Friday, August 29, 2014

Dark Sabbatical

I've decided to take a break from this blog for the rest of the year.

Lately, I've been worrying about having to keep this blog updated as opposed to writing anything actually cool worth reading.

It's been this thing that has been compounding for a while.

You surround yourself with people who want to have views more than they want to write about anything cool. You read more from blogs about getting blogviews than you do anything worth blogging about.

It doesn't help that everyone gets offended by the wonderful drug that is the truth. Not agenda. Not policy. The truth.

Agendas are the pesticide of the truth.

Once upon a time, a man thought it was cool to have his film sponsor a charity project. The charity was part of the film's plot, so it felt like a good fit. It helped the movie make a lot of money. Developed brand loyalty. A "cult" like following, if you will.

But now, everybody does it. And it's annoying. Aaron Carter talking about the power of one while promoting Pokemon 2000. I bring this up a lot, but it represents how I feel about the marketing effects of false charity.

It's fine when you're making a documentary, but there's a lot of movies that I enjoy that will suffer from forcing an agenda down its throats.

A lot of movies that are cherished works would diminish from this. Can you imagine if The Goonies had some giant "save the environment" message in the middle of it?

It would completely destroy the plot of the film.

Honestly though, that stupid Pokemon 2000 junket is why Aaron Carter has drug problems. Same goes for any child star forced into a marketing tie in.

Spielberg merchandised those awesome Jurassic Park cups at McDonalds because he thought he was working on the greatest movie of all time (at least one of them) and he wanted to share this with as many people as possible.

Watch any Spielberg Behind the Scenes special.

Spielberg's crew of guys always work hard. And with each Behind the Scenes special, you appreciate their work. You know their names. Stan Winston. Phil Tippett. Throw in Ralph McQuarrie and Rick Baker while we're at it.

You don't get this with romantic comedies.

You love Alien? Who's the director of the first Alien? Immediately you say Ridley.

You love Aliens? Who was the director of that? You know. If you don't, it's only because you've forgotten for a second.

Hell, Fincher directed Alien 3.

But, having said that, answer this question without Googling/Wikipedia/Outside sources:

Who is the director of You've Got Mail?









Now, I like Nora Ephron, but I don't think most people who love You've Got Mail will care about the answer to that question. And that's frustrating.

A fan's love can cause resentment in an artist. Why can't you be more like you're earlier work? Why can't you look the same way you did in college?

The disposable and forgettable nature of culture also contributes to it. Ask any late 90s rapper.

And some bitter individuals will say that an artist needs to grind and shut up about the marketing ploys. That there are some people who go to jobs they don't like everyday, and that an artist getting paid is no different.

Well, Jon Voight had a job called Baby Geniuses 2.

It was a job.

He did it.

Do you applaud him on it?

Sisqo in Snow Dogs. He has money, doesn't he?

Go down the list on the pool of depression that is the Imdb Bottom 100. Do you applaud these people?

This is why I don't listen to short term knee jerk critics.

People are not accountable for their lies and opinions. I don't take people seriously because they don't take their own words seriously.

You can have all the health and wealth in the world, but if your passion is not in the right place, it amounts to nothing.

90% of culture doesn't feel like this thing of sincere compassion. It feels like another thing you have to do.

This blog has turned into this thing I have to do in order to promote Weight Loss Terrorists and my writing career.

That sucks.

Why can't it just be a cool blog talking about awesome things? Why do they insist on ruining everything?

People always ask about an artist's motivation.

I think they do that because they themselves don't have motivation.

Do you ever question someone's motivation to eat ice cream?

You wouldn't. You would rather question someone who didn't eat ice cream.

People sound like annoying children with all their questions.

Film criticism is up and film quality is down.

It's not fun. I go out. I don't have fun. And then I come here. And it's not even fun.

There's no fun.

So I'm done. Maybe till 2016.