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Felt kind of lonely last night. It happens. I sat with it for a bit, and realized that I'm not alone, there's a lot of people out there who also feel lonely.
It's difficult making new friends. There's lots of Meetup groups, but I feel overwhelmed by them. And my weekend outing with Wales - made me feel lonelier than expected.
This too shall pass. I hope.
The advice I found online about handling lonliness was:
Support Tips for Everyday Loneliness
Basically it pushes counseling or talking therapy - which has never really worked well for me.
I did however like some of the information within it - such as the bits on social media, which have a tendency sometimes to make me feel more lonely instead of less.
I sometimes feel lonely when I am overwhelmed by human information – the news, social media, TV, negative gossip etc. – I feel so separate and different to most people.
And..
Seeing photos of others at events, or socialising with friends and family, might make us feel like we’re the only one who’s feeling lonely. Being able to access so many people’s lives can sometimes feel overwhelming.
It’s sometimes hard to stop comparing ourselves to others. But remember that things aren’t always what they seem from the outside. We don’t know how other people feel when they’re alone. Or what’s going on for them outside of their social media feed.
This was a UK site, obviously due to two things: one it offered a Welsh Translation (which I found endearing, being part Welsh) and it had links to UK communities.
I found another site last night - but I can't find it now. This happens to me a lot. I find things on the internet - and they disappear. It's very odd.
**
Apparently Rotten Tomatoes isn't as Reliable as People Thought? - It's been Rigged
I discovered this via a Tweet or Xit by Steven DeKnight on Xitter, who despises Rotten Tomatoes and the critics on it for that reason. Publicists are paying them off.
In a recent interview, Quentin Tarantino, whose next film is reportedly called The Movie Critic, admitted that he no longer reads critics’ work. “Today, I don’t know anyone,” he said (in a translation of his remarks, first published in French). “I’m told, ‘Manohla Dargis, she’s excellent.’ But when I ask what are the three movies she loved and the three she hated in the last few years, no one can answer me. Because they don’t care!”
This is probably because Rotten Tomatoes — with help from Yelp, Goodreads, and countless other review aggregators — has desensitized us to the opinions of individual critics. Once upon a time, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert turned the no-budget documentary Hoop Dreams into a phenomenon using only their thumbs. But critical power like that has been replaced by the collective voice of the masses. A third of U.S. adults say they check Rotten Tomatoes before going to the multiplex, and while movie ads used to tout the blurbage of Jeffrey Lyons and Peter Travers, now they’re more likely to boast that a film has been “Certified Fresh.”
To filmmakers across the taste spectrum, Rotten Tomatoes is a scourge. Martin Scorsese says it reduces the director “to a content manufacturer and the viewer to an unadventurous consumer.” Brett Ratner has called it “the destruction of our business.” But insiders acknowledge that it has become a crucial arbiter. Publicists say their jobs revolve around the site. “In the last ten years,” says one, “it’s become much more important as so many of the most trusted critics have retired without replacements.” Studios are so scared of what the Tomatometer might say that some work with a company called Screen Engine/ASI, which attempts to forecast scores. (“According to the studios, the predictions are very close,” says another publicist. I’ll refer to these informers, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly, as Publicists Nos. 1 and 2.) An indie-distribution executive says, “I put in our original business plan that we should not do films that score less than 80. Rotten Tomatoes is the only public stamp of approval that says, ‘This is of immense quality, and all critics agree.’”
I admittedly have given up on critics of late. We have too much content - they can't possibly see it all, so they review whatever they feel like, and it's usually just about them or they are paid to do review it in a positive manner. I discovered "the pay for positive reviews" racket when I published a book. Kirkus Reviews? You pay them for reviews. Same with everyone else.
They are paid by the publishers and writers.
It's difficult making new friends. There's lots of Meetup groups, but I feel overwhelmed by them. And my weekend outing with Wales - made me feel lonelier than expected.
This too shall pass. I hope.
The advice I found online about handling lonliness was:
Support Tips for Everyday Loneliness
Basically it pushes counseling or talking therapy - which has never really worked well for me.
I did however like some of the information within it - such as the bits on social media, which have a tendency sometimes to make me feel more lonely instead of less.
I sometimes feel lonely when I am overwhelmed by human information – the news, social media, TV, negative gossip etc. – I feel so separate and different to most people.
And..
Seeing photos of others at events, or socialising with friends and family, might make us feel like we’re the only one who’s feeling lonely. Being able to access so many people’s lives can sometimes feel overwhelming.
It’s sometimes hard to stop comparing ourselves to others. But remember that things aren’t always what they seem from the outside. We don’t know how other people feel when they’re alone. Or what’s going on for them outside of their social media feed.
This was a UK site, obviously due to two things: one it offered a Welsh Translation (which I found endearing, being part Welsh) and it had links to UK communities.
