Other writing (or, failed experiments that never
became regulars)
[You can usually spot the era
in which each of these experiments were attempted; The older ones are openly,
almost offensively pedantic, while the more recent ones try to hide that
quality with a phony dose of self consciousness.]
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Fairly exhaustive capsules written following the site's formal commencement
(5/10/00):
-
Journal detailing the journey of entries on my
20 best list. Maintained irregularly and arbitrarily.
-
Probably the only featurette I wish I'd stuck with (because deconstructing
trailers remains something very fragile and interesting to me): Trailer
Trash.
-
Early stages (not quite an outline, not quite a rough draft) of an entry
in The Wine County Video Essay Contest (winner gets the store). Aborted
when the contest was canceled and all checks returned.
-
Stock attempt at ripping off Mike D'Angelo #221: Haiku reviews
(mostly for films I saw while in L.A. and didn't have time/energy to address
properly).
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Rare picture of idiocy: I tap out my own quasi-Oscars in 2000.
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A truly scary look at my grading technique
(Another rip-off from D'Angelo's site).
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Less exhausting 2002 Oscar predictions (with
hopefuls and overlooks slipped in to boot)
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Essays written for an International Cinema Course (1998):
The necessity of critique in Revolutionary Cuba
L'America: Neorealism resurrected
Abbas Kiarostami: The passive neorealist filmmaker
who updated a movement by employing a gimmick
-
The short lived E-mails and IM's section;
If you find a speck of value, you're looking way too hard.
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Inherently harsh deconstruction of
my praise for From Hell (text by Randy Good) and a counterattack
(by me) balancing the same writer's shocked questions surrounding my favorable
reaction to Beloved. ("You've missed your calling as a barrister,"
I've always come this close to telling him.)
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An apology written to clarify the nature
of my Music of the Heart review; Aimed at Dani Partlett, with whom
I shared, at the time, a film course. (And no, I was not intent on banging
her: She was way out of my league.)
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A slowed but continuing collection of catchy, uber-clever quotes
from other critics (only without attribution).
-
We all remember the way I rode a new wave of pretension all the way into
the surf with this little doozey: My Answers/final
scores w/r/t EW's Great American Pop Culture Quiz. (Warning: Without
the questions, it could numb you with boredom.)
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In the beginning, I suggested that posting a review on the imdb or filling
out a 24 pick on 24fps.com was comparable to being published.
(Long, pronounced eye roll follows).
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Front page slogans; Largely abandoned for topical
rants.
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I tried desperately to doll out commentary with a ditty called Random
Thoughts - - - the well dried up right quick, though. (I'm not sure
which is more embarrassing - the broken links or the eye scorching blue
background...)
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A link to my original, scattershot hoisting of The Chronicle, which was
titled, aptly (and long windedly), Short
Film Essays and Reaction.
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A proposed editorial to my old boss
at the Phoenix (I was a copy editor for three year-long months); It was
meant to piggyback her quasi review of Gods and Generals but I never
bothered to finish the letter (or see the film, for that matter).
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Separated by a line, this was merely a workspace for me to realize that
(above the line) a premise about
a video store renter who kills himself was ludicrous at best and (below
the line) being bored at the office can produce the written equivalent
of terminal babbling.
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A rant about fancying myself a critic
- and how counterproductive I felt it was ((at the time). I have much less
kind words to say about it now.
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The question of the hour.
Did I miss anything?
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