LYT's Weblog

Hang in there, L.Y.T.! You absolutely *have* to not let the criticisms get to you.

I personally think you should be *encouraged* that you have become a scapegoat among the pretentious New York cineastes. This is a high honor indeed. Their criticisms concede you are consequential. Remember, "the only worse thing than being talked about . . ." Repeat to yourself as needed.

absolutely agree with Bradley above - being talked about is good - and if in the end it shines through that your reviews are more honest than theirs -(some if...due to their trying to play "we are the elite- you don't fit" this is inevitable)
- then the last laugh and last line will be yours for the taking.

Man, what is with the gov being out to get people this year? Are they strapped for cash or what?

Chin up! It's been a pretty bad year financially for just about everyone, I think. Perhaps next year will look up.

=)

The problem with the infamy is that it's affecting my financial bottom line. That's the bothersome part.

As to the government being strapped for cash, Julie, I think I heard something about a war somewhere that's quite expensive.

I'm thinking the city of LA doesn't fund much of the Iraq War. I could be wrong, but...

Yeah, I miss the personal stuff, when I think about it. More lYT!!

There might be some opportunities in the future. Read this:

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Newspapers Cutting Costs by Cutting Film Critics

In their effort to cut costs as subscribers desert them, newspapers are firing their film critics and replacing them with wire-service reviews.

In a commentary appearing today (Thursday) in the Orlando Sentinel's blog, the newspaper's film critic Roger Moore, discussed the recent ousters of Jamie Bernard at the New York Daily News and Mark Burger at the Winston-Salem Journal and the reassignment of George Thomas at the Akron Beacon Journal. Moore wrote: "When a paper loses its critic, a town loses another local voice. The 'we can run wire service reviews' line may be true. But heaven help the movies the day we're down to a couple of critics in the largest markets syndicated everywhere. There aren't many who would play all over America."

Moore noted that his own newspaper has also come under the knife. "We used to have two people on the movie beat here, which allowed us to cover the heck out of what was (and WASN'T) happening in a city that wanted to be 'Hollywood East.'"

Moore concluded by giving this advice to young would-be film critics, who are thinking of starting out writing for websites or their college papers: "Don't even start. Don't try this at home. It'll break your heart."

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Despite Moore's last statement, if that's what the newspapers are pursuing in order to compete is this fast-paced world of "digital journalism," as I call it, then let them that you're out there...

More LYT!!

Being thankful. i'll remember it.thanks.

regarding the dating game, have you been to a tattoo convention? you've got plenty of them, are a fan of that and colored hair and the kind of music people like me associate with tats and piercings and whatnot.

and you've commented in the past that a: you don't fit in and b: you get positive comments on your tats and hair.

so it would seem that people who are likewise into tats and colorful hair and probably share your cultural tastes, would be at these conventions.

i know they exist. i don't know, i'm the last person to look to for romantic advice, but seeking out people who share your interests more closely than vapid hollywood starlets would seem to be a good thing to try if you haven't already.

that, or join a band. that seems to work for nearly everyone.

Yeah, that's what I recently told a group of aspriring high school journalists when I was on a panel at USC. There's always a few cute intellectual-looking 17-year old boys who ask me how to become a film critic. This year, I pretty much just said, "Don't bother." No, actually I said to watch lots of movies and make sure you can write about lots of other subjects as well. And I told them all to get plenty of online training. Although I pretty much would like to have told the whole room "Don't bother."

It's true. Most people I know who aren't in the critical game themselves rely far more on the opinions of Internet critics, I think in large part as a response to what I think of as the "New York" style of carefully crafted bon mots as opposed to plain old straight talk about what you can expect from the movie.

Newspapers in general aren't doing so well these days anyhow. Unfortunately, few of the websites actually pay anything.