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David Poland

By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com

A Semi-Anonymous Voice, Craving Notice

The funniest things about Peter Bart

13 Responses to “A Semi-Anonymous Voice, Craving Notice”

  1. IOIOIOI says:

    Miami Heat: HE’S THOUGHT OUT. (paid for by the committee to assist David Poland in his assertion that Peter Bart does not have any “blogging friends”. Also… Bart… what the hell were you doing getting in the trunk of a taxi on SHOOTOUT? That lacked decorum, sir. That lacked… decorum.)

  2. hendhogan says:

    he comes across as a man still using a typewriter, someone longing for the days of radio because this thing called television just…cannnot…last…

  3. Noah says:

    The analogy has become something of a cliche these days, but Bart is just an analog guy in a digital world. I just went on an insulin pump that runs much the same way that a PDA does and my doctor was startled that I figured it out so quickly, because most of the older folks with diabetes just weren’t familiar enough with electronics and had problems just turning it on.
    Bart didn’t grow up with the internet like I did and hasn’t seen it grow organically the way it has because he wasn’t “plugged in” from the start. He views blogs as a fad that will eventually die out, when the truth is much like what David said; that blogs are only in their infancy and will continue to progress.

  4. bipedalist says:

    I thought it was very funny and a little sad that now Variety is full throttle on the blog thing yet they’re head honcho is showing his complete and utter lack of understanding of the whole thing.

  5. doug r says:

    The best blogs don’t have the big corporate magazine to run off. The ones where the commenters engage in a conversation, you know, a community.
    Check out Eschaton. Minimalist posts, most of the action is in the comments.
    Daily Kos is a HUGE community that gets about a half million hits a day.

  6. EDouglas says:

    The thing about blogs is that the fact that anyone and everyone can have them without any sort of talent or skill for writing or web design does make them lesser considerations on the internet IMO. There is a really big difference in the way they’re run compared to many websites, where whoever has posting ability can just post whatever/whenever they want and it’s a classic case of “whoever posts the fastest and most, posts best” and it allows for a lot of really poor quality material to slip in with the decent, insightful opinion pieces… and it leaves the readers having to check them every day in case there’s that one thing worth reading. I don’t think allowing readers to immediately comment publically is that worthwhile as a reasoning for doing content as a blog either and my own decision to move my column to a blog (even though it’s written and edited exactly the same way) has not been met with a very positive response and noticeably decreased readership.
    I think a lot of people feel the way Bart and the studios do …that if you merely write a blog or that you’re a “blogger”, you’re not on the same level as those who actually bother to design, build and run regular websites.

  7. bipedalist says:

    I don’t think that’s particularly right either, Ed. Coming Soon is not Variety, which has a long history of dominating entertainment news here in Los Angeles. Both HR and Variety have to compete now with the New York Times and yes, even blogs like this one. People go to different sites for different reasons – no one needs to spend all of their time on one site anymore, hence the one-stop-shopping idea was always top-heavy. Daily Kos is basically one topic torn apart a hundred ways. They don’t also need to have a movies section and a Dear Abby section, etc. Variety is always ground zero for me for news. I don’t go to them for their communities or their blogs (ditto NY Times, although that’s changing for me lately).

  8. seenmyverite? says:

