the folks out there get to decide..if lots of people read it, talk about, then it belongs..if not, they don't..you could argue that all movies are inherently tech..fact, I would argue that. You could make that case for Rent too, which had a huge tech component to its production..but no musicals for me..the rugrats on the other hand..
P.S But let's be fair..
on
The Pledge
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· Score: 2
The movie reviews are generating a lot of interest..lots of readership, comments, e-mail, etc. I think to be democratic, people in the/. world have to decided if they want to have a movie discussion or not, and they vote with their keyboards..So far, the answer is yes, they do want ot talk about movies..
And remember -- nobody has to read anything they don't want to read or aren't interested in..
Mimicking msnbc..you know how to hurt a guy..At the moment, sticking to movies, tho...certainly happy to write about the R-rats..have done SImpsons and South Park, etc., repeatedly and in many forums..MSNBC? Yuk..I'll go incinerate myself.
But if you think I'll ever run out of tech stuff to write about..now there's wishful thinking..you ought to see the queue of backed up columns. How could somebody run out? I could write 20 a week, and all of the ideas come from out there..very neat.
This is a great and smart point, but I promise you, this movie has nothing in common with When Harry Met Sally..the point is very well taken, but the truth is, sad and bad endings in Hollywood arre rare, and more interesting, the thing about this movie I found so surprising was that it wasn't sugar coated in any way..no happy love, life or other outcome..very rare, I think. True of Crouching Tiger, tho..
I'd be eager to know what you think when you see it, but I think the Pledge is more unflichingly realistic than many movies I've seen, tho not more than "The Sweet Hereafter."" Talk about bleak..
I think what you're saying is very true. Culture is a mirror. For reasons I don't quite understand, but would love to hear more about, tech and pop cultures seem very related..Don't know why, tho
...what a catastrophe..No, I think you're on solid ground there, though I love your idea that people who can't code shouldn't be allowed into movie screenings..that would sure alter movie criticism.
Pop Culture...very interesting post
on
The Pledge
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· Score: 2
I think this is important. Pop culture is an almost universal language to many people on/. and the tech culture..they almost never agree on things like movies, but certain movies almost everyone will see and talk about sunday and mondays..the meaning of pop culture in lives started earlier..rock esp..and has only mushroomed, I think. Everybody on this site sees some movies and watches some tv shows..just why I wanted to do culture reviews, btw..and I couldn't be getting more e-mail..Nice..
P.S. Because...(not to slight Mr. Ebert)
on
The Pledge
·
· Score: 2
...to me, madness was sort of the brave point of what Penn as doing, the very part that wasn't a Hollywood ending..
I didn't know trainspotting was funded that way..but I can't imagine the government ever supporting filmamkers, not this one. The British model of news gathering makes me think you have a point there..but what about government control?
Again, what this is about..
on
The Pledge
·
· Score: 1
As many of you know, this is becoming a regular Sunday a.m./. feature, hopefully evolving into a movie review/discussion topic in which a writer, critic, coder -- for the moment, me -- gets the conversation going, and more and more people feel free to review, comments and talk about movies and some other forms of tech culture -- mostly movies and TV (one interesting future topic might be how the XFL is using video technology to try and undercut the NFL).
Tech culture is very loosely defined here as movies and programs there's a lot of interest in..it's a subjective choice. I respond in part to e-mail subjects and other nodes on various threads. I look for interesting movies, those with tech themes, and those with attitude and POV.
This is the fourth week, and the readership is high I'm told. So has the quality of many of the comments. Lots of smart ones.
As with any public Net/Web online community discussion, there will be flames, adolescent chest-thumping, testosterone discharge, odd and off-topic respones, attacks on the writer, personalizing of disagreement..etc. Most of you know this, but this is the inevitable chorus that accompanies any open site..It's not going away and it's not debatable or particularly important. Just think of it as living near an airport with jet noise.
Remember that only a small fraction of readers post, and of those, only a small fraction flame or are overtly hostile. Unfortunately noise to sig ration is high.
