Open Discussion – October 28, 2009

Man, I'm whipped - been working all day on back end stuff to try to make the site load much faster.

I hope nothing breaks and that it's a noticeable improvement.

Vic

Anybody interested in seeing Amelia?
I want to ,
But it looks so bad I cant take the plunge.

Thanks GK333,,, ;-)

@790

"I’m kinda upset Vic you didn’t cover that Gamorrean Guard Life-Size Bust…

I totally want one to put next to my Jar Jar Binks life size bust. It would complete my wall of Lucas Shame collection.."

You crack me up!!

@SmartAss

No worries, I just wanted to point out that not all the items you called fluff were in fact, fluff. :)

And you know you don't HAVE to read every article we publish (although I won't complain if you do). Heck, I have a TON of sites I follow and I don't read every single thing they put out even though I'm good friends with a lot of them. Heck look at some of the monster news sites out there, I'm sure they put out WAAAAY more articles than we do on a daily basis.

Always appreciate constructive feedback.

Vic

Vic,

I seem to have gotten under your skin a bit, so much so that you searched all those other sites for fluff articles. You have some valid points and appreciate what you do for Movie/TV aficionados like myself. But, 120 articles in 10 days is madness. It's simply too much content in my opinion. Like I said before, I could be completely off the mark. I just wanted to bring it to your attention as it seems that no one else did. I think you guys do awesome work and I visit the site daily, which is why I have a vested interest in the quality of content. I certainly do not take offense to your post. This is your site, and you have to defend it as such. As my name suggests, I just like to "introduce a little anarchy."

I'm kinda upset Vic you didn't cover that Gamorrean Guard Life-Size Bust...

I totally want one to put next to my Jar Jar Binks life size bust. It would complete my wall of Lucas Shame collection... ;-)

@SmartAss

Out of the 11 items you listed, six of those posts are related to Halloween movies and have been very popular in sparking discussion. That was actually my editorial decision as I thought it would be fun for readers to have some holiday-specific posts.

Three of the remaining items are TV related and of interest to readers who look for TV news (you DO know we cover TV as well as movie news, right?). Ratings information IS news when it comes to TV just as box office numbers are relevant to movies.

DVD purchase and rental - that's germane to our audience.

And how is a novel in talks to be made into a movie NOT movie news?

We've always been and will continue to be an editorial site. If you and your friends want straight-up news with no commentary it sounds like ComingSoon.net may be where you want to hang out. We don't force anyone to read every article on the site, and different people like different content.

Everything we do here (or 99%) is directly related to television and film. In the last 10 days we've put out about 120 articles - out of the list above I would only call the six Halloween articles so-called "fluff" and that's a pretty minuscule percentage (5%). Not that we consider those articles "fluff" anyway.

Here are some recent articles that you would call fluff from some other well known movie news sites:

/Film (and this is just in the last 3 days):
"Cool Stuff: Gamorrean Guard Life-Size Bust"
"VOTD: Grace Director Paul Solet Carves a Jack O’Lantern"
"Geek Deal: Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece DVD Collection for $54"
"This Week in DVD & Blu-ray: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Orphan, Whatever Works, and More"
"Cocktail: The Musical Coming to Broadway. Let’s Take a Look at the Possible Jams."

LatinoReview (past 4 days):
"'Blair Witch' or 'Paranormal Activity'?"
"Good Bye DVD, Hello Downloads?"
"New Twilight Title Art"
"Paranormal Activity Cuts Saw In Half Becoming #1 Over The Weekend"

MTV Movies Blog (past 2 days):
"Horror Hero Sam Raimi Reveals His Favorite Scary Movies For Halloween"
"'E.T.' Phones Home In Today's Sick Day Stash"
"The Team Behind 'This Is It' Remembers Michael Jackson"
"'World War Z' Author Max Brooks Shares His Favorite Halloween Zombie Flicks"

So it seems we actually put out less fluff than other sites.

