Review: "Scream 3"

"Scream 3" is a perfect send-off to a neat cinematic trilogy. It's fun, creepy, and slightly pooped, IMHO. And you have to be a genius to guess the ending (which is not in any way given away here): Read more and post your own review:

As a half dozen characters point out in "Scream 3," the thing about a trilogy is that, unlike a sequel, anything goes - anybody can live or die, because the third element of a trilogy is really the last.

In a way, that conceit is one of the things that makes this movie work so well. It's funny, at points chilling, and at the same time oddly touching, as the movie is basically saying goodbye to itself and, for the moment, the genre.

This "Scream" isn't quite as well written as the first two (the producers switched writers), and it's definitely time to move along. The idea of the movie-spoofing-the-genre-spoofing-the-media-portrayal-of-the-genre is so apt it still works, but we sort of get the point already. By the end of the movie, you might be getting a bit restless, not because it isn't well done, but because it's well done for the third time and in much the same way. In a way, that's sort of the point. It's time for a new vehicle to spoof ourselves, our darkest fears and our techno-culture obsessed lives. In each of the "Scream" movies, it's neat to watch the evolution of the cell phone, from a communications device to a central character. That's smart movie-making, especially given the audience.

"Scream 3" is still great fun. Anyone who guesses the ending should come forth and say so - it's nearly impossible. This series is one of those rare cinematic occurrences - a horror trilogy that's run its course but which will still be sorely missed. I'd give it a 7 out of a possible 10. What about you?

Comments

Katz shows his intelligence

[howardjp]

you have to be a genius to guess the ending

Myself and friends had the ending figured out about 25-30 minutes into the film. It was pretty formulaic. And after we guessed, all the Return of the Jedi references gave it away completely.

alright John..

[Phizzy]

Step back.. think about what you're posting..

Scream 3 has NOTHING to do with Slashdot. NOTHING. This isn't IMDB.. you're not Siskel, and Ebert's dead. I'm not normally one to bitch about the lack of relevence of Slashdot stories, but this is just rediculous. Maybe we should just be able to moderate Katz' stories. Wait.. better idea.. I think there should be a vote on every article Katz wants to post.. he gives us the title, and we get to vote on whether it gets posted, and how many words he gets to post it with. That should keep him in check.

//Phizzy

Re:alright John..

[Lord Kano]

No, you dumb ass Ebert's alive, Gene Siskel is dead.

I too have grown weary of Katz, but at least get your facts straight.

LK

Parker Posey is great

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

I was glad to see one of my favorite up-and-coming actresses in Scream 3. Parker played the actress playing courtney cox's character. Although Scream3 is a little more mainstream than her other stuff, it provided good exposure. Allow me to recommend SubUrbia and Basquiat, as well as *almost* everything else imdb lists in her credits.

Tired concept

[Yaruar]

I still don't get the fuss about scream....

Yeah, they're good slasher movies.

Yeah, they reflexively look at the genre in an ironic way

This is supposed to be clever and origonal

Wes Craven's New nightmare was good and, much as the origonal elm street defined black comedic slashers created a new breed of self refernetial reflexive horror films

The Neverending story did it way before (although the only horror was the kid...)... Nuff said!

But then again I am the person who thought Blair Witch was generic, unscary badly acted tripe. So what would I know

As for Scream 3, it may be a good rflexive slasher, but Elm street 3 was a good slasher, albeit a tired one because it was an old and used formula. From what I have seen I will probably enjoy scream 3 but come out with an empty feeling as if I have seen it all before...

Roll on scream 6 when they parody the parody of media looking at a film of a parody of a horror parody being looked at by the media.

Wes Craven - New Nightmare vs Scream 3

[_J_]

Wes Craven is an interesting guy. I like how he has played with the horror movie patterns in both these movies. He relates both to hollywood and shows the action breaking into the private world of hollywood types. In both Craven found new ways to play with the genre and give us something a little unexpected.

IMHO, as per

J:)

(OT) Rant on rants, maybe flamebait

[Deadbolt]

<RANT>

I have had it up the socket with people complaining about nearly every story on /., saying that it "doesn't belong" or isn't "news for nerds" or it isn't "stuff that matters". Last I checked, no one had defined those in a universally acceptable way.