We're all human, and sometimes take the bait, but in general it's a waste of time -- if you focus on reading the increasing number of very smart reviews that are being posted and comments about film history and technique, you'll find it as rewarding as I and others have.
Flame diversions are only momentarily satisfying, IMHO and even then rarely.
This topic will work a lot better if we don't take that bait, and respond instead to the significant number of people who actually want to talk movies and culture. They are here in large numbers -- many lurkers because of the head-butting -- and are ultimately more interesting and significant. Eventually the people who want to talk will grow and dominate...maybe.
The good news is that this is beginning to work. Please feel free to e-mail me your own suggestions for movie and Tv topics, as many of you already are.
Again, my review just gets the conversation going. It's not meant as the last or only word, just the first.
I've been lucky in that I've gotten paid to review movies for nearly 10 years now and really love it..if I could afford to do it full-time, I would. Next best thing is participating in this column. My reviews are discussion-starters, and your opinions are as good -- or in many cases,much better -- than mine. But all criticism is subjective, valid to the individual. My wish is that this grows into an open movie/culture discussion, and it seems off to a good start.
A reminder that any kind of movie discussion -- here, in mags or papers, has to discuss plot..I never give away endings, but unless you simply say this movie is great or sucks, you can't discuss the movie without discussing..well, the movie. I don't ever give away endings, but like most professional critics, I always discuss some plot. People who understandably don't want to know anything about a movie might best stay away from this column and discussion. If you do discuss plot in your posts, it's nice to indicate that in the subject heading.
Plse e-mail me if you have any questions about it..thanks...
Some of these posts..this one, for sure..are great, and we ought to try and find a way to get them published online especially.
I was mulling the credits over and over, and couldn't quite get what they were doing..I think you nailed it, especially with the suspension of disbelief..thanks..
I'll be here every week posting reviews no matter what the response (and btw, the page hits on the reviews have been very high, I'm told). Please send me your ideas. Some of the posts here about the movie are great..This is definitely going to work..Don't worry..anybody who thinks a few teen flamers are going to discourage me or shut me up is really on strange stuff..I live for feedback of all kinds..If they ignored me..well, that would kill me..
I think I was definitely on a geek crusade when I started writing for the site three years ago but that's not the case in this review..
Nosferatu was a geek (not in the computer sense) but in the original sense..a freak, a totaly outsider..I think people might be taking the term too literally here...It's definitely a geek movie, but computer geeks aren't the only kinds.
Thanks for the other words. I get healthy doses of praise and criticism here, and I appreciate both. The trolls...eh..can't say I spend much energy thinking about people with that much empty time on their hands..
Yes, I think I need to write shorter..But it's hard for me, especially as one trained as a magazine and book writer.
I also feel there needs to be someplace for pieces with some depth...But I hear you and will try and trim it down. Stay on me.
Thanks Mart, I appreciate your post and the growing number of smart movie posters and posts. This thing is going to work, and I'll be doing reviews every Sunday. Please keep coming and posting.
Obviously, if these people really disliked my work in a rational way, they'd skip it. The fact that they don't (this isn't confined to me, but to just about anybody who writes on slashdot) suggests it isn't really about my work at all.
As somebody who is a paid critic and commentator, I will always get a certain measure of hostility, which has always been the case in a decade of writing online. Unfortunately the hate-writers tend to drown out the very smart messages..this discussion is the best one we've had yet.
I feel I have the best job on the Web writing for Slashdot, and plan to be around a long time. I've made a ton of friends in this community, and have a zillion friends here, online and off.
If people have trouble reading me, Rob has given them to tools to block me out. Or they can just skip it. If they don't, then they have other motives, and it's their problem. I don't have a strong need to be popular, and never have really. I'm very happy writing here, though and am quite comfortable with the people I work for and with the great feedback I get, pro and con. The haters will get sorted out in time.
You actually couldn't say anything to me that I would take as a greater compliment than that I'm anti-mainstream. Maybe you ought to stick to CNN, which is inherently mainstream.
