I attended the cinema the other evening, and watched the "Pirates of the Carribean" sequel with a young friend whom I was minding for the evening.

I was appalled by the amount of advertisements preceeding the film.

By my calculation now, there were 17 minutes from the time of lights-down to showtime. After two film adverts (trailers,) all of the rest of the time was taken by commercial advertisements many of which you'd already have seen on TV.

I'm only calculating that at official run-time the film is 143 minutes long; and that the clock in the cinema lobby showed 7:50 when we exited. Showtime was 5:10.

The film was long anyway. And to make a child sit through this length is enough; but what of the fact we had to first endure a quarter-hour of commercial onslaught?

I was appalled. People sat through it as I gave out and fidgeted. It had been a while since I had attended a regular cinema show.

That people would accept this.... I had to wonder. I was minding the child of a friend of mine the other evening, and

was fortunate to have the tickets that his father had bought for us to attend a show at the cinema. An enduring and disturbing memory is the impression I had of young lads and young ones accepting and patiently awaiting the start of the film, quietly sitting before a quarter-hour of commercial advertisements.

And never mind any corrupting influence of capitalist psychology -- how long do you want kids to sit impassively before an image, waiting for a worthwhile use of their time?