Have A Movie Marathon

My very first marathon wasn't movies, it was Monty Python. It was the summer of 1985 and I was going to leave for college in a few months. Thanks to a friend's older brother, I'd gotten thoroughly hooked on Monty Python's Flying Circus, which was running on PBS at the time. (BTW, VCRs were pretty much a brand-new thing back then). I'd been taping episodes of the show and decided I'd invite over a ton of friends and we could just hang out and watch. Mom gave her approval as she thought Python was funny too.

I ran my fave episodes for six hours. A few friends stayed for the entire thing, but most folks hung out for a few hours in there somewhere and a good time was had by all. We never ran out of snacks or places for people to sit.

Now flash forward about 20 years, to the age of DVD and computers. I'm living 3000 miles away from that inaugural Python Marathon, but my love of movies is still there. And, at long last, I've got a best friend with a similar level of film endurance that I do. As my movie buddy and I didn't live in the same city, we invented "third Tuesdays." Intially there were Tuesday night meetings we both went to in the same city and we'd watch movies all day and then do our biz at night, and then stay up watching more movies. Eventually, the business part of the get-together disappeared and we just had a monthly movie marathon.

Some months it was two movies on DVD and one movie out at the theater. That way we could catch new releases we both wanted to see and share films we'd never seen or ones that fell under "oh, man! You've never seen (whatever)?! We've got to get that one!"

Movie marathons don't have to just be built around a movie with sequels or a television show. Branch out and create a selection that catches everyone's fancy!

• Film Director - who's your fave? Woody Allen? Quentin Tarantino? Brian DePalma? Picking a director and making a marathon is a great way of looking at a director's career

• Actor/Actress - again a great way to catch up on obscure films and explore a performer's career. How about Jake Gyllenhaal, Johnny Depp or Forest Whittaker?

• Subject matter - disaster films, cross-country races, alien invasions, just about anything you can think of has a few films made about it.

• Special effect/visual technique - how about movies that all feature bullet-time photography? or rotoscoping? or animation?

• Movies Series - Anything where you've got a series of sequels is just begging for a marathon. Movie trilogies are my favorites for this. Can you sit through all six of the Star Wars movies in one day?

• Movie Remakes - How about pairing up some of the original movie versions and their more modern remakes?

1. Viewing and Sound - Often the person with the biggest viewing screen and the nicest sound system is the person who winds up hosting the movie marathon. However, consider how much room you have and how well most of the folks will be able to view the screen. Sometimes the friend with the second best home entertainment system has a nicer layout.

2. Comfortable Seating - This is one of the biggest issues with having a home movie marathon. As you're going to be sitting for hours, it's important to make sure everyone can stay comfortable. Some people like to sit, some like to recline and some like to lie down. Be sure to get up and move around in between films and consider rotating seats.

3. Scheduling - Know ahead of time how many films you're going to show and get an idea of how long each one will run. This allows you to make a little schedule of bathroom breaks, refreshment refills, or just when to order out for pizza.

4. Refreshments - Having nothing but junk food drinks and snacks can cause a serious case of marathon-crash after just a few hours. That's when everyone gets really sleepy from the rise and drop of blood sugar due to carbo overload. Having protein snacks or even taking a proper dinner break can let the viewers sustain themselves better. If you really want to go all out, have a potluck and ask each guest to make a theme dish!

5. Related Fun Stuff - Having a trivia contest that relates to your marathon theme, or asking attendees to dress up in costume is another way to add more fun to your marathon.