Posts Tagged ‘Sweet Home Alabama’
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Sep27
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN
September 27th, 2002 |
(19 votes, average: 8.26 out of 10)
There is so much to loathe about Harry Knowles and his crappy excuse for a web site. Probably so much because there is so much of him to get around! If you’ve never seen a picture of this guy, let’s just say when he sits around the computer… people move it out from underneath him.
He’s fat, okay?
I find Knowles one of the most contemptible personalities of the “dot com” era – right up there with Matt Drudge and The Hamster Dance.
Like a lot of people, Knowles found fame and fortune not because he provides anything of substance, but because he got there first. Knowles is the embodiment of every geek stereotype there is. A fat virgin living with his parents basement, squawking so loudly about matters so inconsequential, people just had to turn and look.
Amassing a following of those like him, Knowles built his empire around the hard work and weaseling of others. What scoops did he ever gather on his own? He’s in the middle of Texas, for crying out loud!
I think the Aint It Cool News phenomenon really reached its apex around the time Knowles start portraying himself as some kind of internet success story and the parlayed that into some kind of faux-celebrity. I remember him guesting with Roget Ebert in the interm after Gene Siskel had died and before he had been replaced with that dolt Richard Ropert.Watching him butt heads with Ebert in some act of cool defiance, I thought to myself, “This is it. I’m watching the end of irony.”
Knowles is the worst kind of “rags to riches” story because he has no compunctions about being flown out on the studio’s dime to see some crap movie and give it a passing grade. As long as they’re handing out extra-extra large promotional t-shirts and the free briquette is being offered, why not belly up, as it were?
In my opinion, the minute Knowles decided to turn himself into a brand — host conventions and have books ghost written for him –, he should have developed some journalistic ethics. His whole “I’m a fan” defense is bull – masked, I might add by his persistent refusal to update the look of his site past the standards of 1996.
Knowles is a cyst on the movie-loving community. And I’m not preaching from the mount when I say this. I’m a fan with my own biases and opinions just as he. But the minute you start to exploit the system that is putting food on your table, you’re no longer one of us – you’re one of them. You are no longer reacting to manufactured buzz, you are helping to create it.
Eventually, I see Knowles loosing it all — never knowing the taste of the validation he so clearly seeks.
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The scenario in today’s strip is close enough to the truth to make a joke out of it. I’m finding the war coverage more and more oppressive. I was really left with very little choice but to go out and find some mindless escapism. So Cami and I went out and rented a bunch of dumb movies. We would have seen Phone Booth, but as you can imagine, we weren’t to up on seeing a movie about terrorism at the moment.
For the record, we really did rent The Master of Disguise and Undercover Brother. You won’t find me near Sweet Home Alabama with a ten foot pole, so our third movie was actually Wet, Hot American Summer.
Despite my better judgment, I really like Master of Disguise, but I’m glad I didn’t see it in a theater. Truthfully, I’m just more excited about Dana Carvey doing his thing than anything else. I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time. It’s a crime he isn’t in more movies.
I really liked Undercover Brother. I laughed out loud several times – which shocked me, because I’m not really fond of Eddie Griffin. But it was racial humor done right. If it had come along before the Austin Powers franchise, I picture it being much more popular. Be being the “johnny-come-lately” that it is, there’s a certain “been there, done that” feel about it.
Clearly the best of the three movies we picked up this weekend was Wet, Hot American Summer. I wish I could describe it to you, but I can’t. Basically, it’s a send up of every cheesy 80’s movie cliche there is – but I’m not talking in a Breakfest Club kind of way. Think Meatballs. It stars Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde Pierce, but it was written and directed by some cast-offs from the comedy troupe The State. You might remember the show they had on MTV for a couple of seasons in the mid-90’s.
Do yourself a favor and rent it. It’s got cult status stamped all over it.
Beyond that, I’m still getting used to updating the site through the new PHP script Comrade F from The Misc. helped me to install. For more background information on the big switch, check out Friday’s strip.
Last, but not least, I’d like to publicly thank those of you who donated over the weekend after I detailed the sob story about my car and the $700 in repairs I’ve been laid up with. You’re help means more than I can express.
But this generosity got me to thinking: I’m not usually one to ask for a handout. I’ll take it if you give it, but it only seems far to give something back in return, right? That’s why I’m pleased to announce that I am working on a THEATER HOPPER POSTER!
My hope is to get this off to the printer this week. My plan is to do a really small run and number them so those of you who buy them know you have something extra special in your possession. If they turn out to be a success, I’ll whip up a brand new poster with a limited print run and number those, too!
I’ll sign the poster for anyone who wants the autographed and plan on shipping them in tubes so they don’t get ruined. PayPal looks like the logical choice for now, but if you have any suggestions for internet transactions that don’t charge a fee, drop me a line.
I’ll let everyone know when I have more information!
Thanks again!
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