Welcome to 2013, here’s your boring update on SBBN. If you follow me on Twitter, you might want to stick around to read the Not-So-Brief Note below.
There isn’t much to add to the update I did a few months ago. Posts will still be moved over to this blog, but it’s a bit of work and I’m really, really lazy, so it won’t happen all at once. I’m currently working on a schedule to hopefully maximize my time, because that’s the one big problem I have: A complete lack of time. All the Projects are still a go, they’re just behind because insomnia, lingering colds, other deadlines, holidays, and general whatnottery.
Movies That Will Be Watched, Can Be Watched, Have Been Watched: You may have noticed a couple of new tabs at the top of the blog. The first is called It’s Log, which is my list of movies seen in 2013. I decided to call it It’s Log because I am stunted and still laughing at things I saw on TV when I was 19 years old. The second new page at the top of the blog is TSPDK1K, which stands for the They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They? 1000 Greatest Films. My goal is to eventually see all 1000 films, but as you will notice, my copy of the list is incomplete. I’ll be finishing it up soon. Another tab for the Bette Davis Project will be created when I get those posts edited, now that they’ve been moved over to this new blog. The Marie Prevost Project items will probably end up on their own webpage, it all depends on how much time I have, which is, as mentioned, very little.
A Not-So-Brief Note: What I say on Twitter and SBBN is a direct reflection of the person I am, the person I have been for many, many years. That means I often speak up about uncomfortable issues, bigotry, things like that. While most blog readers know this, I’m not sure Twitter users do, and this isn’t something I can type in 140 characters or less, so, with apologies to my blog readers, it’s going to go here.
First of all, I don’t often link to what I’m referring to on Twitter, simply because the 140 character limit doesn’t allow it. So if I say I saw someone be a jerk, please don’t assume that just because you didn’t see the incident on your Twitter timeline that iI’m a big hairy liar. And yes, more than one person has gone on quite a tear about that. For the love of corn, just ask me if you want to know who or what I am referring to.
Also, whether you’re on Twitter or SBBN, you need to understand that I have a long, pre-Twitter, pre-blog, pre-Internet history of speaking my mind. I’m not always right, I can be uncouth, I can be clumsy in bringing up the subject, there are complications and nothing is black and white. But pointing out problematic issues is important to me, and if at any time I feel I need to snark about issues or discuss them seriously or anything in between, I’m going to do it, and that is my right.
Disagreeing with me is, as I have said repeatedly on this blog for over five years, completely okay. I don’t mind disagreement or even argument. What I do mind is a commenter who is immediately rude or bigoted in some way. I mind being called out with something like, say, accusing me of “supporting censorship,” but then running off the moment I reply; similarly, I mind colleagues repeatedly sniping about me on Twitter while carefully not using my name in hopes I won’t see it. If I do see it and comment, they generally ignore me and pretend like it never happened. Especially if I’ve made an effort to be polite despite what you just accused me of, I think I deserve the respect of a reply.
And finally, wherever I am online, while it’s obviously okay if you disagree or even argue with me, you’re not allowed to be a disrespectful jerk and lecture, scold, insult, or tell me that I (or my opinions) are worthless, or dictate what I am allowed to say. That’s crossing a line I won’t let you cross anymore. If you’re going to pull any of those shenanigans, you’re just going to have to take that shit elsewhere, because I am done humoring it.
Speaking Of Being Done: And now, back to the blog: In the past, when I had a problem that I posted on the blog, I usually deleted it after a few days. Some of you may remember the issues with a streaming website showing a film introduced by Jonathan Rosenbaum, or the issues I had with the White Elephant Blogathon last April, etc. I would blog about these issues, announce the content was temporary and delete it after one to two days. I’m revising this policy and now leaving the more “controversial” content up, because invariably someone will need something I have deleted.
One Last Thing: A new About page will be up sometime soon, with reminders and rules. The basic rule here is to not be a jackass, especially to other commenters. But since being a jackass is a subjective thing, rules must be written and posted, so they will be.
That’s about it. This was one of the least fun posts I’ve ever written, though my misgivings about posting it were outweighed by what I felt was necessity. But don’t worry, I’ve already started on a post about the craziest damn 30s movie I think I’ve ever seen (not counting Freaks, because Freaks is more of a sledgehammer to the psyche than a film), so content is coming, and soon.
