Comments On: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment... by Lindy West http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/07/02/im-pretty-busy-murdering-arthouse-cinema-with-my-bare-hands-at-the-moment Comments On: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment... by Lindy West en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:30:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
Lindy, I had an opportunity to say hi at a party recently, but I chickened out for much the same reason as my earlier encounter with the Mr. Wepner:

You are awesome.


Posted by Drawmark]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:07:44 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
Well all know many people like that in our personal lives, sure. But it's especially frustrating given this medium, the influence potential it has and the audience it has.
Posted by Gomez]]> Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:01:19 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by jane doe]]> Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:25:59 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Baxter]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:33:26 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
Dear Editor, why is [hack] still in charge of [hack's section]? Yeah, (s)he's funny and would probably make a great partner for drunken karaoke, but (his/her) lazy lack of interest, knowledge and coverage of what's [happening in said writer's dept of choice] is astounding.

Posted by Gomez]]> Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:58:28 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by ekswitaj]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:30:01 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by J.R.]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:32:10 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Like 'em Juicy]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:02:59 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Like 'em Juicy]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:02:37 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Baxter]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:53:11 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Baxter]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:52:24 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by oldmanandthesea]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:18:25 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
I just wanted to say I HEART LINDY.

I'd totally have your babies.
Posted by candice.]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:02:24 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
Posted by Gloria]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:33:58 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
I really don't get the attitude of people who say "Well, I still gotta read other stuff to find out what I want." Isn't that a good thing?

For any given movie, I read several reviews; I read the Stranger's, the NY Times', my local paper's. I get a little something different from each one and it's interesting to see what each reviewer mentions or agrees/disagrees on. I also read them for different reasons -- sometimes I need to decide to go, other times I just want some entertaining reading because I'm already going.

I disagree even with my favourite reviewers, so I like getting several opinions that I consider "reliable" (i.e. accurate to my own taste). NO review is ever going to give you "everything" so I find it interesting anyone thinks one review is enough to decide for them what to see.
Posted by Gloria]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:32:14 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
I think I understand how this works a little bit better. Like if Jen Graves started to seriously critique Thomas Kincaid galleries, or wrote about new shows at SAM with lots of exclamation points (try it, Jen!), now that Lindy is being silly about movies, y'all have your panties in a bunch.
Posted by Soupytwist]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:20:06 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Tracy]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:07:47 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
I actually love your writing too (your line "if there exists any circumstance in which 'honeyed cleft' can be a convincing substitute for 'butthole,' we will most certainly not find it 'neath the pantaloons of a 17th-century blacksmith" will stay with me forever). But often, after reading your cutesy, joke-filled reviews, I still have to log onto Rotten Tomatoes to find out if a movie's worth seeing or not.

When you HAVE done intelligent justice to more serious, non-mainstream films with your reviews (MUNYURANGABO, for example), people notice and appreciate the difference.

I don't think there are many who would like to see you or The Stranger abandon coverage of pop culture or mainstream cinema, but a little more balance would be nice. Seattle's independent theaters are bringing things to town that you won't find anywhere else—films that obviously don't already have huge Hollywood studio ad campaigns behind them. It would be great to see The Stranger do more to bring those films to peoples' attention. I look forward to the changes you mention that will make some of that stuff more visible.
Posted by tornadoZ]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 10:06:28 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by doldo]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:51:48 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by Jenny P]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:37:07 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]>
These “pity-me” slog posts of spotlighting her haters routinely get filled with rallying comments from her supporters to demonstrate her opinion’s validity. Her fans like seeing “someone just like me” without challenging any of their beliefs, a la the cult of Palin. I’m guessing Lindy is surprised that her haters take cinema more seriously than she does.

She’s not solely responsible for murdering art house cinema. It has more to do with the economy, Netflix, and the ubiquitous home theatre setup. However, she’s certainly not helping it.

Her observations are more appropriate for the pop culture junk of I Love Television, which is a pretty direct inspiration of her style. If you would like snark that has some grasp of cinema knowledge, then read the AV Club. Lindy’s promotion has single handedly halved my reading time of the Stranger. Seattle will forever remain a music town.
Posted by Mickle]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:13:10 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by blank12357]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:58:30 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by dr. jim]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:50:30 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by they are both lovable fat curmungeons]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:45:27 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: I'm Pretty Busy Murdering Arthouse Cinema With My Bare Hands at the Moment...]]> Posted by they are both lovable fat curmungeons]]> Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:45:23 -0700 The Stranger