Hey folks... Harry here. Man, I decide to rest up... feel better... and lo and behold Father Geek comes in here waltzing a bit like Stalin. He's got the bald top and the beard... but yeesh.
I believe... in the entire history of the site... I have banned... perhaps 3 or 4 people. Deleted under 30 posts. The VAST majority of this is done by Father Geek, simply because I could really give a shit most of the time.
I love TALK BACK... completely. In fact, I am the person standing between it existing and not existing. Robogeek... he wants it sooooo gone it isn't even funny. Many of my good friends (not film friends, but just buddies... regular folks) want it gone cause they are tired of reading a bunch of shit about me being fat or a sellout or blah blah blah.
I'm fat, known that for about the last 18 years once I started growing an axis. Doesn't bother me one bit. I've never had a real problem hooking up with girls (without laying down money, thank you very much anonymous would be asshole) before this site... and after this site began. Personal attacks just cause me to laugh.
However, they really piss Dad off. I've told him to chill, to just take it easy... let the natural flow of things go. If people want to call me a sell out... go right ahead, lies don't hurt... because I know the truth of the matter.
I love talk backs when they pick up on some weird teensy bitsy thing in an article and then becomes that. I love informative talk backs, or when we have political and theoretical discussions about Hollywood, Congress, MPAA, etc. TALK BACK is sometimes pure unadulterated emotion. Some of it with keen intelligence behind it, sometimes it's filled with pure kneejerk impulses that explode from someone's fingertips. I like that.
The only things that really piss me off in TALK BACK is when people take something about someone else... be it sexuality or personal history and then make an issue of it. I mean... hell... Superman played a gay dude that kisses Michael Caine before... So... because Superman is straight, and so is Michael Caine, does that mean they can not play gay in a film? No. Or... is Spike Lee right when he says that Spielberg shouldn't be allowed to tell Black stories like AMISTAD? Of course not. At the same case, when I see folks even bringing up people's personal lives as though they have SHIT to do with anything... It pisses me off. THEN, when an entire TALK BACK slips into nothing but people siding up on one side or another screaming at each other, calling this person a cock swallower and that one a bum-rider and shit... That's when I pull the reins a bit.
When it comes right down to it, I don't ever want to ban anybody. It friggin angers me something fierce and I jump all over Dad and when people write me about being banned, I go and unban em quick as I can. What I use BAN for is to punish assholes. If you are going through TALK BACK trolling. Simply being a creep... I ban, then unban you. It takes about 15 seconds of my time to simply erase everything that has ever been written. And the said person begins anew with a clean slate and history. But they can continue to post. If they continue slobbering all over the place... I do it again... 15 seconds... bam.
But like I said... I hardly ever do this. Almost never, about once a month or so.
As for the talking about folks' personal lives... drug abuse, prostitution using, arrests, alleged events, etc... I think it is notably uncool. I respect people's private lives. I do get more dirt about sleeping with people... I've even had shit about a married pregnant star that was cheating on her husband while 5 months pregnant. Really horrible, Tabloid bullshit. I just will not do that. Talking about people's divorces... ex-boyfriends and girlfriends... Just ain't cool.
I like to focus on the films. The work. The material. When talking about stars or directors... I do not like and never have brought in what they do outside of the screen. That's the public's domain in my eyes. The rest of it... Well, I'll give you an example. I have a lot of problems watching Kevin Costner films because of all the bs that came out during his divorce. As a result, it's hurt his ability to play certain types of characters in my eyes... and I hate that. So, I turn a blind eye to it. I respect people their lives.
But... I'll dig into the scripts, rough cuts, films... everything having to do with the production of the film... the thing we see, buy and collect.
Have fun in TALK BACK... be cool. Feel free to cuss up a storm in the body of your messages if you feel like it, but keep it out of the subject lines. I'm nowhere near pulling the plug on TALK BACK... not by a long shot. I have never even considered it seriously. And I don't believe I ever will.
I believe that it is a real weathervane for what the word and buzz is on a project. If people feel I'm selling out, it forces me to take a moment to reflect... self-examine what I've done, how I'm doing things and it settles me down. Helps keeps me from getting a case of the big head. Keeps me honest. It is the main reason I'd never take a packet of money or a briefcase to sway an opinion.
If you end up banned... just send me an email... tell me what happened, and I'll probably unban you. But I can't do anything about your past posts. The last thing I want is for you to become all agreeing with me... that's boring as hell bullshit. I laugh my ass off when reading TB... it's great. Just don't slander folks, don't cuss in your headlines and you'll most likely be fine. The main thing though is to just be real... and be cool. After all, ain't that what it's all about?
P.S. --- I've been getting a lot of emails asking me about what I did to screw up my back. Well... Heh... After watching THREE KINGS (for a second time) the other night, Dad and I came home to test out our 16mm print of EXCALIBUR in advance of the party we're throwing today (Saturday) at Geek Headquarters. We'd just bought it and... yadda yadda. We wanted to see if it was a good print or not. Well, I went to hang up the screen and like a dumbshit I tried to hang it without getting something to stand on, and wound up pulling a muscle of some sort. Only me. I'm the only fucker I know that pulls muscles in his back hanging a movie screen. Sigh... after the hot tubbing tonight, it's almost 100% again.
