tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post236348622023090919..comments2024-03-28T20:00:20.542-07:00Comments on SHADOW OF A DOUBT: It's the Pictures That Got SmallKirkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-5703736857216257112010-09-20T16:18:33.014-07:002010-09-20T16:18:33.014-07:00@Kass--If watching a movie somewhere else other th...@Kass--If watching a movie somewhere else other than a theater makes you live longer, then maybe that's why so many people have stopped going to them. <br /><br />By the way, I haven't read it yet but I see on my blogroll that you have a new post. Good! I was worried for awhile that maybe you were yet another person who had given up blogging.<br /><br />@Gabriela--I'm just grateful that life's long enough for you to sit in front of a computer screen and send such kind words my way. Thanks!Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-31312247954478428892010-09-20T07:52:24.206-07:002010-09-20T07:52:24.206-07:00Another brilliant post!! I totally resonate with i...Another brilliant post!! I totally resonate with it :)<br /><br />I rarely watch any movie (TV or Theater)- life is too short for me to spend it sitting on a coach.<br /><br />loveNlight<br />GabiGabriela Abalohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11316879938383542026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-53424613552541808662010-09-20T06:46:36.371-07:002010-09-20T06:46:36.371-07:00I'm a huge movie fan, but lately have not seen...I'm a huge movie fan, but lately have not seen many.<br /><br />I wonder about the correlation of movie-watching and longevity.<br /><br />The last movie my mom saw in a theater was "Chariots of Fire." She's 96. <br /><br />Probably no connection.<br /><br />Interesting take on pictures in motion.Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-27164696434536054552010-09-18T13:34:13.509-07:002010-09-18T13:34:13.509-07:00@Badger--I agree with you. It's my love of mov...@Badger--I agree with you. It's my love of movies that made me think about and write this piece in the first place. If we ever stop thinking of movies as art or as something special, they'll stop being that and end up looking like everything else on TV (even if you happen to see one in a theater!) Thanks for commenting, Badger, especially after my screw-up over at your place.<br /><br />@standing--You're not being obnoxious, but you are beginning to sound a little like Albert Einstein. I sometimes get discouraged, which also can get in the way of writing. Maybe I should write a post (or book!) about that. By the way, I just looked at your picture on your blog. Can't say I detected any wafflestompers.<br /><br />Coincidentally, I noticed Gabriela Abola had a post earlier in the week titled Father Time. <br /><br />@Tag--I grew up watching pan-and-scan movies, and they never bothered me, probably because I didn't KNOW they were pan-and-scan. But I can understand why the people who originally directed those films might be a bit ticked-off that their movies were being viewed that way. Now, of course, we have letterboxing, but that's hardly consolation to someone like William Wyler (who directed 1959s Ben-Hur in Cinamascope) who's long since dead!<br /><br />Along the same lines, the newer TV sets are now rectangles rather than squares. Ever seen an older show made for a square screen on one of those? Stretched like taffy.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-44551839277059407492010-09-16T22:53:41.343-07:002010-09-16T22:53:41.343-07:00Ditto Badger, no matter what format even pan and s...Ditto Badger, no matter what format even pan and scan movies are fun.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00533184345345882921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-62328188286683722212010-09-16T20:51:19.949-07:002010-09-16T20:51:19.949-07:00well, yes, i'm rather closely acquainted with ...well, yes, i'm rather closely acquainted with father time, as he leaves his wafflestomper footprints across my face.<br />time is an artificial construct, designed to keep everything from happening at once, and it is elastic. given that, time expands or contracts to fit the event. so, you have endless time to write.<br />i know, being obnoxious.rrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06457746929116908077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-5836317355707284582010-09-16T18:47:17.704-07:002010-09-16T18:47:17.704-07:00This is/was a great commentary on "film"...This is/was a great commentary on "film", or whatever it "really" is. I love movies, and have seen literally thousands of them. Good, bad, and mediocre. Long may they live.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938379025774754317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-68959844383835734452010-09-16T16:49:15.898-07:002010-09-16T16:49:15.898-07:00@Elisabeth--That you can now watch movies on a com...@Elisabeth--That you can now watch movies on a computer, I think further supports my contention that movies are more a state of mind than anything. It's an honor to provoke your thoughts, Elisabath.<br /><br />@Tag--Maybe bookstores are the movie theaters of the future. Even though most will read books on electronic devices, a certain percentage of the population will still buy and read the kind with binding. That way, we'll know the difference between "real" books, and those that are made-for-kindle.