Category: Existentialism

Why Did You Become a Movie Critic?

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Creativity, Existentialism, HollywoodLeave a comment

I was recently interviewed by a film student at blah, blah, blah about being a film ciritic. Here were the questions and my answers for those so inclined to partake.

Why did you become a movie critic? I like to watch a lot of movies. When people found this out, they would ask for my opinion. After a while it seemed necessary to form a specific opinion since I kept getting asked about the same films over and over, so posting them online as my first web page seemed like a no-brainer.

Do you enjoy being a movie critic? What are the best things about the job? I haven’t lost my love of movies, but being more directly involved as a critic, I’ve learned the difference between the artistic and business sides of movie making. Helping others to find the kind of films they want to spend their money on is great, but getting advanced copies of new and upcoming films is wonderful perk, especially around awards time.

List some of your favorite movies from 2011 (so far). I thought that “The Green Hornet” was surprisingly effective as a buddy film masquerading as a super film, fun and full of action. “The Rite” was also a better film than I would have expected, especially since Sir Anthony Hopkins really isn’t the main character.

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Narcissists ‘R’ Us

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Creativity, Existentialism, Hollywood, SatireLeave a comment

Among my circle of friends, we decided to take a night asking ridiculous questions to one another and get some real answers. One of which was “describe everyone in the group with one word.” Imagine my surprise when everyone nodded upon the label “narcissist” levied upon myself.

After some thought, however, I realized they were right. Moreover, I also realized I didn’t have a problem with it, either. As someone who artistically creates massive amounts of content and presents to anyone who’ll pay attention, I crave the feedback (positive or negative) just to revel in the fact of my relevance. Don’t you?

Inspired by my own response to another blog, some argue that it’s a necessary step to artistic success. If you don’t already think you’re “the man,” why should anyone else think so? Put another way, who would you hire: the person who says “I’ll try my best to do what you want” or the one who claims “No problem… consider it done?”

One could argue that there is a difference between self-confidence and narcissism, but when it’s your name on the side of the truck or your image on a magazine cover, you’ve become a brand, a literal Mr. or Ms. Trademark. To cultivate that brand and leverage the resulting assets, it can become an obsession.

Are you on Twitter? Facebook? STILL on MySpace? Have a blog? A fan site? Go to conventions to present and just attend? Do you hang out with OTHER self-promoting, narcissistic creative types? You’re in good company, my friend (and everyone should have a friend like me.)

The Chinese are Coming? What’s the Big Whup?

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Conspiracies, Existentialism1 Comment

A video by “The Resident” this week threw out the following question:

Chinese are going to totes take down the US! And banks! Which may or may not be true (probs, though). My question is, who cares? What’s the big whup? Can’t someone else have their time on top without the US turning into a cowboy caricature again? This week, let’s talk about that.

It would be easy to say “those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” One could also use the words “Red Dawn,” but that would sound paranoid. For your generation, let’s use an example you can relate to: moving back in with your parents.

You’re broke, you need a place to live, and your folks still have some cash. But to live under their roof, you have to follow their rules: what time you go to bed, when you can start making noise, financial expectations (rent? bills? food?), and generally calling every aspect of your former destructive lifestyle into question because you had to come crawling back for help. Do you really want that? To have another country (like China or the former British Empire) essentially tell you what you can and can’t do because you screwed everything up while on your own? And in this example, your children would also be subject to this, and so would theirs. How’s that for a big whup?

Grounds for a Beef?

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Conspiracies, Cullinarian, ExistentialismLeave a comment

According to Gizmodo.com, “an Alabama law firm is presenting a class action lawsuit for false advertising, claiming that what Taco Bell claims is ‘beef’ in their commercials is just [a] processed clustermass of disgust.” Here’s the actual ingredient list on the side of the shipping containers labeled “Taco Meat Filling.”

Beef, water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

What do you see? A little beef, oats, spices, and the mandatory preservatives. The claim is that only 36% of it is actually “flesh of cattle” while the reads like ingredients for a granola bar. The real complaint is that Taco Bell advertises this as beef, but should they really come clean and put “meat filling” into their ads?

Here’s what I know: it’s tasty! And now I also know the meat is at least half oats, which I’m told is good for me on the breakfast cereal boxes I read. Shouldn’t that be a selling point? The only things that Taco Bell does that ticks me off is refusal to create a Meximelt combo (those things rock but are overpriced) and let Mountain Dew “Baha Blast” onto the market so I can buy it by the 2-liter.

I Attended the Tucson Memorial Service and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism, Politicking, SatireLeave a comment

tucson memorial shirtIf the President of the United States shows up to speak at your single-shooter massacre or public building bombing, should you expect people to cheer his speech and take home a free t-shirt? How about a “battle of the bands” on a second stage on the opposite side of a graveyard during a funeral? Our speaker will also be signing copies of his new book and other swag at a table next to the casket.

See More Here.

Cue for a ChangeOver

On By Kevin A. RansonIn Existentialism, PolitickingLeave a comment

Narrator: See, a movie doesn’t come all on one big reel. It comes on a few. So someone has to be there to switch the projectors at the exact moment that one reel ends and the next one begins. If you look for it, you can see these little dots come into the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Tyler Durden: In the industry, we call them “cigarette burns.”
Narrator: That’s the cue for a changeover. He flips the projectors, the movie keeps right on going, and nobody in the audience has any idea.

That’s a quote from Fight Club, but I don’t think they were talking about midterm elections or anything political. The cue for a changeover, however, is definitely upon us, whether that’s the Republicans actually doing something positive after watching Democrats in total government control failing to agree on how to get things done or proving once and for all that neither party can stop thinking about their next election to address real issues.

Did you vote? Get going!