I do appreciate the feedback though and hope you don't take offense at my reply. :-)

Best regards,

Vic

@Joshi

Well as a long time TV veteran, the writing on Castle is actually quite good. As much as I like Nathan, if the show had blown I wouldn't be watching it despite his obvious charms. The characters are developed in time and as allowed by the cases that they are working on. My spouse (who is quite adept at these things) says that they do a good job of hiding their twists and each episode has it's own tone, not all of it is playful nor is it completely a drag either. The relationships that Castle has with his mother and daughter are especially gratifying and entertaining. I would encourage you to give it a try.

Vic,

Thanks for addressing my post. I'm sort of shocked that I have to point out what is considered fluff. However, I went back 10 days and pulled a few articles that seem to go beyond your mission statement:

How’s the Jay Leno Show Faring These Days?
Fun For Everyone Halloween Films – Part III!
Horror Plus Crime: Se7en
Studios To Separate DVD Purchase and Rental Release Dates?
Fun For Everyone Halloween Films – Part II!
No More Free Hulu?
Halloween Beasts of Horror: The Animals That Scare Us
Sci-Fi Novel Series ‘The Culture’ to be Movietized
The Weather Channel To Show Movies
Fun For Everyone Halloween Films!
Horror Plus Thriller: 28 Days Later

Now, I could be completely off the mark, but the above mentioned articles just don't capture my attention. I have a few associates who stopped visiting your site specifically because of the lack of true movie/tv news. I'm just waiting for the article titled, "How Does the Third Season of Quantum Leap Hold Up Against the Garfield Remake?" In today's fast-paced world, staying current is everything. Discussing movies that bombed at the box office ten years ago is questionable content in my book? I'm still going to visit your site daily, but I think this point of view needs to be expressed.

Thanks for lowdown Vic. Gotta vote now.

cantizzle wrote:
"i just don’t dig the whole gothic, metrosexual skinny jeans things that it seems a lot of the youth are following. it started before twilight, but it helps feed it when all these young girls are fawning over this stuff"

Lol, great way to describe it, but I think I would have added emo somewhere in there...

Yah, I feel this whole vampire fascination is very childish. It seems like the goth/emo, paint your fingernails black, retarded phase some people go through when they are a teenager. And this whole "vampires are romantic" BS that girls seem to believe is retarded. How is a guy that goes around killing people for their blood romantic??? I've been sick of vampires long before Twilight, but Twilight really has made it worse, lol.

@ the old man

I saw the article about Berg being off Dune on firstshowing.

gotta say, for those Fillion fans, this last week's episode of Castle was a well done tip of the cap to his Firefly and Buffy days, as their Halloween episode was one. You got to see Nathan in his old Captain Reynolds gear one last time (down to his suspenders)even including the pistol and all as they made jokes like, "what are you supposed to be?" "well I'm a space cowboy" and that was followed by "didn't you wear that costume, like five years ago?".

Good stuff for those lovelorn fans of the old series.

Say M-Cat did you read that at Chud or First Showing?
Chud's Devin Faraci wrote his sources verify the original report that Berg is gone.
If it's true good, Berg has half a chance to salvage his career. Although "Battleship" seems like a poor second to go to, he has a better chance at connecting with an audience with that though than a can of condensed spice essence that's expired somewhere back in the 1980's.

@SmartAss

If you could give specific examples of what you consider "fluff" I'd like to hear it. We've been doing some Halloween themed articles this month just for fun and we have been trying to concentrate on original features in addition to the daily news (and people have been enjoying our features, BTW).

So give me some specifics, I'm curious what you consider fluff.

Vic

@The Pitt Man - Gawd I hope so!

@SmartAss - we have fluff? where? I need some fluff to stuff my scarecrow with for Halloween night :D

@Tim - OMG! Aaaa-Aaaa-Aaaa....heh...way too funny. Thanks so much....Aaaa-Aaaa-Aaaa...Aaaa-Aaaa-Aaaa...Aaaa-Aaaa-Aaaa

What"fluff" are you talking about?

I'm a loyal SR reader and occasional commenter. But, I have to be honest, I'm having some problems reading the information on your site in the last month or so. It seems like a lot of fluff and no real hard-driven information. I understand that there isn't a lot going on in the movie world at the present, but giving us fluff in an attempt to provide content is not keeping my attention. I'm not sure if there is a new marketing model where your writers are being influenced to provide quantity rather than quality, but this is a disturbing trend. Just thought you should know, as I'm sure I'm the only one who feels this way.