<br /><br />@Dreamfarm--Oh, I do defend movies as an art form. In fact, I have a whole other blog dedicated to movies that's currently on ice until I can find more time to work on it (as it is, it's hard enough finding time to write this one.) But there's no inherent reason why movies should be better than TV other than the size of the screen, and that size is irrelevent if you're not watching it in a theater. I purposely left Netflix out of my essay because I think you can probably find anything visual ever produced, movies or TV, much as you can find just about any book on Amazon. My piece is really about the continued commercial viability of theatrical films (amazing when you consider that TV originally brought the movie industry to its' knees in the 1950s) and that's why the Redbox was such a great thing to write about. You're only going to see what's considered commercial there. As for the 95%, maybe 98%, of movies you watch that weren't considered for the big screen, well, then, are they made-for-DVD's? You mentioned independent movies and foreign flicks. Well, those may have been shown on a big screen SOMEWHERE, just not at the local multiplex. Maybe the Sundance Festival. But if you can enjoy those movies on the small screen, then there's theoretically no reason what you like can't be made FOR the small screen. The fact that they're not being made is a whole other essay.<br /><br />@standing--Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. Now, do you also know Father Time? Because you need a whole lot of that when you write, too.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-61949812391651236442010-09-16T12:12:13.625-07:002010-09-16T12:12:13.625-07:00as a matter of fact, i do. go here:
www.smashwords...as a matter of fact, i do. go here:<br />www.smashwords.com<br />i met the folks who started this. i don't know the details, but i do know they want books to publish.rrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06457746929116908077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-1490310761475898772010-09-15T19:21:56.932-07:002010-09-15T19:21:56.932-07:00Oh the memories of sobbing during Brian's Song...Oh the memories of sobbing during Brian's Song. That was a great sappy made-for-tv-movie.<br /><br />Loved the essay but I'm gonna have to dissent. At least partially. Because I do not have television reception (I use my TV only to watch DVDs from Netflix) and because I no longer really enjoy going to a movie theater (all those kids and germs and commercials, never mind the expense), I watch about 95%, maybe 98% of movies from Netflix. And I know many of them have never even been considered for the big screen, let alone made it there.<br /><br />No, they were made as their own art form. Which is why I love them. These are mostly independent movies, foreign flicks, documentaries, etc. They are superior to made for TV movies in the way that literature is to Danielle Steele. They include actual character development and complexity, tell us something about what it means to be human.<br /><br />So while yeah, I do always get a smug satisfaction from paying about $2 or less for a Netflix DVD that arrives in my mailbox and leaves from same, watched in my jammies with a glass of pinot grigio in hand, while someone else has paid $10 plus $10 for refreshments, while a baby cried throughout and icky stickiness got on his shoes...I will defend the film as art to the death.<br /><br />Now about books....I hope to never ever have a kindle.Dreamfarm Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08494214244290730058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-18761617607142646472010-09-15T18:24:29.687-07:002010-09-15T18:24:29.687-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00533184345345882921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-32057660983088807482010-09-15T18:24:01.341-07:002010-09-15T18:24:01.341-07:00If you write a book on this will it be available f...If you write a book on this will it be available for my Kindle, now with 3G Wi-fi. Is there something about holding an actual book in your hand even though the binding is coming apart that will never be replaced by an electronic device. I have Xena season 3 on dvd if you need it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00533184345345882921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-10472491983471415712010-09-15T18:16:02.336-07:002010-09-15T18:16:02.336-07:00I live in a TV free household and have dome so for...I live in a TV free household and have dome so for the past fourteen years. We watch DVDs on our computer screens and maybe once a year visit the movie house. That's an old fashioned term my daughters tell me - a movie house, a bit like my husband's term for radio, the wireless.<br /><br />I'm the sure the history of any object creates a mystique that hangs around long after the original mystery has disappeared. <br /><br />Thanks for a fascinating and thought provoking post, Kirk.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-11945161734821849772010-09-15T17:45:25.370-07:002010-09-15T17:45:25.370-07:00I think I'm more freaking than brilliant, but ...I think I'm more freaking than brilliant, but thanks for the compliment anyway.<br /><br />Know any publishers?Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-635884225797829085.post-40104066508405735392010-09-15T17:29:56.212-07:002010-09-15T17:29:56.212-07:00ok, it's time i just come out and say it.
kirk...ok, it's time i just come out and say it.<br />kirk, you're freaking brilliant.<br />if you don't write a book, shame on you. <br />no, i retract that. no shame. just a missed opportunity to wow the world.rrainehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06457746929116908077noreply@blogger.com