Some things don't matter to some people. Some things do. Sometimes I care about a /. posting. Sometimes I don't. If I don't find it interesting, I can skip it, and I can even configure my account to filter out stuff I'm not interested in. WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT (tm) HERE. Why do some feel the need to decrease the s/n ratio by complaining about stories they don't feel are relevant to *their* beliefs on what's important? Imagine if the same thing happened everytime someone spammed a usenet group... <ugh>

Frankly, it seems quite arrogant to me to run around telling people in a public forum that a story posted here isn't relevant to /.'s purpose (tm) and that we shouldn't be reading about it here. We WANT to read it here to see what kind of reactions/thoughts other people "like" us give it!

The /. authors post a wide variety of topics and stories to cater to the widest possible audience of nerds. They realize, unlike others, that "nerd" is near impossible to pigeonhole and that nerd interests run a wide gamut, some of which is campy horror movies. Get off their backs, people, they're doing their job. (And, I must say, doing it well; I've never missed an important update on something *I* care about from /.. Has anybody else?)

I think my point is clear. Sorry for the rambling. </RANT>

Re:(OT) Rant on rants, maybe flamebait

[SillyWiz]

Have to say, the more stuff on /., the less likely I am to get bored at work. This review might be only marginally relevent, but what the hell. It's not like there's a quota of only X stories a day and it's pushing something "more important" out. And... well... movies in a meta-culture vein are kind of geeky in a way. Now if we could just get people to stop "first post"ing. Isn't that EVER going to get boring?

Re:(OT) Rant on rants, maybe flamebait

[dsplat]

I have had it up the socket with people complaining about nearly every story on /., saying that it "doesn't belong" or isn't "news for nerds" or it isn't "stuff that matters". Last I checked, no one had defined those in a universally acceptable way.

Some things don't matter to some people. Some things do. Sometimes I care about a /. posting. Sometimes I don't. If I don't find it interesting, I can skip it, and I can even configure my account to filter out stuff I'm not interested in. WE'RE ALL DIFFERENT (tm) HERE. Why do some feel the need to decrease the s/n ratio by complaining about stories they don't feel are relevant to *their* beliefs on what's important? Imagine if the same thing happened everytime someone spammed a usenet group... <ugh>

When I saw the review pop up, I questioned (to myself) its relevance. Yes, it is only marginal. And I dug a little deeper about why I was questioning it at all. I certainly skip enough articles that don't interest me which are clearly within the charter of Slashdot. The bottom line is that I am feeling lousy today. I'm hungry for any interesting news and I'm hoping that the next Slashdot story will be it. I wasn't disappointed because it was a movie review, or because it was by Jon Katz. I rarely agreee with him completely, but his articles generate some good discussions here. I was disappointed because I want some Nerd News. Well it isn't Slashdot's fault and it isn't Jon's fault that this story came up first.

There is a fine line that the guys at Slashdot are walking. It would be easy enough to expand Slashdot to report every open source software announcement, every new SF movie, every cool piece of new hardware, etc. Instead of a manageable number of stories that everyone can scan any time they're here, we would start to get people missing stories, people filtering heavily and so forth. Slashdot would die from lack of any definition. The community here, contentious as it is, would fragment.

I have a copy of the Hacker Test sitting in my briefcase. Among the many questions, it asks:

• 0490 Do you read news?
• 0491 ... More than 32 newsgroups?
• 0492 ... More than 256 newsgroups?
• 0493 ... All the newsgroups?

When was the last time you considered reading all of Usenet? It is huge, largely unmoderated, and ill-defined. I still enjoy some newsgroups occasionally, but it has lost most of the feeling that a newsgroup was a community with some common interests. Achieving that requires some boundaries. There are some things that are simply off-topic. But is requires some acceptance of diversity in the group. And it requires a small enough body of shared information that we are all exposed to a significant portion of it. We are creating, on an ongoing basis, a community here. We are creating the shared experience.

Questioning the boundaries of the group comes with the territory. If this article was ovr the boundaries, by consensus, or by reflection after the fact by the Slashdot Gods, so be it. They can step back from the edge. If this is part of what Slashdot is and will be, I can accept that it is not so far from the other interests that draw me here that it will undermine the benefits I get from what I read here.

Re:The MPAA Shines Again (On-Topic)

[slim]

With the sheer volume of Region 1 DVDs being bought online from US sites by UK customers, to play on their chipped players, I'm guessing that movies will start reaching us a lot quicker, quite soon: otherwise cinemas will lose out.

