Monday, July 28, 2008

Me. Writing. The Cinema Blog.

There are a couple of things I've been wanting to say, but none of them deserved a whole piece. Then it occurred to me I could kill a couple of birds with one stone (common mynahs perhaps) and I wrote the following.


Me

Whilst I was reading Dave McGowan I appreciated it when he told his readers what he looked like. Whilst I have no desire to be famous, or recognised, or anything other such thing, (I don't call myself nobody for no reason) I can see how there's a lot to be said for a reader being able to attach an image or description to the fellow one's reading. The idea that people should communicate without knowing what the other party looks like is, in the span of human existence, absurdly recent, and as such vaguely unsatisfying. And far be it from me to go against a million years of human evolutionary psychology.

I also liked McGowan's means of doing this. He merely named the famous person whom he most closely resembled, that being Kevin Bacon. Funnily enough I've actually already written about the fellow whom I resemble with an in-joke that only I got - this being over at the cinema blog in my review of Blueberry. My precise words were, 'He is exactly that kind of cinematic French ugly'. Ha! I crack myself up! Anyway, the fellow I'm talking about is Vincent Cassel. Who? Exactly. Happily, hardly anybody has seen his films or noticed him when they did. But those who have, declare the resemblance spooky. Should M. Cassel ever appear in a movie playing some long-haired, ill-shaven variant of a hippy, switch the screen format into some kind of anamorphic squeeze so that he appears tall and skinny, and there you'll see yours truly.

You may also be interested to know that I have an indeterminate accent. It's not quite Australian and not quite English. It seems no one is able to place me. When they ask me where I'm from, I always answer, 'Nowhere in particular'. This is true of course, and sure enough I have the accent to prove it.


Writing

Writing here has been a very interesting exercise for me. I don't know about other people, but me, I love the actual physical act of it. One of the best things I ever did was to learn to touch type. I enjoy watching words appear on the screen without me giving the least thought to what my fingers are doing. As someone who spent most of his life working with his hands, this is as close as I get now. Actually that's kind of sad, but never mind.

To be honest, the physicality is the least of it. The biggest questions are: who am I writing for; and what point am I making. The first question is ever fluid. I hold no fixed position on this and will sometimes chop and change within a single piece. That light-as-a-feather 'Hitman 5' thing I wrote was a perfect case in point. That was simultaneously written for: unsuspecting gamers who dream of assassinating people; the game designers who train them to think this way; the ever lurking spooks; regular readers who hopefully will get the gag; and me, sure enough. Sometimes I declare who it is I'm addressing and sometimes I don't. I like to keep the ground shifting and it pays to be nimble.

Then there is the matter of what point I'm making. Sure enough, this depends on who I'm addressing, as in that Hitman thing - different points for different people. But if I'm in stentorian mode addressing the masses (ha ha ha, just for the record I now average 60-70 hits a day - masses indeed) I do attempt to focus on a single point (or view perhaps). Ideally I'll be running at 180ยบ to conventional wisdom. I've no desire to write something we've all read a dozen times already. And sometimes I fail, sure. And sometimes I confuse people too. I'm rarely straightforward and embrace ambiguity and sideways attack. Sorry, but that is what it is.

Otherwise, for every piece I post, there'll be another rejected and consigned to the 'unfinished' folder on my hard drive. Some seem to go nowhere and some I just can't tie up in any kind of satisfying fashion. So I ditch 'em. And of what I do post, some fly off my fingers and some get torn down and rebuilt over and over. I prefer the former, sure enough. The latter are arduous. And sometimes they're worth it and sometimes they're not. Inspiration is a funny thing. Great ideas go nowhere and dull ideas round up nicely and get lots of comments. I'm always surprised by what does and doesn't inspire people to comment.


The Cinema Blog

For some reason the cinema blog gets about a tenth as many hits as the church blog. It's possible that this is because I post so sporadically. It's also possible that people don't groove on it. If it's the latter, I'll have to be honest and say, I don't get it. For mine, there's not much difference between the church and the cinema. In approximately half the reviews I write there, I barely talk about the film as such. Often as not the film is merely a prop or spur for some other point I want to make. Other times I address the context that surrounds the film. I do this because I'm bored to death with reviewers who discuss films in complete isolation from their sociological meaning, or intent, or impact. With this in mind, it's often a complete toss-up as to what blog I put it on. Annemarie (who's on sabbatical at the moment it seems) made exactly this point when I did The Ground Truth. She was probably right. I probably should have posted it here.

And so it is with the latest effort, Bloody Sunday. I bounced it backwards and forwards and in the end decided to write it for the cinema blog. Unsurprisingly I barely discuss the film itself. Instead I try to make a point about non-violence and also discuss the film that Bloody Sunday isn't - if that makes any sense.

Otherwise, I've seen a couple of flicks lately and they'll keep me over at the cinema blog for a bit. It's possible something will pop up and put a wild hair up my clacker in between times, and I'll be back here to have a spray. Um, believe it or not, that was the main point I wanted to say. For someone who doesn't have much to say, I do go on. I expect it's just the joy of the typing.

PS It seems African Warrior, apropos Bloody Sunday, is urging me to do 'better' movies. Like Dark Knight. Perhaps he's got a point.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there nobody...

