Tag: Opnion

What Happened to Journalism? ….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

So, the internet destroyed honest journalism. Wait. Hear me out. I believe it. Listen.

The other day I was looking over the social media sites and came across and article about …. comic book industry and some words of wisdom from a very well known comic book creator. As I continue to read the article, I realize that the person writing the article is just retelling what the creator said at a recent show. And this got me to thinking about many many articles I see everyday on the internet.

Y’know, those articles where the breaking story is someone has an opinion about something and then this website tries to spin it as earth-shattering news. I’ll try to better detail it. With the invention of Twitter and social media, the thoughts and activities of the celebrity crowd is no long a mystery to anyone. (Maybe it should be?) That’s my belief no one watches the Oscars or any other award show anymore. Why tune in to see your favorite star when you get pics of their food, what they did in the Bahamas, and 140 character snippets of their morals and virtu signaling. It’s true!

Nowadays, these quasi-news sites exaggerate everything in the name of clicks. That’s how they make money. Just go to one of the sites and the madness of pop-up ads and banners all over the site. Heck, I can’t read a 10 paragraph article without scrolling past 10 banner ads for TV shows and miracle cures for my Diabetes. Thus, let’s say “fake news” is a real thing. (Yet thats a whole different topic). Sorry, back to the someone saying stuff about something. Example: Kevin Smith tells all about the MCU/Sony Split. So I click. $$ for them. I start to read. The “journalist” writing the piece begins to draw me in. Banner ad $$ for them. I continue to read. More banners $$$ for them. Oh, so the entire article is based around the 10 tweets you copied and pasted from Twitter? Really! You have to be F**king Me! Seriously!? Does anyone remember when a reporter had to pick up the phone, call a source, run to the studio and stalk the actor to get a quote? (If you don’t, I truly feel sorry for you). I do. That was reporting. That’s when I started to wonder. I wondered if this snowflake writer would be able to get this “breaking news” if he/she had to actually do some work? I really don’t think so.

If any news site wants to earn credibility or be a trusted news source (again), then actually do research. Maybe call the celebrity and interview them about the tweets not just repost them with your “divine” insight. And I’d think real journalists would get angry by this. It really doesn’t help the industry.

Oh well, thats todays thought….

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The Force Awakens…. Lost its way….

Posted on by CV Whitfield

As I stated, the movie started out with lots of potential. Yet, it didn’t know what it wanted to be. The writer and director didn’t create a natural extension of the Skywalker story. Instead, they created a story and production they thought the audience wanted. Or to be more precise, what the producer thought the audience wanted.

So, the new leadership at Lucasfilm decided to nix everything in the expanded universe. A horrible idea to millions of fans that spent decades enjoying the stories and respecting the chronology. But a fabulous idea for a new writing staff so they don’t have to worry about the past and all thats come before it. Or as I really think, they didn’t have a clue of any of that source material and like a slacker high school student, why actually read the book and know the material when you can just petition the teacher to throw out the textbook altogether. Yes, I am calling out those writers for not actually being SW fans and actually knowing the chronology. When you have a clean canvas you can create anything without remorse or worry.

As story development proceeded, The Force Awakens could literally be anything the writers could dream up. And that doesn’t necessarily mean that it fit in with the previous movies, character developement nor even the wishes of Mr. George Lucas. He handed treatments over yet Lucasfilm leadership decided to toss them and proceed with the what the rockstar director wanted.

Story may be the weak link but the saving grace was the art design and characters that were created. Except I think they needed a slight tweak….

Up next… a fan’s version of The Force Awakens….

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