At the moment, I can often buy a movie on DVD from Reel.com before it's even on theatrical release in the UK.
--

Dammit, Somebody's Made a Fork Call to the Katzbot

[Fleet Admiral Ackbar]

My fellow Slashdotters,

Some days ago I made you all aware of the danger of the Katzbot, a middling-length Python program with enough power to destroy an entire Slashdot topic. That danger still exists, but another, more horrible danger has arisen.

A fork call has been made to the Katzbot, and now it is simultaneously free-associating and reviewing movies that have been in the theater for weeks.

I'm afraid now that we will need two squadrons of "snub" fighters - one to place a proton torpedo in the "logic hole" vulnerability of the original Katzbot, and a second to fly into the enormous, empty meta-brain of the second one and blow up the power station's cooling tower.

But it won't be that tough. I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my T-38 back home. They're not much bigger than two meters...

Shorter Posts = Less Thought?

[Spittoon]

Mr. Katz,

I like your stuff. I'm sad that (so it seems) the vocal minority has browbeaten you into curtailing your long posts. When I read a long post, even if it's not all well thought-out, at least I know there's a lot of thought in there to find.

These shorter posts of yours, like this movie review, seem to have one brief idea with no exposition. It's like you're afraid to let yourself go.

In the old days, you'd have gone on at length about what was good about the movie, what was bad, why you think it was written as it was, what the movie might indicate about where movies are going and where they are right now, maybe a little about the fancy gadget that plays such an important role in the film, something about the role of everyday technology in the film, and on and on just like I'm going now.

Personally, I think it sucks.

Bring back the Jon Katz we (some of us) love to hate. Bring back the long posts!

Re:Jay & Silent Bob

[radja]

if jay and bob are in it, I gotta see it. anyone klnow when scream 3 comes out in the netherlands?

//rdj

Review: "Jon Katz's Review of Scream 3"

[Ken Williams]

Review: "Jon Katz's Review of Scream 3"

from the can-we-apply-this-article-to-the-daily-"things-tha t-anonymous cowards-think-really-suck-at-slashdot"-quota-? dept.

Jon Katz's review of "Scream 3" is a perfect example of wasted bits and bytes on a neat nerd news portal site that has nothing to do with lame cinematic trilogies. It's asinine, creepy, and slightly poopy, IMHO. And you don't have to be a genius to guess the ending ("What about you?", "What do you think?", "Discuss this amongst yourselves.", etc ...): Read more and post your own review:
As a half dozen Anonymous Cowards point out below, the thing about a Jon Katz review is that, unlike a typical slashdot article, anything goes - nothing has to make sense and irrelevance is the norm, because the third element of a Jon Katz review is really the first.

In a way, Jon Katz's conceit is one of the things that makes this movie review work so well. It's funny, at points chilling, and at the same time oddly touching, as the movie review is basically saying goodbye to itself and, for the moment, the genre.

This movie review isn't quite as well written as the first two (Jon Katz switched spell checkers), and it's definitely time to move along. The idea of the movie-review-spoofing-the-slashdot-article-spoofin g-the-Jon-Katz-portrayal-of-life is so apt it humors me, but we sort of get the point already. By the end of the movie review, you might be getting a bit restless, not because it isn't well done, but because it isn't well done for the zillionth time and in much the same way. In a way, that's sort of the point. It's time for a new vehicle to spoof ourselves, our darkest fears and Jon Katz's techno-culture obsessed life. In each of the Jon Katz movie reviews, it's neat to watch the evolution of nothing, from poop to a central scatological theme. That's smart movie review making, especially given the audience.

Jon Katz's review is still great fun. Anyone who guesses the ending should come forth and say so - it's nearly insulting. This series is one of those rare journalistic occurrences - a horror that's run its course but which will never be sorely missed. I'd give it a 0 out of a possible 1. What about you?

Sad, but true..

[x00]

Over here in the Netherlands I've found the releases vary even more than the UK. I've seen films that took another couple of months to reach the UK, and as for Star Wars.. I swear it was almost 6months after the UK.

As for DVD importing... a local shop here imports Region 1 DVDs (a nice shop.. all it sells are DVDs :), they're usualy the same price as over the net, and more often than not arrive quicker too.

Ever noticed how films released all over the world at once only seem to be flops? (Psyco remake, The Avengers.. etc). Personally I always wondered if they do it so "word of mouth" doesn't kick in before it hits a country.....

--

Re:Isn't this Off-topic?

