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I remember going into a cinema without having any preconceived notion of what the movie I was about see would be about. Now, with instant texting, instant messenger, Facebook, Twitter (seriously, why did I get Twitter...), blogs updated every single day, and a general acceleration in word of mouth communication, I find myself going into movies already knowing whether the acting will be amazing or subpar, whether the plot'll be good or not, and what happens at the very end (and maybe even after the credits).
It effectively ruins the films for me, films like Wall-E, Up, and Avatar, just to name a few. Great 3-D movies, I understand the digital wonderfulness of them, but hey, let me just watch it and judge on my own accord, because the more you talk about it, the less impressed I can and am going to be.
Now, you can lay the blame back on my own shoulders, for I signed into Facebook and Twitter and surfed the web extensively for the past few hours, denying what I know to be true, that when I watch the Academy Awards, it will be spoiled if I keep clicking from page to page, but hey, it's Monday morning, 9:30am. I just had breakfast, and I don't have a lesson until eleven.. this is what I do every morning, every day, like the Pinky and the Brain trying to take over the world. I have no time to blog or tweet or check my e-mails later, this is my routine.
Hollywood news just spreads so quickly, and movies get so hyped up, to the point where it's just not impressive, worthwhile or simply news anymore.
If everybody could not talk about Alice in Wonderland, that would be appreciated. I am a fan of Johnny Depp, and of Tim Burton, and of Lewis Caroll, and well, I don't want this to be another Wall-E sort of disappointment.
Hmmmmmm...
I hate it whenever I listen to or read something that is irrelevant to what I expected antecedently.
The title of a blog post, for instance, usually is a pretty accurate indication of things to come. When you're, instead, given text that contains no relation to the topic asserted at the top of the page, the blogger responsible for putting those words there makes you feel cheated of your time.
It's worse when you've actually purchased a material object, a book, or a DVD, for example, that reads on the back a convincing synopsis that makes the tale sound highly captivating, when in reality, it's pages and pages of filler content and countless tedious digressions from something normal people would call 'a plot', a little thing that may or may not be known to exist by some writers. (Think of just about any parody film made in the past decade, or perhaps Twilight. Of course Stephanie Meyer manages to describe the happenings that revolve around the heroic paragon that is Edward Cullen, but it is silly, and meaningless, and devoid of any explicit themes or deep characterization. But I suppose that's just my opinion.)
When a cheeky writer actually fools you into putting bread on their table and paying them viewership for a given product or service, you almost feel so dense to actually pay with your own time and money.
Whether it's a lecturer's words that lack any connection to your university course, or a friend's total inability to stay focused on the subject at hand, an American president's speech that carries no bearing on anything related to current affairs, or the 7 o'clock news describing celebrity scoop as groundbreaking information, irrelevance haunts us everywhere, everyday. It would be great if people would just appreciate the importance of remaining to the purpose as they act on a daily basis, but this isn't a perfect world.
Tell me, folks, do you hate it too?
Whenever I go on Youtube, I never watch a video without once reading a comment. The comments are quite the thing to get you burying your face in your head in shame of being a fellow human being and internet user, but occasionally, you may find some hilarious bits of text because people argue about pretty much everything to do with anything - whether it should've been President Obama or President McCain one year ago, whether it was fair or not that Heath Ledger should win the posthumous Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (I think it was not), whether we should really blame the eruption of swine flu solely on Mexico, whether Michael Jackson did or did not molest young males at his home resort of Neverland (hasn't this topic been stretching on for a decade too long now?), or whether Kayne West is really getting the comeuppance he deserves for disrespecting Taylor Swift at the Video Music Awards (also painfully stretched out in my opinion).
I find that most of this debate is ridiculous. Which is better: Gossip Girl or 90210? Gay rights or the sacredness of heterosexual marriage? A Tibet that is free, or a Tibet that belongs to China? The best singer was: Adam Lambert? Or Kris Allen? Or Susan Boyle?! Will the Earth really end in December, 2012, according to the Mayan calendar? What exactly caused that solar eclipse? kevjumba or nigahiga? Twilight or Harry Potter? Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer?
Most of the time, commentators contribute their 'carefully' thought-out points underneath movie trailers, news reports, excerpts from television, and even the personal video blogs of some Youtubers; they get so angry as they're arguing about all of the above (and don't even get me started on the multitudinous evolution-creationism altercations that are out there), and for most of the time (bare in mind, I said 'most of the time', not 'all the time'), the arguments aren't relevant, they are not written respectfully, they are not grammatical or punctuated or spelled the right way, they are unjustified, they are not meaningful, and they do not further anybody's understanding of the world around them.
I find it so pointless. You're all anonymous and you're all acting like assholes. You feed off each other's boredom, and amusement at the interlocutor, and it just goes in a vicious cycle.
Come on! Get a grip, Youtube community.
So I'm sitting on the sofa after school, watching Scooby Doo on TV. (I love Scooby Doo, as well as Popeye and Dexter's Laboratory and Avatar: The Last Airbender.) Then my grandfather comes out in to the living room, sees what I'm watching, and goes ballistic because it's unthinkable that a person my age would be watching such a silly program. Perhaps I should watch Bloomberg, or BBC/FOX News, and get educated on law, finance and politics, or so that I can perhaps learn about the murder of a family of four in Kentucky, or a case of food poisoning in Xian, or maybe I can find out about the deteriorating environment around the world, or get to know a little about the vast array of unnerving epidemics across the globe.
Jeez, what the Hell is wrong with me watching cartoons? Cartoons are fun to watch. Let's face it: the news, and most documentaries bore the crap out of everybody. Perhaps you would like me to watch some violent, gory, suspense drama instead?
Gosh, I love cartoons. The violence displayed when Tweety drops an anvil on Sylvester's head actually entertains me in a way that Jack Bauer never could: it doesn't increase the risk of me suffering from depression, it doesn't make me more prone to being a violent father when I grow up, and no, no, no, it doesn't make me hornier, it doesn't make me want to have sex more. (Those articles in the paper and on TV piss me off.) Obviously, this is because these cartoon shows are for children.
Actually, I think these shows are made for older people to watch, namely adolescents. It's not like a three-year-old actually understands what the heck is happening on Sesame Street, or really understands the wittiness displayed in cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls, or Teen Titans. Do you know how many great jokes there were in Finding Nemo? Paying for kids' movie tickets to see Pixar films is wasted money. They don't get all the quips, they don't understand what's going on, they don't comprehend the storylines, maybe only partially, but not all of it. Because they're too slow and stupid. Leave it to educated me to laugh at the seagulls repeatedly exclaiming, "Mate!". (The seagulls cry "Mate!" because they're Australian seagulls. Australians are known to refer to friends, and strangers, as their "mates". Hahaha.) (Don't you hate it when people explain their jokes/popular culture references to you?)
Teenagers can watch cartoons. And, in fact, so can adults. Humph.
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