Twilight is a poor man's lost boys, it will fade into the... twilight.

i just don't dig the whole gothic, metrosexual skinny jeans things that it seems a lot of the youth are following. it started before twilight, but it helps feed it when all these young girls are fawning over this stuff

Ya know, Originally, when I saw the first of the twilight series, I thought this is pretty good. The whole sparkling sunshiny day vampire thing was a little weird, but overall it wasn't a bad film.

Now with all the hype, pomp/circumstance, overwhelming, overused, overdone, amazingly annoying marketing and fan-fantabulation.....I'm done! I swear I hear someone else going on and on and on and on about twilight....I'm ready to strangle them. Sheesh, I thought McDonalds was bad with their never ending market strategy. It's all over everything.

Is it just me or (like Joshi, M-Cat, 790 et al have said) have we gone so far past the saturation point where Twilight is flooding over everything and everyone, that your going to have an anti-twilight blitz? I mean I had considered seeing the second movie...now, I couldn't give two cents and will not see it nor spend ANY money on it.

@Joshi...

True Blood is an excellent series, and the second season of the series has been nothing short of amazing. Can't wait to get the DVD's and watch it again.

I have no problem with seeing adult vampires on the big and/or small screens, but it's these teenaged vamps who deal with angst, rather than acne, who've worn out their welcome with me.

Joshi

I agree about True Blood - that's a pretty good show and I watch it even though the vampire craze is rabid. Unfortunately, we might see more of the vampire genre with the next Spiderman if they go with Morbious as the villain.

Interesting story I just read that Peter Berg is off of Dune and that Paramount wants Neil Blomkamp. Too bad they can't get him now.

@790...

I hear you and I do understand where you're coming from on this issue, so trust me ... I'm not offended in the slightest by what you posted.

This whole Twilight phenomenon is getting on my nerves, primarily because so many kids (including a couple of my 'tween-aged nieces) are spending money on everything connected with Twilight -- from books to CD's to dolls -- like it's going out of style, and it's all they want to talk about.

Seems like Twilight is everywhere, and after a while, the excessive saturation of the teen-angst vampire genre becomes tiresome because of the cookie-cutter books which have sprung from the success of Twilight (The Vampire Diaries, for instance), with different versions of those angsty teen vamps floating around.

Even though I still like the vampire genre, I'll be so glad when Twilight finally runs its course, and we can get a break from angsty teen vampires. I'm not hatin'... just being honest. :)

@Ken J

I heard recently on a science podcast that each of us averages about a hundred unique mutations on the genetic level throughout our lifespans. So yes, mutations are commonplace.

@others

For some anti-twilight fun check out (assuming links are OK, Vic?) http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1921792 Just, uh... turn down the volume, it can get annoying.

790

you don't care what Twilight fans think? Well, I can't stand Twilight fans. Bash me for being a jerk all you want but the movie is Melrose Place or 90210 with vampires lol.

Oh and if anyone is interested I suggest searching google for "The Cup of Tears". Great new trailer out for this wicked looking samurai sci-fi movie.

M Cat, have you been out to a Barnes & Noble lately?
I had some time to kill yesterday so I walked down to the local B&N. Apart from the book store being practically empty (another topic) there were vampire books and spin off novels everywhere I looked. Making of Twilight, the romance of Twilight, the blah blah blah of Twilight,,,, on and on it went,,,,
Also in my face everywhere were the Twilight book series. They have all been republished so that the cover art looks like the characters from the film, and there's gotta be 30 different magazines all related to Twilight and vampire stuff...

I've never seen such a completely stupid genre (vampire teen angst)have such a huge impact on todays youth...
Its like crack or heroin to some of these losers...
And I'm sorry but losers is the correct term (IMO). As I'm not directing that comment at an individual rather a group of people...
At this point I don't care what Twilight fans think of me or my opinion.
Keep that in mind if your about to comment on this...
I won't use hate speech but don't get offended reading between the lines. Cause I don't care anymore about twilight fans...