This is my film blog. Thanks for coming.
Here's my deal.. I went to see 19 movies last year. Going to the movies is not cheap. If we settle at $8 a pop (figuring in for a few $3 shows,) that works out to $152 spent. Add in my Netflix bill and your at about 330 bucks total for the year. For me, that is a significant investment, and one that I make happily. It's more than I spent on pretty much anything else this year. Movies are and shall ever be my hobby of choice. As time has marched on, I have found myself growing more and more fond of and interested in and knowledgeable about movies. Last year, I got to write a dozen or so reviews for a little independent magazine, and I got my first taste of writing for an audience. I was proud of myself and what I did. I liked it a lot.
I believe in film criticism. I read it all the time. People like Roger Ebert (he's never gotten enough credit,) Jonathan Rosenbaum, Pauline Kael. The good ones, past and present. There's lot's more. Time magazine, Jim Emerson, Entertainment Weekly, The Reader. A few choice blogs. Their writing on film has made my appreciation grow immensely. I do NOT believe in Ain't it Cool News, and the rest of the endless myriad of other such phony-ass fan boy criticism sites. When I see their idiotic ramblings slapped onto ugly movie posters and trailers.. It's then that I feel most compelled to write about film. When I see what passes for "important" film writing. It's despicable.
People tend to think that film criticism is all about fat, hoity-toity film snobs bitching about some movie they probably liked. It isn't, of course (well maybe sometimes.) Or maybe criticism is. If so, fuck criticism. I'm not about being critical. But hey, people go around bitching all the time, don't they? Maybe it's time that I do some bitching of my own (<-- alternate title for blog..) Maybe I won't actually bitch so much. I believe there will be a generation of young filmmakers, but perhaps not one of young film writers. Often I wonder, when I go to see a movie downtown, maybe at Gene Siskel or somewhere else near a school, and I end up leaving the theater with a few dozen or more young people just like me: Where do these people go? They go to the internet, I guess. If so, I guess it's my turn. Maybe they just drop out and become potheads or something, or try to get jobs as set photographers. I would prefer to write.
I believe that the time may arrive before we die that people will no longer go to see movies in theaters, and I do not accept that.
I believe in the necessity of thoughtful art to produce and shelter thoughtful people.
I believe in film as the greatest and most capable of all art forms, and as the medium with the capacity to bring the greatest joy to the greatest many.
I believe in the theater and I believe in DVD. I believe in Netflix.
I also believe in the internet. It is a petri dish for ideas, and for language, both good and bad. It has taught me many things. It has the power to create discussion where there was none before. If you believe in something on the internet it is your electronic duty to stomp your feet and yell and scream about it as loud as you fucking can.
Finally, I believe in teaching myself. I need to learn the difference between being long winded and and being insightful and detailed. I'm gonna give it a try.
My love for movies used to manifest itself in collecting them. It still does, sometimes. I have a large wall in my home to prove this. Maybe collecting my thoughts about movies will be equally, if not more valuable. (If you're wondering if this means I might be capable of parting with my DVD collection, the answer is a firm and angry NO.) My
Anyway.. I work. Quite a bit. I'm a student as well, but not an art student. I can't exactly give my life to this. If I was independently wealthy, I probably would. I would just sit on my couch or in a theater all day, watch movies, go online, read about movies, write about movies, have dinner and go to bed. But I can't. Maybe when I retire, but not yet. Thus, the title of this blog. I hope it does not come off the wrong way. I am interested in writing about my experiences as an average person of (perhaps) lightly above-average intellect with a (hopefully) refined taste for and belief in the world of movies, past present and future. So, I figured if I plan to go on writing as much as I can, when I can, about the movies, I might as well pin down a place to put it all. So this is my new place.
We live in dark, troubling times. "Alvin and the Chipmunks" has made 161 million dollars, and it's not out of steam yet. My friends: We cannot allow this to go on. I will exercise my brain and my fingers in the service of movies, and you should too. I'm working on thinking up new ways to write and stay fresh and make this blog an interesting place to read about the movies. I hope you come back. When you do, let me know what you think.
I am sick as a dog in my very cold room and I have stayed up until well after midnight instead of putting my laundry away just to finally finish writing this. I think that's all I need to say. Stay tuned for new writing.
-GH
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