Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[Fatal Paper Cut]

All the other Heavy Metal Buffet events have been electric.

[JGHR]

  But it's a pretty poor state of affairs that so far, a venue that is meant to cater for all, just hasn't managed to coax me off Ghostie's couch.

 

 

I for one am glad you have never been to Mareel, and I hope you never go. That way we can at least be spared the pathetic and spiteful whining about everything which you found unsatisfactory that, inevitably, would follow your visit.

 

51 years old? Do you really have nothing better to be concerned about? Get a grip woman for Christ's sake.

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

Awww, and there was me looking forward to getting to grips with those delightful looking cakes they have in the Mareel cafe bar.

[paulb]

be nice folks life is to short. 

[hjasga]

 Not having optics on spirits - does that mean having to wash out the dupree wotsits each time?  1 whisky, 1 vodka, 1 brandy and 1 double rum - how long that take to be served then, only for the bloke in the queue next to ya also wanting a gin n tonic for the Mrs?  Seriously, is that true - no optics?

 

 

Do you want the short answer? No. That isn't true.

[tooney1]

Sufferof1crankymofo - can I ask why you moved to Shetland? It seems nothing will ever be good enough for you.

 

At the end of the day the world owes you nothing - why not get off the couch and try something new instead of being so highly critical. Why not try your hand at being a promoter and put on an event if you think you can do better?

[Ghostrider]

Why not try your hand at being a promoter and put on an event if you think you can do better?

 

That was the general idea to be working towards in the back of my mind when I started asking questions.

 

However having had a continual barrage of people jumping up and down and shouting like a mob at a hanging whenever anything that was in any way perceived to be the slightest critical of Mareel was mentioned, its a catfight I have lost interest in trying to negotiate.

[hjasga]

Ghostrider, I think the vast majority of people are prepared to talk constructively about Mareel and few would deny there are many valid criticisms against it. However, your posts have come across as irrational and myopic, and suggest you don't actually speak from all that much experience. People would be more ready to listen if it felt like you were arriving at your conclusions from a more impartial starting point, but it seems like you've decided you don't like Mareel and are just looking for reasons to justify it.

[Ghostrider]

^ The only conclusions I've voiced are those which are my own personal opinion, ie. how I feel about an issue from the POV of being the end user. I wasn't expecting everyone to agree with me, everyone has their own personal preferences and choices, I wasn't expecting anyone to agree with me on some points, but I was interested in hearing what others personal opinions are on the same issue. Folk simply retorting with "Rubbish", or "Oh, get a life...." (or words to that effect) and the discussion then descending in to a hair splitting arguments can't go anywhere unless bad, and they did leaving everyone more polarised than before..

 

Anything else has been thrown in there as things that were either doing the rounds on the jungle drums, I'd been told by someone with first hand experience, or, for the most part things there was little information readily available for. The intent was to open a discussion to establish what was fact, what was garbage dreamed up for a wind up by somebody propping up the bar, and to attempt to get information of use/interest if it was available to be obtained.

 

If what I write comes across to some as statements of fact, when they are intended as either statements of opinion, or lines designed to generate discussion, then I dunno. Everybody has a certain writing style, and I guess I gotta accept mine doesn't always make the distinction between those things as clear as they could be.

 

If I come from any starting point, its that anything, but especially those designed by a committee and/or created by a public body, is not fit for purpose and useless until and unless proven otherwise. I don't thinks that's an unreasonable approach, after all you go out to buy a brand new car, you don't take it on trust everything is perfect, you get the person in charge to prove everything is perfect before you part with your cash. Same for anything else, tell me and show me how well this thing does what it says its supposed to do on the tin, engage with me, sell it to me.

 

Maybe I'm just overly fussy, but regardless whether I'm a single bum on seat paying customer, or the one hiring the entire facility, I want to be under no illusion of just what exactly I'm getting for my money before I think about parting with it.

 

If I say "It's a heap of sh*te", whether I say it in seriousness or jest, convince me I'm the one talking sh*te with provable facts and/or weight of opinion, as dismissing it out of hand or closing it down by whatever means as quickly as possible without that, is just going to leave me suspecting something is being hidden.

