The weird thing is that I can't see that their hammering did anything.

That's how I try to fix things, too.

When I last had jury duty 5 years ago they were showing the same movie. Is that the only one they have?

Bubba,
Fetch me the big hammer.

The must change the movie on occasion b/c when I had it last they were playing a Christmas movie...in June!!
I too hunkered down in the quiet room and it was indeed quiet inside. However, just outside the door an extremely boisterous lawyer was having a very loud conversation with his client (who was facing drug distribution charges) thus tainting the jury pool inside the "quiet room"!

MikeA: Naw, we had Meet the Parents and Happy Feet when I went.

You probably would be better off retuning to where there are showing the movie, because there is probably a chance that you will start to be tempted to dose off to sleep soon. The time is now 11:24 AM.

I had jury duty in December and the movie was "Last Holiday" starring Queen Latifah and Gerard Depardieu, who played a French chef making this post appropriate for this blog. :)

Does the Pepsi machine in the Quiet Room still give out two drinks for the price of one? It did that the entire day I was there.

Bucky, I use that method, too.

EL, have you considered asking the workmen what they are fixing?

I just sent back my "are you qualified to be a juror" form. Nice to see what I'll be letting myself in for. They let you bring a laptop? I might survive.

The workers are violating the fall protection standard. Call Maryland OSHA and maybe you can collect a finders fee.

MikeA, when I was there last summer it was Akeelah and the Bee. Apparently that one ran for a long time as well, based on friends' comments.

I wonder if they take requests. What if I show up with my own movie? You think folks would like Kurosawa's "The Seventh Samurai?"

EL, I might have to go on the 30th if I'm not lucky; my number is in the mid-900's. I get a notice almost every year too, and in the 30-some years I've served, I've had ONE trial--talk about terminal ennui! If I do get "stuck" and the weather's not too awful, I might walk up to the Women's Industrial Exchange for lunch--haven't been there for decades.

Lissa, I like your movie selection. "Rashomon" would also make for interesting viewing in a jury pool.

I had jury duty in July and they were showing Last Holiday. Why a holiday movie in June? Don't know. Don't they have netflix?

Cypriana is great (don't miss the roasted potatoes as a side to the quarter chicken) but the real gem for jury duty lunch is right at the courthouse (east - the post office side) in the little cantina there. They have the best chicken salad I have ever had in town or elsewhere. It is fresh and light and peppery. And the nice lady, Dee, has been there forever.

Lissa and Laura Lee -- those Kurosawa films would be too interesting for the jury room. Rashomon concerns rape, murder, false alibis, and the unreliability of witness testimony, while Seven Samurai advocates the use of violent self-help to fight off criminals. Defense attorneys would have a field day claiming that the jury pool was tainted if either film was screened. For similar reasons, I bet the jury room won't be showing episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street, The Corner, or The Wire, either.

Dottie -- I, too, had thought of suggesting the former Woman's Industrial Exchange, now Dogwood Cafe, but, then, EL had been there for a Christmas lunch less than a month ago.

Laura Lee, you are right, "Rashomon" would be far more appropriate for jury duty viewing.

I'm sure we could come up with a list. "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels", "The Italian Job", "Aguirre, the Wrath of God"...there must be others.

How about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Especially if they got everybody's attention at the end by starting up a chainsaw in the back, as the manager of a movie theater in Laurel did when the movie first came out. Sure cleared the theater fast.

hmpstd and Lissa- How about "Twelve Angry Men" or "Anatomy of a Murder" or anything by Hitchcock?

BTW, have we already done the Top Ten Movie Food Scenes?

Laura Lee - not that I recall, so I wish to nominate Jennifer Beals and her lobster in Flash Dance. I don't even remember anything else about the stupid movie! And, number 2 is the deli scene in When Harry Met Sally.

laura Lee - #1 has to be the scene from "When Harry Met Sally" doesn't it?

Laura Lee, we did top foodie movies long ago, but that's not the same thing as Top Ten Movie Scenes. For me it will always be Albert Finney eating chicken in "Tom Jones." And of course Paul Newman eating 50 aigs,

Joyce W., I remember "Flashdance," but I don't remember the lobster scene.

Food fight in "Animal House."

I am surprised that the Baltimore courts have such a civilized policy around technology. I was called for jury duty in Harford County last spring and wasn't allowed to bring a cell phone into the building.

Dahlink, there's a part in Flashdance where Jennifer Beals boss takes her to dinner and she proceeds to eat a lobster very seductively. I thought for sure I'd find a clip of it on youtube but no luck. Too bad, I wouldn't mind seeing it again!

There was a memorable lobster scene in Annie Hall. "Annie, there's a big lobster behind the refrigerator. I can't get it out. Maybe if I put a little dish of butter sauce here with a nutcracker, it will run out the other side."

and, 2 more funny lobster scenes - the "man hands" epsiods of Seinfeld and the mermaid eating lobster in Splash!

I haven't seen "Flashdance", "When Harry Met Sally" or "Animal House." Guess I'm failing my pop-culture roll again.

I'm very afraid of a person eating a lobster seductively. Reminds me of some bad 1950's SF stories I've read.

Joyce W., is that the scene where Jennifer Beals is massaging the crotch of said boss under the table with her foot? I remember that--not what she was eating!

Lissa - here you go. The food scene from When Harry Met Sally

Yes, Dahlink - probably, cause you weren't that into Jennifer Beals ... but I was ... :)

Um...thanks? Bucky. I think I'd better stick with Kurosawa.