[spiralx]

What does Scream 3 have to do with News for Nerds? This is hardly Stuff That Matters.

Then why are you even reading this article, let alone posting to it? Some of us here have a slightly broader circle of interests than just Linux you know.

Re:AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH, help me.....

[scumdamn]

Leave the man alone! He's veklempt.

Seriously, though, I don't like that either. It's too Here's what I think, my little geek minions, now give me your little opinion.

Re:Isn't this Off-topic?

[slashdot-terminal]

Then why are you even reading this article, let alone posting to it? Some of us here have a slightly broader circle of interests than just Linux you know.


I think the poster is pointing out a series of what psychologists call personality types and various circles of interest. People like Ned Flanders usually don't go off riding on their motorcycles and cause a mess of trouble on Sundays and people who are technologically inclined usually don't care about various actors and "entertainment" news unless it is science fiction or something to do with technologically interesting subjects.

If you like Scream fine but could someone please mention why this was posted and say not perhaps various political news? How about the newly elected president of Indonesia? Middle East peace talks? What about some issue that affects technology? I just would like some concrete proof and answers.

Brunching Shuttlecocks' review

[/]

The Self-made Critic on Brunching Shuttlecocks had a review of Scream 3 a little while back. His conclusion was that, although all the evidence pointed to the fact that this movie ought to have sucked, in fact it ended up being, well, fun.

As for my own opinion, needless to say, Scream 3 fails one of the prerequisites of a good film: it relies on too many popular culture references. Lasting films are self-contained, and if they have to lampoon something, it's a universal aspect of human nature or some such. Just look at the Princess Bride, for example. It's timeless, except for the opening scene where Fred Savage is playing the nintendo game "Bases Loaded". Some things are best left out, but clearly Scream 3 isn't aiming for that.

Re: Inappropriate

[Slak]

My problem with the story is that, generally, Slashdotters are at odds with the MPAA (witness the NY, CN and CA lawsuits. I believe that _Scream 3_ is distributed by Miramax. While Miramax is not listed as a member on the MPAA.org website, I haven't traced their corporate geneology to see if a parent company is. At any rate, Miramax's web site does mention that Miramax movies are available on DVD.

My problem is that this review tacitally endorses the movie and record (this though indirectly) industry. These companies are one of the biggest threats to OSS. Why support them even indirectly?

Cheers,
Slak

Re:This review doesn't belong on Slashdot

[Kyrrin]

> well, as pop culture can only be defined as that which is popular to the "majority" your advertising for MF is only helping them get there.

/. readers have never struck me as the majority. ^_~

People are different, you know

[spiralx]

... and people who are technologically inclined usually don't care about various actors and "entertainment" news unless it is science fiction or something to do with technologically interesting subjects.

That's a very sweeping statement about what people who read /. like and dislike. While I personally am a big fan of both science fiction and technology I do have other interests which interest me equally. I'm sure there are plenty of other /. readers who also have interests outside of these. Just because these are the only things that interest you doesn't mean everyone else is the same.

If you like Scream fine but could someone please mention why this was posted and say not perhaps various political news? How about the newly elected president of Indonesia? Middle East peace talks? What about some issue that affects technology? I just would like some concrete proof and answers.

Why was this posted? Why not? There seems to be plenty of comments about this film already, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this site meant to be about discussion? If absolutely no-one was interested as you claim then there wouldn't be any posts to this article. And as for concrete proofs and answers well you won't find any in this kind of discussion - people's opinions and thoughts aren't really subject to this kind of analysis.

So you don't think this sort of thing should be posted here on /.? Fine, don't read it. No one forced you to read this article, go through the threads and reply to a post. In fact if you object so much, why are you reading it?

Re:What in the...

[m2]

Could someone please, please, PLEASE tell me how any of the Scream series relates to geeks? I didn't think geeks like "scary" movies.

Funky, I was going to stay out of this one until I read this comment... most geeks I know do dig horror flicks big time. In fact, I'm a horror film fan, and I've been having a hard time finding good horror movies lately... the "big" productions are dull (Scream, H2O, ...) and the ones that aren't, are not horror films but psycho thrillers (Sixth Sense, 8mm, Blair Witch Project, ...). And the little productions, which are usually good horror movies, are not so easy to find, and some of us despise VHS.

Re:Isn't this Off-topic?

[spiralx]

You did know that Courtney Cox, Neve Campbell, and Jenny McCarthy are in it? Hotties are definitely news for nerds.

