has great
big comfortable cushy chairs, with moveable armrests, that will keep you comfortable the whole day
provided you stretch occasionally and get some food. And by food, I mean what you can buy from the
concessions stand (the most reasonably priced theater concessions in town), the Torpedo Room (a sit-down eatery on premises styled like the Nautilus), or the many eateries close by (Raising Cane's, Five Guys, etc.).
If you want to bring your own, be very discreet, and preferably keep it in your vehicle and access that
during the well-scheduled breaks. And your vehicle- if you are driving to the Marathon parking is best in
the Garage behind the theater and I believe they will have special pricing for the Marathoids.

Let’s see, we have covered parking, food, scheduling and comfort. What else should you know?
Well, the Marathon is kind of – well, actually, it is certifiably- split into two sections. The first section is the “tamer” fare that would (and sometimes has been) be shown by Midnight Monster Movies with Dr. Bob,
and includes Tales of Poe, Queen Crab, and the NotLD:Reanimated dual screening, among others.  The
second half has the more “wild” of the Wild Eye Releasing films that have more supposedly adult things
like nudity, extreme violence, sexual situations and generally more vivid films.

What else can I speechify about? Well, behavior comes to mind, and I am probably one of the worst
offenders...usually! But since I am going to be on the other side of the marathon this year, I will be on my
best behavior (while THAT lasts) and just enjoying the movies.  Some of these movies just invite snark
attacks and comments, but remember, people are here to see the movies, not hear our witty repartee.
That being said, certain movies and or scenes just ask to be snarked and we ask that you be reasonable about it. Keep it short, hope that you really are that funny and try not to annoy/upset your fellow
Marathoids. And always remember that if asked to shush, it is wise to shush.  Because you may be
asleep later when they are not! Please remember it is a wonderful and comfy theater, but it is not
yours. We are guests, and it would be very rude of us to trash the theater, so please keep your area well
policed.  It also will keep nasty accidents from happening to any swag you might have won or bought.

That about covers it, and I hope that I see some of you at the marathon Sept 16th . If not, remember that
many of these movies have been shared by Wild Eye Reactions, our sister production, released to
Youtube the 4th Saturday of every month of the cast from M3wDB reacting to the latest video!