For what it's worth, your cinema take and your general take both resonate here, at the other end of one of those regular German hits on your IP log.

Your timing on McGowan was quite Serling in the last week. In the couple weeks prior, I and my native spouse had been "catching up" with his stuff, especially the ongoing Laurel Canyon series.

If I had to list the "Top 3" individuals on the web whose views and perspectives most closely match my own, it would be McGowan, Jeff Wells and yourself. Don't let the hit counters motivate -- or demotivate -- you. Just keep it flowing until they shut you down.

Over.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, I forgot the most important detail:

I have been described as looking rather like Simon LeBon -- if you stretch him up to 1.88m (74") and dress him more like Karch Karaly and less like Truman Capote... =)

kikz said...

ah.. cat like toulour, in ocean's 12 & 13.. i had to look him up :)

interesting character, huge body of work....

y, typing to me is like breathing... most often in the vernacular :)
comes naturally.. mama, back in the day, could kill 110min on a manual... eazypeazy. it fed me for years as clerk/sec/exec. admin. and i can still realtime converse quite easily on chat clients although i'm out of practice. i usually find most peeepz are painfully slow in realtime.. there's an art to it, for sure.

you do a lot of good work.. i do stand in awe:)
i just wasn't familiar w/the last movie, and frm your description, wasn't interested... i do love the reviews as socio-analysis. and enjoy the haiku.. wish i had the workin' gray matter and time to attempt the cryptos.

i find it comforting as well as informative to cultivate friends here in the ether, it's always good to be able to get the lowdown from other parts of the world. prespective don'cha know. can't trust MSM for shit.

my first outreach in this respect came on the heels of the Oklahoma City bombing.. i remb we had AOL at the time.. and i went into the chatrooms to see what i could find out.. how widespread it was... a single event or widespread.. that early 90's? i've used this medium somewhat akin to skipshortwave or hamradio for that very purpose... even though i gave up AOLhell and later the chatrooms eons ago. also chk'd my '4 corners' on 911 to make sure all hell hadn't broken loose other places and we just weren't being told.

my kids just look at me slackjaw'd when i try to tell them.. when i was kid, we usta hafta do research in 30yr old world book encyclo's or actually travel to the library :) HA!

i love the net.. it's the world in a box :)
the research factor alone is the greatest thing since sliced bread, as 'they' say.

well.... just glad ta've metcha 'bud o mine' :) i look fwd to readin your type as long as yer here :)

gallier2 said...

Hi, nobody, here is your european fan again and I wanted to tell you that I do read both the church and the cinema blog of yours with the same delight. Your movie reviews are really excellent, exactly because you have a distant (in space and time) look at the movies.
In short, continue as you do.
Sorry for mangling the language, I'm not a good writer in my two mother tongues (French and German), so it gets worse when it comes to lately acquired languages.

Anonymous said...

How about a review of Fight Club?

nobody said...

Wow,

What kind comments. You've done my head in.

As always it's nice to hear from the European regulars. And I love it when polyglot Europeans apologise for their English despite the fact that they speak it better than 50% of native English speakers, ha ha ha. Cheers Gallier.

And Miraculix, there I was thinking you were merely a dream of Uderzo and Goscinny, when actually you're the love child of Simon LeBon and Karch Karaly. Urgh! And thank God Capote wasn't in attendence. That would have been one participant too many.

But you make a good point about the statcounter. It IS distracting. It's simultaneously enlightening and confusing. I almost wish I didn't have it.

And kikz, as ever, you are too cool.

Thanks anon. You are right. I really should do Fight Club. The only problem is my dvd collection is 1000km away in a shed on a country property, along with all my former Ikea life. The truth of the matter is that I was Tyler Durden. But I didn't blow up my apartment. I just walked away.

kikz said...

hey noby,

just found part 8 laurel canyon, frm 7/24 is up.

Anonymous said...

If youre going to walk away, at least take the DVDs with you, ya drongo! :p

Oh, I hadnt actually noticed that you have multiple blogs.

nobody said...

Kikz, way ahead of you mate. It was brilliant as usual. And like I said over at Pen's, I just about fell out of my chair when I read that a Paulekas married a Rockefeller. What the fuck is that all about? Otherwise Penny also put me on to some more undiscovered (by me anyway) McGowan brilliance - http://mindcontrolforums.com/pedo1.htm

McGowan just continues to do my head in. In that abovelinked 'pedophocracy' thing don't miss the bit in the last chapter where he reproduces the customs agent report on the bust of the 'finders' headquarters. Read it carefully and wonder at its implications. It's perfectly staggering.

Hey Paul, how grasshopper-like you are today! I can barely keep track of you. For the record, my DVD collection (in spite of the fact that I threw away all the covers and keep them in those CD book things) probably weighs in at over 20kg. Seriously, it's insane. I have 150 discs of Hong Kong flicks alone. Same-same for Japan. Can you dig it?

Currently everything I have can go in a suitcase. If I had my DVD collection with me I wouldn't have any room for clothes.

Anonymous said...

So watch DVDs naked, whats your point? :p

Re:appearance, I dont recall anyone famous that I look like although I have been accused of looking like Jesus by my brother (long hair, unshaven).

nobody said...

Ha ha ha ha ha. Sure why not?