    First, to use “bloggers” as a blanket term is such a generalization as to immediately dilute his point. You wouldn’t use “columnist” that way – are you talking about the 10-year old writing for his school newsletter or the hobbyist writing for his local crafts guild or the S&M expert writing for a raunchy rag or a Rhodes scholar writing for an academic journal? It works both ways. True, the internet gives you immediate equal access – but just as in print media, where you choose to spend your time is a reflection of you, not the media, and not the bloggers/columnists.
    We’re shifting to computer-based work, where your work is omnipresent – at an office, at home, an airport, a hotel, a coffee shop. Where don’t we work? And the internet is 24/7. When don’t we work? To judge the quality of work because a person isn’t chained to a desk is so antiquated it’s a non sequitur. Talking about bloggers missing a story because of a 4-yr old throwing up is as patronizing and unprofessional as considering Mr. Bart missed a story because he was out having a three-martini lunch.
    And the nature of the internet beast is that your performance is immediately evaluated. Your stock goes up or down accordingly. You can’t hide behind quarterly or year-end averages. You can’t blame the editor or sales department. It makes you immediately autonomous, and hence accountable and responsible. And yes, of course they must be conscious of hits to some degree – would you fault a CEO for being conscious of her company’s profit/loss margins? Would you fault anyone who is self-employed that keeps track of their accounts? It’s part of the job description.
    The internet means up to the minute news, and professional bloggers are living and working on the edge – of technology, of time, and of their professions.
    Mr. B’s subtext seemed to be about shoring up his own self-confidence in the midst of radical techno-change. Reminded me of the grandfather in Moonstruck, who goes out walking with all the dogs and howls at the moon, and in that last scene, when everyone is congregating in the kitchen and he starts to cry, and says, “I’m so confused!” And who hasn’t had techno learning-curve-ball moments like that?
    Maybe Mr. B. is on the outside looking in, his nose pressed up against the window of the blogger party, and it’s translating into a bitter vibe. And is he surrounded by yes-persons? Friends don’t allow friends to print antiquated diatribes. Isn’t that a bumper sticker?
    Methinks its time for an intervention, V-staffers. Show Mr. B. some tough love and teach that man how to blog. (just don’t give him a comments sections right away, just in case some crazy mofo wants to shred him like yesterday’s, um, Variety. Baby steps…)
    another long comment – sorry.

  9. David Poland says:

    Thing is, BiP, as much as you admire Variety, their dominance is no longer a gimme. They run very little news, as such. Almost everything in the entertainment universe is driven by press releases disguised as tips or exclusive info. It’s always been that way, but in a world of alternative options, Variety is less and the less the release point of choice.
    On the flip side, Variety, as others are, is too smart and is appropriated interested in their long-term reputation to just run gossip fed to them by interested parties, which is pretty much the entirity of what Nikki Finke does.
    Nikki’s blog is the current first choice of agents because it is where they can have their way with the dispersal of info. Where does that leave, quite specifically, LA Times columnists who relied more on agents tipping them than anyone else? Who is going to take their dirty laundry to Kim Masters when they can get Nikki to post it without even taking a serious whiff of it?
    And the trades? 90% reliant on revenue from studio advertising. Nature of the beast. Are they really going to walk hard against the studios? No.
    I don’t want to make fun of Bart for being an old man. But he is still in the game of leveraging his once-more-distinct advantage over others in covering this industry while not being able or willing to deliver what the niche platers, like Nikki, can when they are not concerned about making rent by selling studios ads.
    And when he pisses on the web, you can be sure that it will be a less friendly place for his news outlet. Part of MCN’s foundation is not taking things out on people for non-news issues… we will run what is first or best every time and with Variety’s wall down, the quality of that resource is improved. But when, as recently happened, they steal news from a major web site without credit… which now happens often… well, they can expect to be called on it and devalued just that small fraction each time they disrespect others who have earned it.
    Bart is fortunate to have someone like Anne Thompson who actually likes the web and believes in community. But even her linking seems to have tightened up a bit since being under the Variety masthead.
    Mostly, it is time for the egos to be left at the door and for all good men and women to fight on the ground on which their transports dropped ’em. Variety has done that in their fight with The Hollywood Reporter. But the web is a much tougher and flexible target.

  10. adman35 says:

    COMMENT REMOVED – Please refer to entry “I Removed A Comment”

  11. EDouglas says:

    Nice job, adman.. you just gave Nikki Finke her big story for Wednesday.
    BTW, to clarify something I wrote earlier, I don’t consider David to be a “blogger” even though he has a blog, nor do I lump Jeffrey Wells or Sasha or Tom O’Neil into that crowd, because they all do a lot more than “blog.” I’m talking more about the DIYers who think they have something worthwhile to say with their opinion (which is generally not too different from any other opinion out there and not anything particularly new or interesting) but can’t actually get a job or design their own website which offers any kind of original spin. The Blogosphere has made it a lot easier for them to vent and make them feel that their opinion is that much more important.

  12. Edoug, perhaps some people just like to write and to have a place to write their opinions without building a business around it and learning everything about IT and webpage design in order to do it.

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