ravenswept (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ravenswept) wrote2010-10-17 02:47 pm
ravenswept) wrote2010-10-17 02:47 pm
Uneducated Opinion
I've been told I like to argue with people. I reply I like debating things. I'm not sure if I've proved their point or not, but the fact remains that I do enjoy decent back and forth about things I like. Movies are one thing, but it's hard to find somebody who doesn't get insulted when you express your opinion about something they like or dislike. I don't really care how you side with it, I want to see you express your pros and cons better than, "I just do."
One thing I've found I'm good at is exploring the why and what of various things, be it movies, books, tv shows, ideas themselves, or what have you. This is one reason I enjoy TV Tropes (opposed to those that don't) because I like see the multitude of components that go into something. Usually though, trope wise, it's more fun to figure them out after the fact than try to use them first.
Uneducated Opinion was going to be a review blog of mine, where I desect whatever I happened to pick that topic, and dewelve into it like a frog in science class. Find each part and see what's the word.
Originally it was going to be only webcomics, because that's what was on my mind at the time, and while there are some review sites out there already, few actually went into any depth about the subject. It would be glossed over, or give a short paragraph, but it was always with the mind of keeping the review or critique to one post.
What I wanted to do was break things down into catagories and throughout the week go into each. While not every topic would have the exact same breakdowns, there would be ones that appeared each time: story, characters, art, writing. Rotating depending on what would be better served to discussion might be update schedule, creators themselves, elephant in the room issues, whatever I happened to want to rant about, time and pacing, or whatever.
I... never did jack shit with it. I got a gmail account, put the name into the blog, and have now let it sit for about a year now.
Part of it was, actually talking about each piece is a lot of work. Not that I don't enjoy doing it, but the time it takes to work everything out is time I either need for something else, work, or my own writing. Another was that I'd like to do video posting (so original, a video reviewer) but I lack a webcam or any other video recording device. Another was just getting up the want to really go at something. Yeah I can passionately disect something apart, but it's usually in the moment or with/against friends. Sitting alone with only the taps of keys and glowing screen is not the most adreniline rushing of things.
But I still want to do it. Not just webcomics, though I may still want to do one now and again, but just anything I happen to like or hate. TV shows, animation in particular, are one thing I don't see a lot of reviews for out there, at least not a lot in the way I wish them to be. Maybe foods or movies, a book, a person, just whatever happened to get my gumpton up that time. I don't really care about what detractors would say, the argument of "You aren't [x], so you can't really say anything" is already a fallace point, as is "Why don't you do better?" Point A misses the point, saying that only those in the know are able to legimately approve or disapprove, while forgetting that when you eat food, you don't need to be a chef to figure out if it's good or not. Point B tries to detract from the point; it's not a matter of whether or not I or anyone can do better, it's that this is not good. Or is, depending on the way you sway.
I've mentioned it before (I think) about where this kind of fire comes from; and it actually has to do with why I would go with Uneducated Opinion as the headline. Four years or so ago, I moved in with a friend and his boyfriend. Boyfriend, I'll call him Snob, had a degree in cinema and moviemaking, his dream to someday be a movie director. I don't fault him for that, a lot of people wish that. He, of course, loved movies, primilary that of drama, romantic comedies and horror.
I call him Snob, because he doesn't think highly of much else. You couldn't simply turn off your brain and enjoy a popcorn flick, it had to mean something or have some point or value to it. This is a point of discussion many times whenever Van Helsing came up, because I loved it as cheap (relatively) movie monster action goodness and he saw it as little more than a cinema trash that had no value because... well, I'm not sure why, he only said he didn't like it and it wasn't good, but rarely could an actual reason be gleaned from him as to why.
But what got to me, and what I would find out later after they broke up, was that I legimately pissed off Snob by having opinions on films. Van Helsing was just the tip of it, that I would dare to argue film points against him, and be able to hold my own, just irritated the everloving hell out of him. The whole of it was that I had some sort of audacitity to have an arguement either for or against a movie when I hadn't taken the time and money to get a degree in film to back up my ideas and observations. That I did not spend hours pouring over older films, that I ignored years of figuring out symbolism and lighting, I think that I just put up a fight to him just got under his skin.
I giggled upon finding this out, and was pleased with myself.
It's not because I took pleasure out of irritating somebody... mostly, he's special case. But what I think it was, was that I annoyed him for having opinions against his and could argue fairly well my points, and could do so without having gone through all that he had. All his posturing for having a degree (in film, and proceeded to work in retail and Starbucks, with no effort to join a production company, inspite of the fact there was a fairly well known one just downtown), for being a director (shitty college movie, but still), for being educated, I could push back against him and, in my mind, win.
Now it's entirely possible from his eyes it was like arguing with an ignorant moron; he who doesn't know won't be able to tell the difference between what he thinks he knows and what is fact. I've had that same arguement against such people. But the thing is I never claimed I knew the vast inner workings of film. I knew a handful of terms, could pick out shots and techniques, but I didn't act like I knew everything there was about cinema or its construction. I knew between what I enjoyed, what I didn't, what made up the parts of each, and could articuately make my position either for or against.
I'm hoping to start putting stuff onto the blog sometime soon. I'm still working on all the other stuff I have around me, multiple short stories as well as the bigger projects, but find it good to burn off different energy with the review stuff. I could do the same thing here, but I like having a place that's devoted to just the review and critiques. This I have for my general story idea springboard and whatever emotional headspace I find myself in.