I found another site last night - but I can't find it now. This happens to me a lot. I find things on the internet - and they disappear. It's very odd.
**
Apparently Rotten Tomatoes isn't as Reliable as People Thought? - It's been Rigged
I discovered this via a Tweet or Xit by Steven DeKnight on Xitter, who despises Rotten Tomatoes and the critics on it for that reason. Publicists are paying them off.
In a recent interview, Quentin Tarantino, whose next film is reportedly called The Movie Critic, admitted that he no longer reads critics’ work. “Today, I don’t know anyone,” he said (in a translation of his remarks, first published in French). “I’m told, ‘Manohla Dargis, she’s excellent.’ But when I ask what are the three movies she loved and the three she hated in the last few years, no one can answer me. Because they don’t care!”
This is probably because Rotten Tomatoes — with help from Yelp, Goodreads, and countless other review aggregators — has desensitized us to the opinions of individual critics. Once upon a time, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert turned the no-budget documentary Hoop Dreams into a phenomenon using only their thumbs. But critical power like that has been replaced by the collective voice of the masses. A third of U.S. adults say they check Rotten Tomatoes before going to the multiplex, and while movie ads used to tout the blurbage of Jeffrey Lyons and Peter Travers, now they’re more likely to boast that a film has been “Certified Fresh.”
To filmmakers across the taste spectrum, Rotten Tomatoes is a scourge. Martin Scorsese says it reduces the director “to a content manufacturer and the viewer to an unadventurous consumer.” Brett Ratner has called it “the destruction of our business.” But insiders acknowledge that it has become a crucial arbiter. Publicists say their jobs revolve around the site. “In the last ten years,” says one, “it’s become much more important as so many of the most trusted critics have retired without replacements.” Studios are so scared of what the Tomatometer might say that some work with a company called Screen Engine/ASI, which attempts to forecast scores. (“According to the studios, the predictions are very close,” says another publicist. I’ll refer to these informers, who asked for anonymity to speak candidly, as Publicists Nos. 1 and 2.) An indie-distribution executive says, “I put in our original business plan that we should not do films that score less than 80. Rotten Tomatoes is the only public stamp of approval that says, ‘This is of immense quality, and all critics agree.’”
I admittedly have given up on critics of late. We have too much content - they can't possibly see it all, so they review whatever they feel like, and it's usually just about them or they are paid to do review it in a positive manner. I discovered "the pay for positive reviews" racket when I published a book. Kirkus Reviews? You pay them for reviews. Same with everyone else.
They are paid by the publishers and writers.
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Now? Anyone and their dog, and often it is the dog, or sometimes the cat can blog a review on social media or youtube. It's just amateurs. And most of them know zip about film or the industry. It's depressing. There's still a few good ones lurking out there, but not many.
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At one time I used IMDb a lot, but not as a source of review, but mostly as a source of info about cast & crew.
When I was young there was one critic, Barry Norman, that I could rely on though. Only one, to be honest, in all this time. When he reviewed a film; even if he didn't like it, I could use his opinions as a guide to whether it was one I'd like, or should give a try.
I only got it wrong, listening to him, one time. Cannot recall which film it was now, but it was mainstream Hollywood, that I remember.
Growing up with him as a guide was maybe one of the reasons I pretty much stopped watching mainstream movies, and became very independent and, I guess, eclectic.
As a result too, I got to searching for foreign language films; French & Japanese cinema are still the best, for me but, through this, I discovered some terrific movies from West Africa; Italy; Germany, even some from Soviet era Eastern Europe that were tremendous discoveries.
Loving indie cinema; though more mainstream in quality these days, gives me a less jaundiced view of Queer cinema compared to some reviewers; should call them reactors now I guess.
The last five years has seen a sharp decline in the availability of less main studio content.
Re: a previous post it may have played a part; by that I mean the fact I did not grow up reading the likes of Marvel or DC, in the fact that the boom in superhero cinema, and the rise in popularity of anime have left me cold; though my having to search for new Japanese movies has led to discover some really good anime, more realistic; if still fantastical, than that I was familiar with.
I know little about American movie critics; beyond cameos in movies.
I have lot to be grateful to that old BBC movie critic, who now seems a sad reminder in the decline of the BBC as well. I miss him.
Last time I went to the cinema was before the pandemic to see a restoration of The Dam Busters; that or a presentation of the most complete restoration of a 1927 French film about Napoleon.
Nothing has been shown, that I want to see, where I can get to see it for so long :-(
kerk.
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The X-men kind of have a huge Queer following (I'm not necessarily Queer per se...). Those comics featured characters who were quirky, different, diverse, other - like myself. But this is the 1980s-90s version not the 1960s or early 70s (I didn't know those existed until later).
Anime? I fell in love with as a small child watching Kimba, then later Battle of the Planets. I've watched Anime off and on most of my life.