“War of the Worlds” sucks

June 27, 2005 D. H. McKee

Off

Or, rather, it will. No, I haven’t seen anything except the terrible-looking previews and Tom Cruise’s bad acting.
The key thing is: neither has anyone else. For a film that’s opening on Wednesday, there are exactly 0 reviews on rottentomatoes.com (unless you count the year-old previews and the review for the soundtrack. The distributors have placed a “pre-screening order” on the film, making it impossible for reviewers to get the film before anyone else. This means bad things for movies — usually box-office suicide.
But it’s Spielberg, so who knows. The only thing one can say for sure is that we’ve got another “Independence Day” on our hands, and another film that capitalizes on the catastrophe of 9/11.
Really, do we need another remake of “War of the Worlds”? Name aside, this film’s been remade several times over the years, under different names, usually all dealing with the same basic concept — that aliens from somewhere else are trying to take over/destroy/conquer Earth. “Signs” and “ID4” are only the first two to come to mind. We need another alien film like we need another zombie film (yeah, I’m talking to you, Romero). This is a franchise that’s been done in just about every mass media so far: a book, radio show, film, TV series (remember that awful thing?). If Spielberg wanted to do something even slightly innovative, he’s have done it as a stage play, or a cartoon, or theme park ride, or something.
But really, why a film? Where’s the audience for this? Are the masses that stupid? That they need more Tom Cruise and explosions? Was I missing something? Did Bruckheimer suddenly gain some credibility and drop the project? Yikes … Did I just compare Bruckheimer to Kubrick?!
At least we know why Cruise has been going apeshit in the past couple of weeks … how else is this film going to get any press?
(via Blackberry)

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As a guy who occasionally curates art shows and wrangles artists together, I often have to edit and post artist bios, profile pictures, and artwork images. This can be a problem, since many artists and writers aren’t used to selling themselves. Artists rarely know how to present their art for display in a brochure, and writers aren’t used to writing about themselves.

Writers often treat the bio like it’s an interview or something. Maybe like they’re having a conversation with you, the reader. While it may work sometimes, the most common way to write a bio is to write in the 3rd person.

I’m like those writers, and I’m talking to you directly, unlike the common way to do a bio. You should see my About page. It makes sense to me, since this is a bit which describes my blog’s website. When I get famous enough that I don’t have time to talk to you, I’ll have an intern write everything in 3rd person. Until then, you get to talk to me.

Like blogs of old, this one is a personal document of the comings and goings of me. Articles I’ve written, links I’ve posted, videos I liked, etc. Here, a first-person perspective is the way to go, at least for now. So, this is my site. I’m D. H. McKee, a sometimes artist, sometimes writer. Mostly just a guy on the internet.