We'll see what happens with it all. Another reviewer lost in the sea of people who like to talk about things they don't like. Woot.
One thing I've found I'm good at is exploring the why and what of various things, be it movies, books, tv shows, ideas themselves, or what have you. This is one reason I enjoy TV Tropes (opposed to those that don't) because I like see the multitude of components that go into something. Usually though, trope wise, it's more fun to figure them out after the fact than try to use them first.
Uneducated Opinion was going to be a review blog of mine, where I desect whatever I happened to pick that topic, and dewelve into it like a frog in science class. Find each part and see what's the word.
Originally it was going to be only webcomics, because that's what was on my mind at the time, and while there are some review sites out there already, few actually went into any depth about the subject. It would be glossed over, or give a short paragraph, but it was always with the mind of keeping the review or critique to one post.
What I wanted to do was break things down into catagories and throughout the week go into each. While not every topic would have the exact same breakdowns, there would be ones that appeared each time: story, characters, art, writing. Rotating depending on what would be better served to discussion might be update schedule, creators themselves, elephant in the room issues, whatever I happened to want to rant about, time and pacing, or whatever.
I... never did jack shit with it. I got a gmail account, put the name into the blog, and have now let it sit for about a year now.
Part of it was, actually talking about each piece is a lot of work. Not that I don't enjoy doing it, but the time it takes to work everything out is time I either need for something else, work, or my own writing. Another was that I'd like to do video posting (so original, a video reviewer) but I lack a webcam or any other video recording device. Another was just getting up the want to really go at something. Yeah I can passionately disect something apart, but it's usually in the moment or with/against friends. Sitting alone with only the taps of keys and glowing screen is not the most adreniline rushing of things.
But I still want to do it. Not just webcomics, though I may still want to do one now and again, but just anything I happen to like or hate. TV shows, animation in particular, are one thing I don't see a lot of reviews for out there, at least not a lot in the way I wish them to be. Maybe foods or movies, a book, a person, just whatever happened to get my gumpton up that time. I don't really care about what detractors would say, the argument of "You aren't [x], so you can't really say anything" is already a fallace point, as is "Why don't you do better?" Point A misses the point, saying that only those in the know are able to legimately approve or disapprove, while forgetting that when you eat food, you don't need to be a chef to figure out if it's good or not. Point B tries to detract from the point; it's not a matter of whether or not I or anyone can do better, it's that this is not good. Or is, depending on the way you sway.
I've mentioned it before (I think) about where this kind of fire comes from; and it actually has to do with why I would go with Uneducated Opinion as the headline. Four years or so ago, I moved in with a friend and his boyfriend. Boyfriend, I'll call him Snob, had a degree in cinema and moviemaking, his dream to someday be a movie director. I don't fault him for that, a lot of people wish that. He, of course, loved movies, primilary that of drama, romantic comedies and horror.
I call him Snob, because he doesn't think highly of much else. You couldn't simply turn off your brain and enjoy a popcorn flick, it had to mean something or have some point or value to it. This is a point of discussion many times whenever Van Helsing came up, because I loved it as cheap (relatively) movie monster action goodness and he saw it as little more than a cinema trash that had no value because... well, I'm not sure why, he only said he didn't like it and it wasn't good, but rarely could an actual reason be gleaned from him as to why.
But what got to me, and what I would find out later after they broke up, was that I legimately pissed off Snob by having opinions on films. Van Helsing was just the tip of it, that I would dare to argue film points against him, and be able to hold my own, just irritated the everloving hell out of him. The whole of it was that I had some sort of audacitity to have an arguement either for or against a movie when I hadn't taken the time and money to get a degree in film to back up my ideas and observations. That I did not spend hours pouring over older films, that I ignored years of figuring out symbolism and lighting, I think that I just put up a fight to him just got under his skin.
I giggled upon finding this out, and was pleased with myself.
It's not because I took pleasure out of irritating somebody... mostly, he's special case. But what I think it was, was that I annoyed him for having opinions against his and could argue fairly well my points, and could do so without having gone through all that he had. All his posturing for having a degree (in film, and proceeded to work in retail and Starbucks, with no effort to join a production company, inspite of the fact there was a fairly well known one just downtown), for being a director (shitty college movie, but still), for being educated, I could push back against him and, in my mind, win.
Now it's entirely possible from his eyes it was like arguing with an ignorant moron; he who doesn't know won't be able to tell the difference between what he thinks he knows and what is fact. I've had that same arguement against such people. But the thing is I never claimed I knew the vast inner workings of film. I knew a handful of terms, could pick out shots and techniques, but I didn't act like I knew everything there was about cinema or its construction. I knew between what I enjoyed, what I didn't, what made up the parts of each, and could articuately make my position either for or against.
I'm hoping to start putting stuff onto the blog sometime soon. I'm still working on all the other stuff I have around me, multiple short stories as well as the bigger projects, but find it good to burn off different energy with the review stuff. I could do the same thing here, but I like having a place that's devoted to just the review and critiques. This I have for my general story idea springboard and whatever emotional headspace I find myself in.
We'll see what happens with it all. Another reviewer lost in the sea of people who like to talk about things they don't like. Woot.
no subject
I think it's very likely you'd gain a steady following; you're funny and insightful without being cruel and unfair (i.e., ad hominem attacks).
And also, I find it very fitting that Snob proceeded to work in Starbucks, which has the snobbiest attitude you can find in a minimum-wage environment. :P
no subject
^.^