<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
<head>
<meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 11 (filtered medium)">
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
..shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
</style>
<![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="place"/>
<o:SmartTagType namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
name="PersonName"/>
<!--[if !mso]>
<style>
st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
</style>
<![endif]-->
<style>
<!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:"MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:Tahoma;
panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;}
@font-face
{font-family:"\@MS Mincho";
panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0mm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle18
{mso-style-type:personal-reply;
font-family:Arial;
color:blue;
font-weight:normal;
font-style:normal;
text-decoration:none none;}
@page Section1
{size:595.3pt 841.9pt;
margin:99.25pt 30.0mm 30.0mm 30.0mm;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang=JA link=blue vlink=blue>
<div class=Section1>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>I’m pretty much in
your boat Rob. I do music writing for print primarily these days (alt. weeklies
squeezing out writers and all) and after focusing on music and before two kids
I was blogging about film a lot. I’m on the same yahoo group as Steve (so
are over half the people interviewed for the piece, hmmm) and the topic has
come up there a couple of times and Ridley’s mentioned it as well. I’d
take issue with Steve saying internet *<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>criticism</span></b>*
aided the rise of South Korean cinema, extreme Japanese film makers, etc. I
think it was more Internet chatter than criticism – high tech word of
mouth – like posts on the now thoroughly discredited usenet groups. Internet
critics, especially those of the Japanese film is dead variety, came late to
that party. There are exceptions of course, and I’m thinking as I type
this were those exceptions, like Midnight Eye, at the root of all the success.
I mean, should Roy Lee and Nakata be giving Tom and Jasper a cut of the profits
(you two or three can chime in and take credit if you like)?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>The Net has definitely
made it easier to see those kinds of movies, whether you’re downloading
or ordering the cheap HK dvds. Having that kind of access probably pushed my
writing career along a little faster b/c when Pulse, Jin-Roh, etc finally
hobbled their way here I was the guy who knew about the stuff already. It’s
the access to the material that is more significant to me than criticism or
chatter, at least in terms of the on-topic works for kine-japan.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Writing for an alt.weekly
I could, if the pitch was good enough, write about a wide variety of topics so,
for little pay, I could write about an obscure director if indeed we were going
to be able to see that film a year after it hit NY/LA/Chi.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Reed and Lyons only have
security because they’ve been around longer and were in the right place
at the right time. Lee definitely bounced back from the nastiness at the
alt.weekly god paper, and if he choses can blog at will (does he?). <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>As to the larger topic, I
think Theo is salient on the impact of Internet critics.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>Never knew D’Angelo
was a one time Net only self published type dude. I’m now 40% less
intimidated by him.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 color=blue face=Arial><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div style='border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0mm 0mm 0mm 4.0pt'>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
owner-<st1:PersonName w:st="on">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</st1:PersonName>
[mailto:owner-<st1:PersonName w:st="on">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</st1:PersonName>]
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On Behalf Of </span></b>Rob Smith<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Monday, September 22, 2008
9:50 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> <st1:PersonName w:st="on">KineJapan@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu</st1:PersonName><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Off Topic: Film Criticism
in the Age of the Internet</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Helo everyone.<br>
<br>
This is not a Japanese film specific topic, but since so many of you work for
newspapers (and I do, too, but as a music journalist, not film -- I just have a
personal website to write about film on), run serious websites (Midnight Eye, <a
href="http://ryuganji.net">ryuganji.net</a>, etc) or have had books on film
published (and I'm sure there are some other bloggers out there, too), I'm
curious on what the general take on the topic is from this list. <br>
<br>
"Film Criticism in the Age of the Internet: A Critical Symposium"<br>
<em><i><font face="Times New Roman">Cineaste,</font></i></em> Vol. 33 No.4
(Fall 2008)<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://www.cineaste.com/articles/film-criticism-in-the-age-of-the-internet.htm">http://www.cineaste.com/articles/film-criticism-in-the-age-of-the-internet.htm</a><br>
<br>
Some interesting points, I thought:<br>
<br>
"There have been a few examples of Internet criticism making an impact on
American film culture. It's aided the rise of South Korean cinema and
mumblecore," says Steve Erickson of Gay City News. <br>
-To bring it on topic a little bit, I think this is also true of the
"extreme" Japanese films and filmmakers, especially the likes of
Takashi Miike and Hideo Nakataa. They were both cult on the internet long
before <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:place></st1:City>
stepped in to remake or import their films. It's also true of smaller, or
dramatic, directors like Shunji Iwai, Satoshi Miki, or Shinobu Yaguchi and had
a definite impact concerning older, more obscure directors getting a spotlight,
like Mikio Naruse before Criterion and BFI had put any of his films out on DVD,
or before the Film Forum had their retrospective a few years ago. <br>
(I choose to not mention anime here, but the internet has clearly had the
biggest imapct on that world than any other.)<br>
<br>
This is by Self-styled Siren: "Criticism at the big media outlets usually
has been release-driven, geared to reviewing a new movie in theaters or on DVD.
Bloggers write about whatever we please, which I assume is why some
professional critics blog on the side. In my case, the movies I care about are
long, long past their release date. At the moment there's no mainstream print
publication that will pay me to write about Jean Negulesco or three Titanic
movies because I happen to feel like it." <br>
-This mirrors my own opinions, but I also can't help but feel a twinge of guilt
for having my website when the likes of Nathan Lee from the Voice get fired
(especially when the likes of Rex Reed and Jeffrey Lyons are safely tucked
into bed at night with their job security). It's something in my job as a music
writer that I absolutely hate: if I get a CD in the mail a week late, I can't
do anything about it. I love the freedom on my own website where I can write
about whatever the hell movie from whatever year I feel like writing about,
even if I don't necessarily take it as seriously (or shape it as much) as I
would if I were writing a print review. <br>
<br>
J. Hoberman sums it up best, though, I think: "On the one hand, blogs are
spontaneous and unedited; on the other, blogs are spontaneous and
unedited."<br>
<br>
Thoughts?<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
-rob<br>
<a href="http://www.robixsmash.com/">http://www.robixsmash.com/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.orlandoweekly.com/music/">http://www.orlandoweekly.com/music/</a><br>
<a href="http://www.insulinfunk.net/">http://www.insulinfunk.net/</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</body>
</html>