Here’s this week’s Open Thread…
Grammys coming up, Academy Awards not that far off, Miley Cyrus making fun of Asians, tragedy on Top Chef (she was my favorite), Steve Martin flogging his banjo album.
Oh, and it’s midseason replacement time. Lie to Me (House fights crime), Trust Me (ad agency), Rescue Me (OK, that’s not for a while, right?). Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles is coming back in a week, and Dollhouse is on the horizon. It’s an exciting time to be a couch potato!
An exciting time to be an Overthinker, as well, since a few of us are headed to New York ComicCon to check out what’s coming up in the popular culture you love so well. (We have press passes. It’s our first time. We’re excited.)
Sound off in the comments… what’s got you excited?
Oh my GOD, when you’re at the con, please, please look for the Itssomerandomeguy, the guy that posts the “Marvel vs. DC” videos on Youtube.
I’m boycotting the Grammys this year because Bos Skaggs was snuffed last year. Ahem.
Anyhoo, _Top Chef_ pissed me off SO much. Leah’s mistakes throughout the episide (and, frankly, the whole season) demonstrate how she is NOT AS GOOD as Jamie. Now, Jamie may not have been my own favorite, but I do think she deserved to stay longer than Leah. The judges even sounded like they’d go the other way, so I was totally shocked.
And I can’t believe you left out celebrity blowups and subsequent defenses and jibes (from Whoopie to Colbert, for crying out loud).
Jamie was by far my favorite. The Europeans are dicks, Carla is nice but just not at the level, Hosea has made too many mistakes, and Leah is only still there because they’re hoping she hooks up with Hosea again. Jamie was smart, talented, and made food that seemed delicious, over-seasoned celery notwithstanding. She was my pick.
You know I’m sick of the Christian Bale story. As a guy who has spent a little time on a few film sets, I can tell you they are extremely tense places. Dude had a bad day at work and lost his temper. Throwing a tantrum surely isn’t his proudest moment, but if I had my worst days recorded and broadcast to the world, they would be a lot worse than that.
Also, actors are people whom we PAY for their poor impulse control.
I was incredibly excited at the apparent resurgence of Heroes Monday night…..much better acting, tighter storytelling, all good things ;)
You know, I thought Fabio was a real jerk at first, but for some reason he seems nicer now than he did at the beginning. Stefan is still a dick, but I don’t think Fabio is any more.
As for Christian Bale, the defenses for him are the same as yours. I’ve never been on a movie set, but I know how it feels to have had a terrible day and make the mistake of blowing up at someone. And his apology sounds sincere, too (and I like how he gives Michael Phelps props at the end of it, as well).
Speaking of Heroes, though, I really liked the Super Bowl commercial for the new season.
The first time I heard about the Christian Bale thing was in an article on a msn news website that seemed so determined to condemn him that they didn’t offer any background information to the rant (i.e.. explaining that the guy had just walked right through the set during a scene) and instead chose to approach it from the “everyone else thinks he’s a wanker, you should too” angle by quoting specific comments from youtube.
It made me wonder whether this should be an acceptable source for any sort of story. Anyone who has ever read a series of youtube comments knows that far too many of them are completely ridiculous.
Example: After watching the “rant” on youtube, I checked the comments and only the second one down said something along the lines of “I bet that’s what he shouts when he’s beating his mum and sister”.
Yes, what a truly intellectual statement to present to the world. Let’s just ignore the fact that that would make absolutely no sense whatsoever, as well as that Bale was held for 4 hours on a VERBAL abuse charge against his mother and sister. This does seem like the sort of opinion that should be included in a national news story.
So my question (after what is probably far too much build-up) is this: Is it ok for a newspaper/news website/news channel to use quotes from comments* made on youtube or other media sharing websites to present a story? Do they need to present to us other peoples reactions and opinions to something going on, isn’t that a bit unethical? Surely these news stories are there to offer us the facts and allow us to form our own opinions, not just give us one side of the story and then tell us “this is what other people think about it, you should think this too”. And if they are going to do that, what are the limits? Can they take a quote from the wall of someone’s facebook? Can a persons myspace page be used as a source for a story?
By giving every person a voice, has the internet disrupted the news media and changed the way we learn about current events so that it is no longer possible to hear a factual, unbiased explanation of any story?
Ok so that turned in to a series of questions. I may have gone a bit over the top. But it just goes to show that once you get started on something you disagree with, it’s very hard to shut yourself up.
*On an unrelated topic, that is one of the things I love about this site, and why an open thread for you guys works – that the people who read and comment on these offer their own interpretations or opinions on the topic at hand and don’t just say things like “dis iz so not funy. u guys ar laaaame u need to get a lief. reding dis made me wnat 2 hit my balls wiv a brik as dat wud be funyer and mor fun!!!1111” as you seem to get on so many other sites.
Wait…you’re saying that an MSN story reported on YOUTUBE COMMENTS as some sort of thing worthy of reporting???? Link please?
Also, re: comments in general, I can only assume that as the popularity of this site grows, the appearance of “FRIST PSOT” in the comments will only become more frequent.
Just found the link now http://news.uk.msn.com/science/article.aspx?cp-documentid=13709451
It’s on the uk msn site, so I’m guessing you guys won’t have seen it.
And ok, so it is specifically a story about peoples reactions to the Bale rant, but it was the first thing I saw about it and I was shocked at the lack of actual information it gave me. Evidently I was supposed to have seen a separate article that would actually give me the facts about the matter first. I’m therefore not sure why this article exists – it seems rather pointless. Can it really just be there to influence opinion so as to keep the story going and give them more to write about in the future? Are they really that desperate for news?
Also it does (briefly) touch upon the fact that it had stemmed from Bale being distracted during filming, so I was wrong in stating that no backstory was given, but it was still hardly an adequate description.
And as much as I would like you guys to be successful, I can shamelessly say that I like this site not being well known enough to receive those kinds of comments.
I apologise for sounding incredibly selfish and priggish, but it’s true.
Also, something I’ve just realised after posting that link: Why in the world is it under the “science” section?
I don’t see a link, but I’ll take you’re word for it, Swirthie. I wouldn’t be surprised if MSNBC did a segment based on YouTube comments. I know they have a whole, regularly scheduled segment devoted to checking out blogs and internet sites every day around the lunch hour (or so they did a while back). In it, they’d talk about sites getting the most hits and viral videos going around YouTube. I think CNN does it sometimes, too, although in their case, I feel like it’s more of a time-filler, if there wasn’t enough disaster to report for a full show’s-worth of sensationalism- I mean show’s worth of news, my bad, ahem, hack, cry, etc.
And Lee/Swirthie- yeah, I really think the dumbs commenting on OTI will increase in number as time goes on. There are already the idiots that say, “You guys are thinking too hard,” or thereabouts. It’s only a matter of tiem before teh n00bs come n invayde. (Note: As I’ve said before, while my grammar and spelling aren’t immaculate, typing incorrectly *on purpose* is very hard for me to accomplish successfully. Sorry.)