The Blogging Journalist

Variety: 'Newspapers Showing Critics the Door'

Diane Garrett at Daily Variety, the venerable daily newspaper that has been covering the film industry since 1903, reported February 1, 2008, that, "Studios have long questioned the relevance of film critics. Now, even newspapers are doing it." See "Newspapers showing critics the door."

"Many have recently eliminated their longtime critics, opting to pick up reviews from outside sources rather than devote dwindling resources to film criticism at a time when the blogosphere is exploding with all sorts of film critiques and opinion," she declared.

Garrett concluded that, "The heyday of the local critic may soon be gone forever -- if it isn't already."

Well, if critics want to continue reviewing films they can always get a blog.

Technorati Tags: Film Critics,Variety,Diane Garrett

The 'LonelyGirl15' Controversy Continues

Emily Hill over at the UK blog Spiked has one of the best commentaries I've seen to date on the fake video diarist ‘LonelyGirl15,’ which became a sensation on YouTube over a four month period. See "MyScam: the PR puff behind 'internet stars.'  As Hill notes:

A home-schooled 16-year-old American girl, calling herself Bree and operating under the blogger title ‘LonelyGirl15’, has been posting a video diary on YouTube, documenting her ‘so-called’ life in two-minute snatches since 15 June 2006. Her parents, she says, are soooo strict; she also lets us meet Daniel, her friend who has an obvious crush on her but who she doesn’t like ‘in that way’; and she has a hand-puppet called the Purple Monkey who does silly things like judge an impromptu cookie contest. Purple Monkey also recently staged a press conference admitting that the video blog is, in fact, a ‘project’ and ‘I don’t think anyone at the project expected it to evolve the way it did….

Tom Foremski, proprietor Silicon Valley Watcher, notes in "Lessons from the saga of LonelyGirl15: Mainstream media + blogosphere = mediasphere on steroids" and "How the secret identity of LonelyGirl15 was found , Lonelygirl15 is a fake girl cooked up by a "Hollywood talent agency" (Creative Artists Agency (CAA).) His son Matt discovered that Lonelygirl was aspiring Los Angeles actress "Jessica Rose, a 19 year old  from New Zealand." The Foremskis have claimed an exclusive although others dispute their right to claim it. See Wikipedia's article headlined "LonelyGirl 15."

Wannabe filmmakers Ramesh Flinders, Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried have acknowledged that that LonelyGirl15 is part of a movie project." See Chicago Tribune blogger and Internet critic Steve Johnson's September 15, 2006 post headlined "LonelyGirl15 is no mystery, she's a YouTube formula (with a movie deal to follow)." Johnson interviewed Matt Foremski, who told him how he used Google to track down Rose based on clues from other bloggers, commentators and and her own site.

Recommended: "Bloggers Blog's "Jessica-Lee Rose (Lonelygirl15) Appeared in KFC Commercial and Short Film."

It's The Bloggers' Fault

The Hollywood Reporter's Martin A. Grove reported August 23, 2006 in what appears to be a ha, ha, ha tone that "New Line's bumpy launch for "Snakes on a Plane" is a good example of how bad things can happen to nice people on the Internet."

"In this case," he writes, "unfortunately, the "Snakes" flight was probably doomed to disappoint from the point that Internet bloggers began their wild embrace of the picture. Before looking back at how obscure bloggers generated such widespread attention in cyberspace for the R-rated "Snakes," let's consider why it underperformed to such an extent."

For Groves's take on the film, bloggers' role in promoting it and what he calls its underperformance at the box office last weekend, see "'Snakes' flight doomed to disappoint.

By the way, Groves says one marketing pro told him August 19, 2006 that "the bloggers are stupid (to have anticipated a blockbuster opening)."

I think the movie will eventually make a lot of money through video and DVD sales. And it has yet to open overseas, as far as I can tell. I wouldn't be surprised if the film became a cult classic over time. It's basically a young folks film.

Jory Des Jardins' Question About Snakes On A Plane

Jory Des Jardins asks in an August 22, 2006 post at BlogHer: Is 'Snakes on a Plane' worth the platform it's promoted on? It's a valid question and she attempts to answer it in a long, thought-provoking post.

Spielbergfilms.com: There's A Bogus Steven Spielberg On MySpace

The editor of the fansite Spielbergfilms.com reported May 30, 2006 that, "A couple of fans brought it to my attention this weekend that someone is impersonating Steven Spielberg in a MySpace account."

 

Spielbergfilms.com  said, "The fake Steven Spielberg’s page doesn’t portray itself as a joke (like other previous false Spielbergs), rather, this imposter claims he’s the director and that he’s there to keep fans apprised of his future projects (including the absolutely tired rumor that Spielberg is somehow potentially connected with the upcoming “Angels & Demons” film.)"