Speidi Tortured? Will Ferrell's Ride Ends / blog comment
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Joe Dunphy
Sep 3, 2009, 4:51:20 PM9/3/09
to Joseph Dunphy's File Cabinet
See: http://groups.google.com/group/joseph-dunphy/web/speidi-tortured-redirect
The self-named "internetcop" writes:
"Wow. You clearly didn't understand what you read at the JKM blog.
Try going back and reading it again.
That was not a review, nor did the writer indicate it was such, in any
way, shape or form."
Really? Let's take a look at the post Ted Rheingold links to on Muir's
blog, in the post above. I'll give you the url, for your convenience.
Title: Land of the Lost Revenue
Date: Sunday, June 07, 2009
Url: http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2009/06/land-of-lost-revenue.html
"Well, not that long ago I termed the new $100 million dollar Will
Ferrell film Land of the Lost a total failure of imagination. And now,
general audiences seem to agree with that assessment."
Muir, himself, uses the words "a total failure of imagination" to link
to this piece:
Title: A Total Failure of Imagination
Url: http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2009/02/total-failure-of-imagination.html
To call a film "a total failure of the imagination" is not critical
commentary, internetcop? Really? But then, what could Muir possibly
know about that piece. He was only the man who wrote it. Muir
continues his June 7 post, writing
"All I can say is...It's nice to know that good taste isn't
entirely...extinct.
I'm gratified that those movie-goers who grew up with the Saturday
morning TV series collectively turned their noses up at a cynical
enterprise designed purely to poke fun at the memory of a production
that was quite sincere, and quite special.
...
Transforming the beloved Land of the Lost into a stupid, mocking Will
Ferrell comedy was one of the worst ideas I've heard in a long time,
especially when a great Lost World/Jurassic Park-style thriller could
have been created in its place, given just the tiniest, most
microscopic sliver of imagination."
But this isn't a review? Riiiiiggghhhttt ...
Critical commentary slipped in on the side is still critical
commentary, and as I've pointed out, by Muir's own admission, he
prejudged LOTL. Let's take a better look at his February 09, 2009
post, about the same film.
"I try hard not to pre-judge movies that I haven't seen. To do so
makes no sense...what am I judging if I haven't seen the final work of
art?"
Does he go on to comment on a film that he admits that he hasn't seen?
Oh, yes ...
"Case in point: Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost movie. I just feel
grim, and a bit demoralized that a TV show I grew up has been
transformed into that most horrible of mongrels: the Will Ferrell
comedy of the week. Could it have been worse? Well, I guess it could
have starred Adam Sandler. Or - shudder - Rob Schneider.
Yes, yes I know the Sleestaks look just like they did on the 1970s
show. I realize there's a clear attempt in the film's production
design to maintain fidelity to the look and feel of the original
series. But frankly, that's the wrong kind of "faithful." It's
faithful only to be...jokey, to point out how fake and campy
everything crafted in the 1970s looks to us today. It's smug
superiority masquerading as "faithful."
As my snarky brother-in-law said to me over the Christmas holiday: how
does it feel to see your dream turned into a nightmare?"
... (snip) ...
For all those reasons, a serious, adventurous, exciting and scary Land
of the Lost movie -- along the lines of Jurassic Park -- could be a
wondrous thing. The series offers a great premise, after all, and
there are some great locations, creatures and characters to be mined.
But the best our slick pop-culture age can muster is a jokey Will
Ferrell comedy.
A product that makes fun of the original show, and that plays Chaka,
the Sleestak, the pocket universe...even the dinosaurs, for easy,
cheap laughs."
Not a review, "internetcop"? Again, we find critical commentary so,
yes, it's a review. Even if you're having fun pretending that it
wasn't.
Note to Mr.Rheingold:
Mr.Rheingold, I know that you screen comments on this blog, because
I've seen a delay of a good number of hours before my comments have
appeared. Fine. Comment screening is a sensible practice, especially
on a blog in such a prominent location, where spammers are likely to
swarm. But if you're going to take the time to screen comments, why
are you letting the trolls through?
We have somebody responding to one of my comments under an alias, on
an account on which only one comment is to be found and no homepage
link - things that should send up a red flag, immediately, because the
commenter, having established no kind of identity, doesn't have to
take any sort of responsibility for his remarks. The fact that he(?)
has named himself after a well known type of troll only reinforces the
point. It's the profile of a troll, and sure enough, we see this
individual inventing his own facts. Leaving me in the position of
having to drop everything, in the middle of a beautiful day, to have
to defend myself against a personal attack, as if I had nothing better
to do with my time.
A responsible blogger, as he screens those remarks, doesn't just watch
out for himself, he watches out for his readers who might be mislead,
and for those who've taken the time to post honest comments that have
taken a little thought and time to write. If I find myself having to
do a compare and contrast to debunk some troll's barely veiled
flammage every time I post a comment to this blog, then I'm just going
going to say that this is far too much trouble, and just not be
bothered with the blogs.com company blog at all. I think that you'll
find that a lot of other people feel likewise.
You can keep people like me, or you can keep people like internetcop
hanging around here, but you can't have both, and in the long run I
think you'll find that trolls become remarkably tedious reading, when
they have nobody but other trolls to respond to. Tedious enough that
after a while, you'll run out of readers. But it's your - and
blogs.com's - choice, either way.
I'll be reposting this to my personal Googlegroup, where it is almost
certain to be seen, just in case you decide to block it from appearing
here.
