:01.02.03.04.05.06

it's official.
my blog has jumped the shark. 

i don't know what possessed me to try and write lengthy segments from old journals rather than off the cuff disgruntlement.  I have received several emails which I will reprint here.  The names of the emailers have been removed because I don't want any reprisals.

"dear ken,
your blog sucks. what happened to it?  why did you think i should have to read a 3000 word account of your dalliances with hookers in other countries?  how do you think I felt when i finished having read all of that bullshit?  either go back to shorter pieces in the present tense or just make the jump to myspace.
fucking hack,
-donger"

i hear you donger.  And I think you're right.  I have a responsibility to the half dozen or so people who read this to be entertaining, brief, pithy, real, short, funny, and brief.  And I'll get back to it now.
i would like to raise a question.  is my friendster Angela really pregnant or was it just a random shout out? feel free to respond in this space, Angela.  my question is about movies.
why is it that I am completely unable to talk civilly with people about movies?
Why is it that when someone enjoys a movie that I don't, I immediately feel angry, upset, as though the world is completely upside down? (If we could skip the obvious answer "cuz you're a presumptuous cock", I think that'd be helpful.)
It's not simply an issue of taste.  When someone tells me that they think a bad movie is a good movie (and of course this is subject to my opinion- which is hard earned, and honestly pretty great) I feel compelled to argue, to complain, to beat my head with my hands?
Do you feel like this?
I put so much fucking stock in this.  Plays are almost impossible to be good.  The amount of suspension of disbelief required for a play, not simply invoking the imagination, but ignoring the blatant missteps of a playwright, a director, and the actors which pulls you out of it.  Seeing a great play is like witnessing a sea turtle giving birth underneath a rainbow while a unicorn looks on smoking a cancer-free cigarette.  It's amazing, but it can't be expected all the time.
Movies are different.  They have a bunch of chances to get it right.  Multiple takes.  Multiple camera angles.  Editors.  Foley Editors.  Choice of actors.  So much bullshit that you can control.  Movies should be good.  All the time.  They should never be bad. 
And human beings should not accept anything less than a great movie. 
But they do!
They fucking do!
People will go and see terrible movies.
And then they get on my case for wondering why...
WHY?
WHY?
WHY??

 

Comments

[Kate]

i'd say that's an incredibly naive way of looking at the hollywood machine, kenbe. all those controllable entities and multiple chances are exactly what degrade and dilute the quality of the average film. the more people involved, the more control becomes an illusion and vision becomes watered down (that's assuming there was vision to begin with, of course, and often there is not). it is humanly impossible for all involved, from the studio heads to the actors to wardrobe to the poor bastard doing the movie poster, to check their egos and personal agendas at the door, which contributes to the dilution. the process of making a film is counterintuitive to the way many actors work, and absolute control over who is cast is only given to the big dogs (or the little guys with their crappy indies who don't matter to the studios). throw the financial beast of budget and the often crunched shooting schedule into the mix, and... well, i feel the opposite. i'm amazed movies EVER manage to get it right, considering everything (and everyone) involved. i watch a movie a night (shut up), and at this point i haven't seen a good film in a while, though i've seen many instances where an excellent choice has been made or a great performance is given. but a complete, overall, totally knockout film? almost impossible to pull off. film -- a controlled environment, yes, but hardly something easily controllable.

[Deanna]

Hm.

[Jim]

Sometimes, when we are together, I am quietly terrified that someone in our company will say something positive about a movie. All this time I thought I was going crazy.

[Angela]

Yes...I am actually pregnant. 3 months so. I have been throwing up for 2 of those months faithfully. The biggest suprise is that my Dr. said it was impossible.
This is why I havent been a friendster/myspace blog whore lately.

[Angela]

dont you hate when you dont spell a word correct that you learned in grammer school? I mean surprise...come on. Now, I cant take it back and I look like a jackass. Your thinking, wow..and your reproducing.

[Angela]

damn it..its grammar school!!!
and the beginning of the sentence should be spell a word correctly..i am going back to bed...or throw myself down the stairs.

[Ken]

Also it's "you're reproducing" rather than "Your reproducing."
A little late on the trigger, but it needed to be said.