I'm actually quite a boring, mainstream guy..drive a mini-van, live in Jersey, pretty dull stuff.. I don't like corporatism much, but I might watch the Super Bowl..good ads..And after all, I am crazy about the Yankees..doesn't get much more mainstream than that, no?
But I hope you realize what you're writing here. It's a sort of fascist notion, hating ideas and people you disagree with. Not really healthy. If you don't like my work, just don't read it, or set your prefs. The fact that you're here suggests something else is going on, since you may have noticed that there are people who want to have conversations that aren't hostile, and they have rights as well.
But if the charge against me is that I am not a mainstream person, and if that is a crime in your view, I'm sure guilty.
First off, you can see from the posts that some people agree with my POV, and some don't. You really think that's bad? That you should only read posts that agree with you, critics that feel the same way you do?
Only one or two people really know how people view me on/., or how many people read me or not..I'm sure they're not sharing that with trolls. Obviously enuf people read me and like me for me to be here,and to get paid to be here.
The trolls are not discriminate in their hostility. You don't have to do anything to be a target except exist, as any/. writer knows.
But I ought to make something clear, since the topic was opened. I really am not interested in being popular. Never have been popular, and have gotten stuff for my writing from the get-go, beginning with when I wrote a piece in Rolling Stone saying the Net was important..Took a lot of shit for that.
Also when I wrote for Hotwired. The cypherpunks were a lot more hostile than the trolls, and much more literate.
I hate to break the news, but I don't write to be popular. It just isn't important to me. People who hate people because they don't like their ideas are inherently creepy, and I'd prefer that they dislike me.
Every writer or other person I admire in the world was despised at one point or another. I'm not running for mayor, and I get more than enough praise.
In fact, I get through the night quite comfortably. Most of the criticism I get in e-mail is very polite and thoughtful..and useful. I really pay attention to it. But this kind of unreasoned hostility isn't about me one way or the other. The feedback that scares me isn't from teen jerks acting out, but from people who actually know what they are talking about. They can really rip you one...
I'm not sure what you mean by surrealism here..Could explain here or e-mail me? Intersesting thought..I thought Orlock's negotiating skills were meant to make him the Ovitz from Hell..would like to hear more from you about that, if you have the time..Thanks for the neat post.
No, no...this IS bad news..But don't worry, it will pass..Probably tomorrow..Fortunately I have never experienced broad agreement..wonder what it would be like..
Slashdot Mirror
the folks out there get to decide..if lots of people read it, talk about, then it belongs..if not, they don't..you could argue that all movies are inherently tech..fact, I would argue that. You could make that case for Rent too, which had a huge tech component to its production..but no musicals for me..the rugrats on the other hand..
The movie reviews are generating a lot of interest..lots of readership, comments, e-mail, etc. I think to be democratic, people in the
And remember -- nobody has to read anything they don't want to read or aren't interested in..
Mimicking msnbc..you know how to hurt a guy..At the moment, sticking to movies, tho...certainly happy to write about the R-rats..have done SImpsons and South Park, etc., repeatedly and in many forums..MSNBC? Yuk..I'll go incinerate myself.
But if you think I'll ever run out of tech stuff to write about..now there's wishful thinking..you ought to see the queue of backed up columns. How could somebody run out? I could write 20 a week, and all of the ideas come from out there..very neat.
This is a great and smart point, but I promise you, this movie has nothing in common with When Harry Met Sally..the point is very well taken, but the truth is, sad and bad endings in Hollywood arre rare, and more interesting, the thing about this movie I found so surprising was that it wasn't sugar coated in any way..no happy love, life or other outcome..very rare, I think. True of Crouching Tiger, tho..
I'd be eager to know what you think when you see it, but I think the Pledge is more unflichingly realistic than many movies I've seen, tho not more than "The Sweet Hereafter."" Talk about bleak..
I think what you're saying is very true. Culture is a mirror. For reasons I don't quite understand, but would love to hear more about, tech and pop cultures seem very related..Don't know why, tho
...what a catastrophe..No, I think you're on solid ground there, though I love your idea that people who can't code shouldn't be allowed into movie screenings..that would sure alter movie criticism.
