Use RunPee.com to know when to go to the bathroom during a movie | Hacker News Reader

Use RunPee.com to know when to go to the bathroom during a movie

runpee.com

64 pointsshard26 comments

Sadly, another example that execution and vision is very important.

Execution: As stated by mkinsella - it's probably the worst Flash site I've seen in maybe a decade (it duplicates late 90s era HTML frames)

Vision: What is this guy's purpose? To pimp Adobe Flex? He might be building something that people do want but using a technology (Flash) that is fundamentally incompatible with what most people have access to in a movie theater.

"Of course, I pimp Flex big time during the interview [with Leo Laporte on his net@night show]. I'm not sure if they exactly know what Flex is"

However, on a bright note, it demonstrates:

1) A clearly understandable concept/elevator pitch can garner you national-level press coverage.

"A few people here and there heard about it. Like Dave Barry. A producer from NPRs All Things Considered found out about RunPee from Dave’s mention"

2) For all of us who are worried about having a site launch without being perfect: Runpee.com shows that you can launch with a poor implementation of a potentially good concept and still get press if the idea makes sense.

"As to why it’s all Flash and not HTML: well, I have a saying, "Go with what you know." Since I’m a Flash Platform Developer I build everything in Flash - this is actually a Flex application. I had never before created a data driven app when I started RunPee."

3) You can have some hubris, make some mistakes and your concept/site will survive your imperfect personality.

"Maybe, someday, when I’ve made enough money to buy all of the major Hollywood studios. :)"

> "As to why it’s all Flash and not HTML: well, I have a saying, "Go with what you know."

The Flash throws an error on load (only visible if you have the Flash debug player installed), so even if the logic is good, the execution isn't.

  TypeError: Error #1009: Cannot access a property or method of a null object reference.

Interesting and unique concept but horrific all-Flash website

So that's why it broke my back button...

Please, FTLoG, don't do this. There's nothing in the website that couldn't be done with normal (D)HTML.

Yeah, and good luck running it on your cell phone from your movie seat when you need it most!

For Christ's sake don't give those assholes a specific reason to shine their cellphones in my face during the movie.

Damn right. For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, it is NOT ever ok to use your phone in a cinema during a film, even without sound. I find it unbelievable that so many people haven't figured this out yet. If you can't stand being disconnected for the length of the film then watch it at home.

Nice idea, but:

1. Flash?

2. Gratuitous unrevealing of the RTO13'd text is annoying.

3. It's full of trolls already.

Thats remarkably accurate. I fell asleep during Wolverine exactly when they said it's appropriate to take a bathroom break. I didn't feel like I missed anything.

I think TakeNap.com would be great for an extended amount of time (10-15 minutes) that can be missed in extra-long movies.

Nice site (could come in useful), however — why flash/flex?! It just seems so much slower than it could have been (especially since it's such a simple site, HTML + light javascript would have sufficed perfectly…and saved CPU cycles!), and to be honest, the thing which flash excels at, animations, are a bit annoying…

Or: Pee before the movie, during the intermission and after the movie.

Most commercial movies don't have intermissions.

wow! here in India every movie has an intermission.

I'm going to ask the local cinema to outsource management and operations to India. :)

Seriously, I almost had to go see a doctor after holding myself in during the second Lord of the Rings movie.

And drink the soda before you've bought it?

I'm surprised to hear such bitching about Flash. Actually, this is one of the few Flash-heavy sites I've seen in recent memory that didn't (a) crash my vintage 2.0.0.20 Firefox running on Fedora Core 4, or (b) warn me that I needed to download a new plugin.

It did, however, break the Back button in an interesting way: after I clicked on "Classic Movies" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark", clicking the Back button several times took me through the pee times of several other random movies.

wow I love the concept! When I saw the last LOTR movie, I wanted to go pee after the 2nd hour... it was a torture to see all the long ending :) But I will no longer have pain with runpee.com! :P

Funny comments here. If you're actually curious about why the developer used Flash for the front-end, then his info here: http://runpee.com/blog/72_why-flash

Basically, the rap is that running one set of HTML/JS/CSS instructions atop varied browser brands, with different implementations and edge-cases of those specs, ends up pushing browser-vendor costs onto the backs of content developers.

(And Flash-enabled mobile phones outnumber recalcitrant Apple iPhones by a factor of 40:1 or so. But we at Adobe would still like to support that popular walled-garden, if permission is granted for us to do so.)

jd/adobe

Brilliant college dorm idea. Only problem is there is no way to check when the problem is identified.

Why can't you just pee before the movie like normal people?

How about this movie is so bad stay home and pee!

there isn't even a search box on the main page.

this needs a lot of work.

I wonder why somebody would release a site that's 100% in Flash when a sizable majority will access the site from a mobile device.

RunShit

The blurred favicon does look like it says RunPoo if I lean well back in my chair.

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