 

To rewind this discussion back to before it went all shouty. I simply mentioned that it was somewhat curious the cinema is the only part of the facility which seems to get regular ongoing positive reviews, and that it would be interesting to see how the whole enterprise was doing financially now that it was settled in to a more regular trading pattern. What followed on thereafter is all old ground, that was well dead and buried pages back, and should have stayed there as far as I'm concerned. What of it hadn't long since become irrelevant with the passage of time, it had become clear the answers weren't likely to be gotten on here.

[hjasga]

"If I come from any starting point, its that anything, but especially those designed by a committee and/or created by a public body, is not fit for purpose and useless until and unless proven otherwise." 

 

Good Lord, how depressing.

 

I don't think a lot of what you were posting on the previous page came across as the first hand concerns of an end user. The stuff about sound insulation and car parking wasn't exactly put forward as, "I've experienced this and I'm not happy with that experience". It all seemed to be hearsay and speculation. Perhaps I'm just unfamiliar with your style, but it does come across as negative for the sake of being negative and I think people will generally try to put a good spin on things in response to that. 

 

As I said above, there are many valid complaints and concerns about Mareel. The cafe/bar remains poorly run - despite the best efforts of the staff, who I know are lovely people and I'm sure perfectly competent workers, it often seems like they have not been properly trained and lack management support. The slowness is a little annoying, it is when things go properly wrong - such as orders being lost or forgotten - that it becomes a real issue. It is too systematic to blame on individuals, there is clearly an issue with how the place is run. 

 

I've also noticed the general style of the place has been lost recently, with a lot of furniture added that looks completely out of place. It's a shame because when it first opened it was beautifully and carefully designed, whereas now things look a bit cobbled together in places. 

 

I have no problem with the cinema, but I've gone from extremely regular user to having hardly been in the place in the latter half of the month. No fault of Mareel's, just a dearth of interesting films that would have stood even for the well-catered-to cinema scene of somewhere like Edinburgh.

[tooney1]

^ The only conclusions I've voiced are those which are my own personal opinion, ie. how I feel about an issue from the POV of being the end user.

 

The end users who haven't actually used it... How can you and your partner form any opinions when you've never been? Reading between the lines of media articles and forum posts doesn't count. Is it not time you both gave up on this and pursued something more constructive in the real world?

[Suffererof1crankymofo]

@tooney1

 

Which bit of would like to attend do you not understand?  I take it you're a regular patron of Mareel; way to go encouraging those who are YET to attend by asking them why they moved to Shetland.  Shetland Arts have asked for feedback.  Are you seriously saying that they don't want to hear the views as to why people haven't attended (yet)?  Does Mareel want people who have never yet attended through its doors or are you suggesting that everything they are doing is absolutely hunky dory and they don't need any additional footfall?

 

Thanks for answering re the optics although I wasn't the person who first raised it.

 

I have every intention of going to Mareel.  I sincerely hope I enjoy it.  Rest assured though, unlike some of the "let's slag Ghostie's peerie wife off for the sake of it" comments, I'll give fair feedback:  if I like something then I'll say so and yeah, if I don't like something, I'll say so.  If service is good/excellent, then like anywhere else where I receive good service, I'll let the management know what a good job they are doing.

 

A long time ago Bryan offered a tour around the gaff; I fully intend to take him up on that offer ... but working and being a carer tends to mean I don't have as much spare time as I'd like; sorry if that ain't constructive enough for ya.

[peeriebryan]

Most recent points have been answered by other folk, but I'll pick up on a couple:

 

Re: sound system output. There are numerous variables involved and ways to measure a rig, but for the sake of providing a figure, the theoretical peak 'volume' of the auditorium PA is about 140dB (decibels), roughly the equivalent of a shotgun blast a few inches from your ears and enough to cause permanent hearing damage. The on-stage monitor system is about the same and that doesn't include guitar amps etc. The subs (low frequency speakers) are capable of producing levels that literally take your breath away.

'Watts' isn't a relevant measurement of sound levels as it refers to power consumption and doesn't take into consideration the efficiencies of amps and speakers etc. For the record, both the main rig and the monitor amps are rated at less than 10,000 watts but they are particularly efficient.