I think this is important. Pop culture is an almost universal language to many people on
...to me, madness was sort of the brave point of what Penn as doing, the very part that wasn't a Hollywood ending..
...interesting comments..but I'd be curious about what you meant when you said you wanted more?
Thanks for the fix on Atom..love the post..never been to a private screening in my life..
Maybe Smoke Signals..Anybody else ever see that?
This is interesting..would ou be willing to say morea bout Der Verdacht.I'd be very curious to know how they differ...
...I'd be interested in your review of The Family Man, if you were willing..didn't see that, but heard a lot about it..
and in fact, theirs doesn't read like mine, as shud be instantly obvious..but if it did, how do you know they're not plagiarizing me?
I didn't know trainspotting was funded that way..but I can't imagine the government ever supporting filmamkers, not this one. The British model of news gathering makes me think you have a point there..but what about government control?
As many of you know, this is becoming a regular Sunday a.m.
Tech culture is very loosely defined here as movies and programs there's a lot of interest in..it's a subjective choice. I respond in part to e-mail subjects and other nodes on various threads. I look for interesting movies, those with tech themes, and those with attitude and POV.
This is the fourth week, and the readership is high I'm told. So has the quality of many of the comments. Lots of smart ones.
As with any public Net/Web online community discussion, there will be flames, adolescent chest-thumping, testosterone discharge, odd and off-topic respones, attacks on the writer, personalizing of disagreement..etc. Most of you know this, but this is the inevitable chorus that accompanies any open site..It's not going away and it's not debatable or particularly important. Just think of it as living near an airport with jet noise.
Remember that only a small fraction of readers post, and of those, only a small fraction flame or are overtly hostile. Unfortunately noise to sig ration is high.
We're all human, and sometimes take the bait, but in general it's a waste of time -- if you focus on reading the increasing number of very smart reviews that are being posted and comments about film history and technique, you'll find it as rewarding as I and others have.
Flame diversions are only momentarily satisfying, IMHO and even then rarely.
This topic will work a lot better if we don't take that bait, and respond instead to the significant number of people who actually want to talk movies and culture. They are here in large numbers -- many lurkers because of the head-butting -- and are ultimately more interesting and significant. Eventually the people who want to talk will grow and dominate...maybe.
The good news is that this is beginning to work. Please feel free to e-mail me your own suggestions for movie and Tv topics, as many of you already are.
Again, my review just gets the conversation going. It's not meant as the last or only word, just the first.
I've been lucky in that I've gotten paid to review movies for nearly 10 years now and really love it..if I could afford to do it full-time, I would. Next best thing is participating in this column. My reviews are discussion-starters, and your opinions are as good -- or in many cases,much better -- than mine. But all criticism is subjective, valid to the individual. My wish is that this grows into an open movie/culture discussion, and it seems off to a good start.
A reminder that any kind of movie discussion -- here, in mags or papers, has to discuss plot..I never give away endings, but unless you simply say this movie is great or sucks, you can't discuss the movie without discussing..well, the movie. I don't ever give away endings, but like most professional critics, I always discuss some plot. People who understandably don't want to know anything about a movie might best stay away from this column and discussion. If you do discuss plot in your posts, it's nice to indicate that in the subject heading.
Plse e-mail me if you have any questions about it..thanks...
Some of these posts..this one, for sure..are great, and we ought to try and find a way to get them published online especially.
I was mulling the credits over and over, and couldn't quite get what they were doing..I think you nailed it, especially with the suspension of disbelief..thanks..
I'll be here every week posting reviews no matter what the response (and btw, the page hits on the reviews have been very high, I'm told). Please send me your ideas. Some of the posts here about the movie are great..This is definitely going to work..Don't worry..anybody who thinks a few teen flamers are going to discourage me or shut me up is really on strange stuff..I live for feedback of all kinds..If they ignored me..well, that would kill me..
I think I was definitely on a geek crusade when I started writing for the site three years ago but that's not the case in this review..
Nosferatu was a geek (not in the computer sense) but in the original sense..a freak, a totaly outsider..I think people might be taking the term too literally here...It's definitely a geek movie, but computer geeks aren't the only kinds.