While I'd agree with you there 100%, I think he's still about 16 and very touchy about his True Linux Geek status, which is obviously null and void if he admits to having anything to do with things which aren't Linux or SF :)

Of course if he's not 16 then that's scary, because every post I've seen him make in the last month or so have been similar BS...

P.S. I personally prefer Sarah Michelle Gellar than the above mentioned, but I suppose they'd have to do ;)

What's different here?

[carlos_benj]

In three days we've had 2 movie reviews and a television review. Admittedly, this one has a more tenuous techno connection than possibly X-Files. But the Fantasia 2000 comments seemed to focus very little on technology (other than the difference between Imax and Omnimax), yet it is the Katz article that draws the sort of personal venom seen here.

Don't like the movie? Fine. Don't think the topic is right for /.? Fine. But why attack the author? Neither of the other two posters were attacked.

Jon wasn't as wordy this time, perhaps he's trying to address a running complaint. The Fantasia piece was quite lengthy. No complaints.

Maybe those vocally opposed to reading Jon Katz articles should just put one of those handy-dandy 'liberry filters' on their computers since they can't seem to escape the psychological vortex created by his writing. I'm sure Jamie has some contacts for anyone wanting referrals.

What amazes me is that some of the 'Jon Katz has no business here on our techno/nerd/geek playground' crowd are also some of the same folks who vented bile when filtering software was discussed for libraries. I would think those too weak to use their own brains to filter--'Oh, there's a Katz article, I'll skip that'--would welcome a software tool to do it for them.

Don't worry, Jon. You just hang in there.

Love, Mama Katz

Am I the only person boycotting the MPAA?!!!

[GOD_ALMIGHTY]

< RANT >
WTF, after they sent freaking storm troopers to harass our fellow programmers, have tied up our resources (time and $$), and are threatening our rights to Fair Use, you people are going to give them money!!!! WTF???

And Katz, who I normally tolerate can have outspoken opinions on the evils of the MPAA then go and review their f**king products, giving them publicity on a well visited board???!!!

If you people think we are ever going to make a change in this god-forsaken nation, then you have to actually do something, not just whine about it.

I've had to make repeated arguments to my wife about why we cannot go to the movies for the past couple of months. I'm doing my part, and I will continue to. I actually believe in the issues and discussions going on here.

WTF???!!!!
< /RANT >

Re:Isn't this Off-topic?

[spiralx]

Ever taken psychology? Ever actually noticed that people have things called majors that group them into various camps on the basis of what they do and do not like. Just because a person follows this very natural and very human mode of analysis dosn't mean that they are stupid of juvenile (what you inferred from that "he's 16" theory.

No, I've never taken psychology but by fiancee did at university and I used to read a lot of her papers. OTOH she was doing mainly neuropsychology rather than social psychology, which she felt was mainly a load of crap. But anyway, being a thinking person who has eyes and can notice I'm at least entitled to have my own opinion about things, even if they're wrong :)

When you talk about majors what are you talking about? I'm not being sarcastic, I'd just like some clarification.

I would say that a surer halmark of a 16 year old is a person who trys to lust ( in this case a stronger or more appropriate word than want to have or get ahold of) after some actress to no avail but I guess your definition of maturity is different than mine.

I don't know whether you've ever noticed this but most men find women attractive and tend to notice attractive women. I can't honestly say that I've ever sat there are lusted after SMG to the exclusion of all else, nor does she fill my every waking thought. I just think she's very good looking, that's all. Last I heard there's nothing abnormal about that.

Not just "me too"

[codemonkey_uk]

Not only do I agree with the above posters comments, but I'd like to point out that the slashdot people (probably) judge the success of a story by the amount of discussion in prompts. If you ignore crap stories they will go away. If you post to every crap story saying "this is crap" and then people reply saying "no its not", "yes it is", "stop complaining", "stop complaining about the people who are complaining" and so on, then that is a discussion, and therfore, a popular story.

Take a look at the hall of fame, and see what's popular by this metric.

Thad

Re:Not just "me too"

[jellicle]

I personally judge stuff by what's interesting to me, with a strong emphasis on civil liberties and freedom of speech issues, since I do things in the YRO section. I hope it will be interesting to the slashdot community as well, but judging by number of comments is no way to judge interest.

