The local paper, especially if you had a free weekly "alternative" paper in your locality, was where you'd pretty much find anything. The great thing, looking back on it, was that it wasn't "customized for your taste" and you could learn a lot by looking at the listings. Unfortunately, the internet wasn't as good at giving information about stuff until about 1993 so you'd have to ask friends if they knew anything about that band with the cool name. The advertising was relevant and nonintrusive. Instead of the whole paper being covered in ads for the new Avengers movie like IMDB, there'd be ads for several of the new releases, some new record releases, bands coming into town, art shows, etc.

> The great thing, looking back on it, was that it wasn't "customized for your taste" and you could learn a lot by looking at the listings.

This is still a great thing.

They were big brands if you went to the movie theater frequently in the 90s and early 2000s.

I think the confused person must live in Europe. I hadn't heard of any of these services and I've lived in UK and Czech Rep ... however over here we're all pretty used to the "ohhh this must be an American thing" feeling so I'm not sure why they're acting all surprised