Thanks for the other words. I get healthy doses of praise and criticism here, and I appreciate both. The trolls...eh..can't say I spend much energy thinking about people with that much empty time on their hands..
Yes, I think I need to write shorter..But it's hard for me, especially as one trained as a magazine and book writer.
I also feel there needs to be someplace for pieces with some depth...But I hear you and will try and trim it down. Stay on me.
Thanks Mart, I appreciate your post and the growing number of smart movie posters and posts. This thing is going to work, and I'll be doing reviews every Sunday. Please keep coming and posting.
Obviously, if these people really disliked my work in a rational way, they'd skip it. The fact that they don't (this isn't confined to me, but to just about anybody who writes on slashdot) suggests it isn't really about my work at all.
As somebody who is a paid critic and commentator, I will always get a certain measure of hostility, which has always been the case in a decade of writing online. Unfortunately the hate-writers tend to drown out the very smart messages..this discussion is the best one we've had yet.
I feel I have the best job on the Web writing for Slashdot, and plan to be around a long time. I've made a ton of friends in this community, and have a zillion friends here, online and off.
If people have trouble reading me, Rob has given them to tools to block me out. Or they can just skip it. If they don't, then they have other motives, and it's their problem. I don't have a strong need to be popular, and never have really. I'm very happy writing here, though and am quite comfortable with the people I work for and with the great feedback I get, pro and con. The haters will get sorted out in time.
You actually couldn't say anything to me that I would take as a greater compliment than that I'm anti-mainstream. Maybe you ought to stick to CNN, which is inherently mainstream.
I'm actually quite a boring, mainstream guy..drive a mini-van, live in Jersey, pretty dull stuff.. I don't like corporatism much, but I might watch the Super Bowl..good ads..And after all, I am crazy about the Yankees..doesn't get much more mainstream than that, no?
But I hope you realize what you're writing here. It's a sort of fascist notion, hating ideas and people you disagree with. Not really healthy. If you don't like my work, just don't read it, or set your prefs. The fact that you're here suggests something else is going on, since you may have noticed that there are people who want to have conversations that aren't hostile, and they have rights as well.
But if the charge against me is that I am not a mainstream person, and if that is a crime in your view, I'm sure guilty.
First off, you can see from the posts that some people agree with my POV, and some don't. You really think that's bad? That you should only read posts that agree with you, critics that feel the same way you do? /., or how many people read me or not..I'm sure they're not sharing that with trolls. Obviously enuf people read me and like me for me to be here ,and to get paid to be here.
/. writer knows.
Only one or two people really know how people view me on
The trolls are not discriminate in their hostility. You don't have to do anything to be a target except exist, as any
But I ought to make something clear, since the topic was opened. I really am not interested in being popular. Never have been popular, and have gotten stuff for my writing from the get-go, beginning with when I wrote a piece in Rolling Stone saying the Net was important..Took a lot of shit for that.
Also when I wrote for Hotwired. The cypherpunks were a lot more hostile than the trolls, and much more literate.
I hate to break the news, but I don't write to be popular. It just isn't important to me. People who hate people because they don't like their ideas are inherently creepy, and I'd prefer that they dislike me.
Every writer or other person I admire in the world was despised at one point or another. I'm not running for mayor, and I get more than enough praise.
In fact, I get through the night quite comfortably. Most of the criticism I get in e-mail is very polite and thoughtful..and useful. I really pay attention to it. But this kind of unreasoned hostility isn't about me one way or the other. The feedback that scares me isn't from teen jerks acting out, but from people who actually know what they are talking about. They can really rip you one...
I'm not sure what you mean by surrealism here..Could explain here or e-mail me? Intersesting thought..I thought Orlock's negotiating skills were meant to make him the Ovitz from Hell..would like to hear more from you about that, if you have the time..Thanks for the neat post.
No, no...this IS bad news..But don't worry, it will pass..Probably tomorrow..Fortunately I have never experienced broad agreement..wonder what it would be like..