All that said, the rig is run at nowhere near those levels - the headroom means the system can operate with virtually no peak distortion (interestingly, what many people perceive as 'loud' is actually a psychoacoustic phenomenon caused by the harmonic distortion and peak compression of a system operating at beyond it's capabilities - e.g. an electric guitar through a small distorted amp can sound instinctively 'louder' than acoustic guitar producing the same dBs).

In the two and a half years since Mareel opened, no musician, band, sound engineer, promoter or anyone else has ever asked for specific information on the capabilities of the sound system. The only times it has ever come up is on this thread.

The feedback on the sound system (pardon the pun) has been unanimously positive, the auditorium is an excellent sounding room with a very well balanced frequency response and we have some of the best sound engineers in the business (I tip my hat to their lugs). I may be biased, but it's one of the best sounding rooms I've ever heard. All is well in that department

 

Re: finances. They're all available on the Shetland Arts website and we're governed by all the usual rules and regulations regarding financial reporting - http://www.shetlandarts.org/about/shetland-arts/reports-and-documents/

[JGHR]

The car park isn't big enough, fact.

 

 

^ The only conclusions I've voiced are those which are my own personal opinion, ie. how I feel about an issue from the POV of being the end user.

 

No - not quite true.

 

That was the general idea to be working towards in the back of my mind when I started asking questions.

.....just cut to the chase and call me a liar....

That's the conclusion I've arrived at, and not only that....

 

You owe me a fiver, Ghostie.

I also conclude that you are a calculating  internet troll.

Edited December 13, 2014 by JGHR

[Ghostrider]

I don't think a lot of what you were posting on the previous page came across as the first hand concerns of an end user. The stuff about sound insulation and car parking wasn't exactly put forward as, "I've experienced this and I'm not happy with that experience". It all seemed to be hearsay and speculation. Perhaps I'm just unfamiliar with your style, but it does come across as negative for the sake of being negative and I think people will generally try to put a good spin on things in response to that. 

 

What I posted on the previous page about parking and sound issues was in response to someone else bringing those issues up and using them as a pointy stick to prod with, and the responses were worded with that in mind. The original discussions on those subjects were dead and buried a long time ago as far as I'm concerned.

 

I brought up the issue of sound levels when construction of Mareel was still ongoing, so at least over two years ago, probably nearer three. It was a genuine question at that time from the POV of what volume restrictions someone hiring the main auditorium for a music event might face, given that the design of the building was far from straightforward in the first place, and it was by then common knowledge that changes were being made on the hoof to the original design to minimise the over budget cost of the project as far as practicably possible.

 

No real answer ever materialised at that time, and when it came to the point construction was virtually complete and an opening date was known, I abandoned pursuing the question further, taking a "we'll see how it works then" attitude.

 

The parking issue is of similar vintage and as far as I'm concerned was brought to a conclusion back then when it was discussed. So why a poster chose to dredge it up again and throw it around now, folk will just have to make their own mind up.

 

The dedicated car park has been full on a number of occasions since it opened, on evenings when a film was the only advertised use the building was being put to, thats fact. I've seen it, and maybe I should take pictures next I see it that way, just to have irrefutable evidence for the future.

 

At the time it was discussed there was little dissent that the dedicated car park was anything but on the "small" side. The alternative "overspill" parking arrangements were well chewed over at the time too, and the general consensus reached seemed to be that in the main folk thought they were "okay". That was the opinion of the majority then, and so be it, its their privilege to hold whatever opinion they want, and I've never tried to change anyone's opinion on that issue since the original discussion petered out.It is also equally my privilege to hold whatever opinion I choose to as well though, and while my opinion did then and still does differ from the majority. There's been no problem with that situation, or need to revisit the subject again, until it was brought up by another poster a few days ago on the previous page in what comes across as an attempt to insinuate something about me and the value of what I may choose to post, by discrediting/devaluing/whatever opinion(s) I've previously expressed.

 

If folk don't like what I post, they can use the scroll bar at the right of their screen to just keep motoring on to the next post whenever they see my name, alternatively the "block user" option in the right hand top drop down makes it even easier to pretend I'm not here.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Ghostrider