The self-named "internetcop" writes:
"Wow. You clearly didn't understand what you read at the JKM blog.
Try going back and reading it again.
That was not a review, nor did the writer indicate it was such, in any
way, shape or form."
Really? Let's take a look at the post Ted Rheingold links to on Muir's
blog, in the post above. I'll give you the url, for your convenience.
Title: Land of the Lost Revenue
Date: Sunday, June 07, 2009
Url: http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2009/06/land-of-lost-revenue.html
"Well, not that long ago I termed the new $100 million dollar Will
Ferrell film Land of the Lost a total failure of imagination. And now,
general audiences seem to agree with that assessment."
Muir, himself, uses the words "a total failure of imagination" to link
to this piece:
Title: A Total Failure of Imagination
Url: http://reflectionsonfilmandtelevision.blogspot.com/2009/02/total-failure-of-imagination.html
To call a film "a total failure of the imagination" is not critical
commentary, internetcop? Really? But then, what could Muir possibly
know about that piece. He was only the man who wrote it. Muir
continues his June 7 post, writing
"All I can say is...It's nice to know that good taste isn't
entirely...extinct.
I'm gratified that those movie-goers who grew up with the Saturday
morning TV series collectively turned their noses up at a cynical
enterprise designed purely to poke fun at the memory of a production
that was quite sincere, and quite special.
...
Transforming the beloved Land of the Lost into a stupid, mocking Will
Ferrell comedy was one of the worst ideas I've heard in a long time,
especially when a great Lost World/Jurassic Park-style thriller could
have been created in its place, given just the tiniest, most
microscopic sliver of imagination."
But this isn't a review? Riiiiiggghhhttt ...
Critical commentary slipped in on the side is still critical
commentary, and as I've pointed out, by Muir's own admission, he
prejudged LOTL. Let's take a better look at his February 09, 2009
post, about the same film.
"I try hard not to pre-judge movies that I haven't seen. To do so
makes no sense...what am I judging if I haven't seen the final work of
art?"
Does he go on to comment on a film that he admits that he hasn't seen?
Oh, yes ...
"Case in point: Will Ferrell's Land of the Lost movie. I just feel
grim, and a bit demoralized that a TV show I grew up has been
transformed into that most horrible of mongrels: the Will Ferrell
comedy of the week. Could it have been worse? Well, I guess it could
have starred Adam Sandler. Or - shudder - Rob Schneider.
Yes, yes I know the Sleestaks look just like they did on the 1970s
show. I realize there's a clear attempt in the film's production
design to maintain fidelity to the look and feel of the original
series. But frankly, that's the wrong kind of "faithful." It's
faithful only to be...jokey, to point out how fake and campy
everything crafted in the 1970s looks to us today. It's smug
superiority masquerading as "faithful."
As my snarky brother-in-law said to me over the Christmas holiday: how
does it feel to see your dream turned into a nightmare?"
... (snip) ...
For all those reasons, a serious, adventurous, exciting and scary Land
of the Lost movie -- along the lines of Jurassic Park -- could be a
wondrous thing. The series offers a great premise, after all, and
there are some great locations, creatures and characters to be mined.
But the best our slick pop-culture age can muster is a jokey Will
Ferrell comedy.
A product that makes fun of the original show, and that plays Chaka,
the Sleestak, the pocket universe...even the dinosaurs, for easy,
cheap laughs."
Not a review, "internetcop"? Again, we find critical commentary so,
yes, it's a review. Even if you're having fun pretending that it
wasn't.
Note to Mr.Rheingold:
Mr.Rheingold, I know that you screen comments on this blog, because
I've seen a delay of a good number of hours before my comments have
appeared. Fine. Comment screening is a sensible practice, especially
on a blog in such a prominent location, where spammers are likely to
swarm. But if you're going to take the time to screen comments, why
are you letting the trolls through?
We have somebody responding to one of my comments under an alias, on
an account on which only one comment is to be found and no homepage
link - things that should send up a red flag, immediately, because the
commenter, having established no kind of identity, doesn't have to
take any sort of responsibility for his remarks. The fact that he(?)
has named himself after a well known type of troll only reinforces the
point. It's the profile of a troll, and sure enough, we see this
individual inventing his own facts. Leaving me in the position of
having to drop everything, in the middle of a beautiful day, to have
to defend myself against a personal attack, as if I had nothing better
to do with my time.
A responsible blogger, as he screens those remarks, doesn't just watch
out for himself, he watches out for his readers who might be mislead,
and for those who've taken the time to post honest comments that have
taken a little thought and time to write. If I find myself having to
do a compare and contrast to debunk some troll's barely veiled
flammage every time I post a comment to this blog, then I'm just going
going to say that this is far too much trouble, and just not be
bothered with the blogs.com company blog at all. I think that you'll
find that a lot of other people feel likewise.
You can keep people like me, or you can keep people like internetcop
hanging around here, but you can't have both, and in the long run I
think you'll find that trolls become remarkably tedious reading, when
they have nobody but other trolls to respond to. Tedious enough that
after a while, you'll run out of readers. But it's your - and
blogs.com's - choice, either way.
I'll be reposting this to my personal Googlegroup, where it is almost
certain to be seen, just in case you decide to block it from appearing
here.
Joe Dunphy
Sep 3, 2009, 4:52:54 PM9/3/09
to Joseph Dunphy's File Cabinet
Followups can be found here:
http://groups.google.com/group/joseph-dunphy/web/speidi-tortured-followup
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