I frankly discount almost all "this doesn't belong on slashdot" postings. If you look at the posting history of some of those posters, you find they've posted similar comments dozens or hundreds of times on all sorts of stories. So... they're perpetual whiners. Nothing is likely to satisfy them.

The assorted slashdot authors have different priorities. I would never have posted anything about Scream, period, end of sentence. I thought the first movie was physically painful to watch, the hype was excessive, stupid, and excessively stupid, and it was a crime to bring out a sequel and capital offense to bring out a third movie. Such a thing should never be dignified by having a story on slashdot.

But that's just me. Others may feel differently.

--
Michael Sims-michael at slashdot.org

Re:What in the...

[bgarrett]

Every geek I know personally would do Neve Campbell.

Above and beyond that, I think many people are attracted to mystery for the intelligence factor - can the audience solve the crime before the characters in the story do? While Scream itself may have been classed as "horror", it is as much of a mystery as Agatha Cristie's work (albeit with a lesser pedigree).

But that's the whole problem

[DonkPunch]

Who are the "people like us" on this site?

Your statement that we're all different is wonderfully tolerant and inclusive. The problem is that, as a whole, slashdot isn't tolerant and inclusive.

I see the group mentality of slashdot as somewhat closed minded, sometimes insulting, and very often arrogant. Go back and read the article on running Linux on an S/390. One of the first and most highly-rated posts basically said nothing more than, "I think mainframes are obsolete." A huge portion of the article explained the amazing things that modern mainframes can do and why they are still relevant.

Nevertheless, someone who probably has no experience with modern mainframes -- whose entire computer world consists of x86 boxes with maybe the odd Sparc or Alpha -- runs as high as a 4 for spouting a pretty uninformed opinion that happens to be shared by a lot of "people like us". Personally, I don't want my misconceptions reinforced. I want them blown away. At their best, the posters and editors on Slashdot can do this.

It's silly for me to say, "I agree Slashdot's editors can post whatever they want (shareholders permitting :P )." That fact is self-evident. That's why I also think whining about "This isn't News for Nerds" is kind of pointless.

But I think that Slashdot, both its editors and participants, needs a big dose of criticism now and then. The group-think and self-congratulating gets pretty thick around here sometimes. Rob, JonKatz, and Co. *are* capable of posting articles that could rightly be considered "offtopic", "flamebait", or "redundant" and I don't see the harm in pointing out when it happens.

Hey, it's still a pretty cool site anyway.

Re:The MPAA Shines Again (On-Topic)

[arivanov]

Wrong. If you think that after they rip apart the "bigger" threat, namely deCSS they will not home on retail chains that sell non-region compliant DVD players you are wrong.

RPT:

The entire deal in deCSS is not about pirating. You can happily copy an encrypted DVD bit by bit and play it.

The deal is about regioning. If ol'e boyz network says though are not to see this movie until we done the advertising for it though ain't seeing this movie. Most of the profit nowdays comes from advertisements (30 min before the movie) and merchandise. The marketing for these is 100% regional. How dare you question the MPAA piece of bread.

There is no such thing as a region free player. Most players are intentionally left hackable by manufacturers and hacked by small repair/tune outlets before they go into sales in the big stores. But they are actually being hacked. Ask an insider at your closest high street store if you do not believe this. Or search slashdot or the register.

Preferences -> Exclude Topics -> Movies -> Shhh

[Commie]

Boycotting the MPAA, which includes boycotting reading about their movies(!) ?

Don't believe Slashdot should carry movie reviews?

I've seen all sorts of debate on the meaning of "News for Nerds, Stuff that matters", here's your complete, very limited hassle solution. Don't thank me, it's been around for awhile.

Where is the love people?

[Adam X]

At first I must admit, I cannot stand one word penned by the hand of Jon Katz. No matter where I've read anything he has written, whether it be Wired, /., etc, Jon Katz (IMHO) is merely a leech of a journalist. Just so you know, I filter Katz out on my account, and happened to click on the headline while browsing themes.org. I feel the need elaborate on an already well discussed (and off topic for this story) issue because it seems that Rob (or whoever) has yet to do something about it.

Now not to say I don't like the man himself, and this isn't a slam on his writing (even though I don't like it), but the one thing I must point out is that Jon Katz is horribly out of place. Sure, he is a "tech writer" or whatever you want to call him, but he knows very little about the subject matter on which he writes (yes, I know its been going on for ages). Is it to much to ask for someone who has actual technical experience? Does anyone honestly believe that merely knowing how to write makes a person fit for covering any topic as an authority?

