In the wake of the massive success of Stuff White People Like––the sometimes funny (but usually in a really annoying, condescending, post-collegiate know-it-all jerk-off sort of way) blog-to-book sensation that’s taken, um, seven or eight other blogs by storm over the pas six months––there have been, of course, imitators. The most recent is Stuff Hollywood Assistants Like, the most recent in a short line of semi0nonymous blogs which purport to offer tales from inside the drudgery of minimum wag Hollywood employment (see also Hollywood Temp Diaries, and wasn’t this the original gimmick behind Defamer?)
I like SHAL more than some of its competitors, if for no other reason than it actually has a voice and an idiosyncratic sense of humor … you know, like a blog should? Some recent entries of note: Earthquakes, Las Vegas, and Swingers (the diner, not the movie).
Defamer has opened up their closed comment system (presumably temporarily) so that the blog’s readers can post questions to legendarily reclusive 80s teen film auteur John Hughes. According to Stu VanAirsdale, the site is also looking for “tipsters, spies and industry moles” who can contact Hughes and pass the comment thread questions along. Apparently, that task is more formidable than it might sound: the L.A. Times‘ Patrick Goldstein, who apparently wasn’t able to get to Hughes whilst researching this story, credits Vince Vaughn as the “one person who made contact.” Here’s hoping Defamer’s Q & A challenge strikes a victory for citizen journalism. Subsequently, let’s also hope that if Hughes does deign to take a look at the questions, he’s not put off by the commenter who compares Hughes to Reverend Wright and begs him to “please stay retired forever.”
Semi-related: the new poster for the Sundance doc, American Teen.
In what they’re trumpeting as an exclusive, Defamer reports that the Detroit Free Press has elected not to replace their recently forcibly retired film critic Terry Lawson, and will fill his coulmn space with wire reviews:
We called the Detroit Free Press this morning and learned from a (very confused) HR rep that “We are not planning on replacing [Terry Lawson] at this time.” Very interesting. By our research, all of the other Top 20 newspapers in the United States have at least one major, well-known critic (yes, even the Arizona Republic). However, The Freep’s move clearly signals that there’s a changing tide in the amount of importance (and budget dollars) local newspapers allocate to coverage of the movie business.
The real news here may be that Defamer managed to publish 267 completely snark-free words about anything, let alone the decline of print film criticism. Associate editor Molly Friedman even closes with the seemingly sincere lament that “it still saddens us that there’s not enough room in the budget of a Top 20 newspaper to send someone to the movies a few times a week.”
In all seriousness, the Detroit Free Press‘ move is the latest in an epidemic of regional newspapers dropping their film critics. This is clearly a problem in the short term, but may turn out to be a positive on a longer timeline.
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Jesus Christ –– or, Xenu? (And is that a valid Scrabulous word? The mind reels…)
If you’re one of the 85,039 hippest people in the universe (as of this writing), you’ve probably already seen the Defamer-hosted, Tom Cruise-starring Scientology indoctrination video. But if you haven’t … enjoy! We’re en route to Park City and our “real” content will be in short supply until Friday.
Actor/game show host/former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein published a love letter to the soon-to-close Hollywood eatery Morton’s in Sunday’s New York Times. A splooge sample:
My wife and I and all of our friends are devastated. I guess we’ll eat seaweed at Mr Chow. But as far as I know, there now is no Hollywood-center-of-power cafe. Mr Chow would be the closest, especially for the music business. Yet for television and movies, it’s a sad, sad time. For those of us who considered Morton’s as much of a home as our own kitchens, it’s tragic.
Dana Harris had a markedly different take, writing up the closing on Variety’s The Knife blog in May:
But have you been to Mortons lately? I don’t think we’re going to be missing much. Nothing is wrong with the restaurant, but beyond its storied reputation, there isn’t much right. The booths are comfy and the servers are pro, but the menu is as dull and innocuous as its French-vanilla walls.
The two paragraphs above seem to reveal an evolution in the notion of Hollywood public space.
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