I will even go so far to say that Mr. Katz isn't even a bad writer, he can get the point across elegantly (most of the time) and can even write a decent review every now and then (*cough*). The fact that he makes a habit of using exessive and brown-nosing verbage (Read: hype) when imparting his wisdom to the world is what makes him so annoying. He reminds my alot of a "suit".

All that being said, there is a place for Mr. Katz in this world (even if alot of ACs don't think likewise), I just don't think its on slashdot. As far as "News for Nerds" goes, Jon Katz should have never been allowed on the site. Jon Katz isn't a nerd, nor can he accurately write for or about them.

Realize that my opinion doesn't really matter, I'm merely sharing it. Why doesn't my opinion matter? Because of that second part of the slogan, "Stuff that matters (to Rob)". Rob (for some strange reason) liked Katz enough to give him an account, and all the AC flame in the world isn't going to change that.

So now we have a paradox.

Now I must contradict myself. Above I say that "Rob must do something about it", yet that won't ever happen, and really, even after saying so, deep down I don't care. It doesn't bother me that much, I'll keep filtering Katz just like always, and Katz will continue to make the small crowd of suits who saw "That slashdot thing" in a trade mag feel like someone still cares. Why did I bother to post this? Wasting my time, your time, /. disk space, and annoying some moderator by posting off topic? Well, because like my opinion, it doesn't really matter. When will anything we say here matter? When the people who run this place start taking us seriously.

So flame Katz to the ground, be my guest, it won't change a thing. Talk is cheap, if you guys want Katz of /. the only way to get what you want is to boycott for it. I don't just mean filter Katz, I mean stop reading slashdot all together. Otherwise, shut your holes.

Enough said.

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AdamX
"A witty saying proves nothing." -Voltaire

Re: Inappropriate

[Gromer]

Miramax shares its parent company, Buena Vista, with Disney, so it is, albeit indirectly, involved with the MPAA. As for why support them even indirectly, it's beacause movies are *fun*! I want to be entertained, so I'll gladly pay my $7 to go see a good movie, or my $30 to own a good movie- they provide a great service, and I pay for it. If they then start telling me what I can and can't do with the DVD I paid good money for, that's where I get off, and go download DeCSS.

Re:Why this is (supposedly) relevant

[Junks Jerzey]

Katz's oft-repeated claim is that "geeks are in love with pop culture."

Exactly. And it's true. The dichotomy is that the stereotypical web geek likes to think that he's underground and subversive, but what TV shows does he like? Buffy, X-Files and The Simpsons. What movies? The Matrix and The Phantom Menace. What books? Pulp fantasy, William Gibson, and Neal Stephenson. The Matrix isn't some underground secret; it was one of the most heavily marketed money makers of 1999. Yes, this is a stereotype, but there's a reason that the recent X-Files news item on Slashdot had 500+ comments posted about it.

In general, I'd say that the typical geek is about as trend following and mainstream as anyone else, much to his chagrin.

And my mother...

[TypoDaemon]

My problem with my mother is that, generally, I hate Microsoft. I know my mother knows a guy who knows a guy who works at Microsoft. At any rate, my mother uses Win9x.

My problem is that my mother totally endorses Microsoft and (this though indirectly) totalitarianism. These are the biggest threats to our freedoms today. Why support them even indirectly?

Cheers
The Typo Daemon

SONY

[doomy]

Same thing could be said of Sony, which owns almost 70% of MPAA.

Still we support them (with adds for their new doggy robot) and Taco's adverts about his ultra think VAIO and playstation.

I call for a boycott of all sony products.

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Re:The MPAA Shines Again (On-Topic)

[slim]

There is no such thing as a region free player. Most players are intentionally left hackable by manufacturers and hacked by small repair/tune outlets before they go into sales in the big stores. But they are actually being hacked. Ask an insider at your closest high street store if you do not believe this. Or search slashdot or the register.

Actually, I bought a DVD player in my local (UK) supermarket, and it plays both region 1 and 2 DVDs without modification -- nor even any secret remote sequence shenanigans.

Admittedly, the player was not advertised or labelled as a region free player; and a lot of it is shady stuff along similar lines to Playstation chipping. However, Region 1 DVD is *big* in the UK, and I suspect that the distributors will have a better time trying synchronise their release dates, than suppressing imports of DVDs from the States.

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