|
|
My entry in Romasuave's My Own Personal Epinions W/OJul 22 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
Popular Products in Books
The Bottom Line This turned out to be a more time-consuming task than I thought......
Member Name and Meaning Behind It: Hmm..... DavidMac... now there’s a term just fraught with much meaning and, frankly, significance of biblical proportions. That term makes people in some parts of the world shudder with fear. And the reason for all of that is.... hmm, well, I misplaced that reason in my other pair of pants, so I’ll have to get back to you on that one. Date I Joined Epinions: June 13, 2000 How I stumbled upon Epinions: I sorry to say, but frankly I absolutely do not remember. All I remember is posting a few reviews there that day, and not even coming back to the site until about five or six months later. I’m sure I probably saw it while aimlessly wandering around the internet one day....... Number of member visits: 16, 217 Number of total visits: 176,749 My very first review: It was Showgirls (http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-22A0-C08B06B-3949951C-prod6), that great and bloated would-be softporn from Paul Verhoeven (who, based on the only other film I’ve seen from him, Spetters, is actually a pretty decent director). At the time, I was maintaining my own personal website of film reviews, so there was no other significance to Showgirls being the first posting other than I had worked on it that day, and decided to post it on both sites. The only real problem with the review (and some of the other earlier postings) is that the copying and pasting of words from my parents’ Microsoft computer to the Epinions word editor resulted in some pretty bad line breaks, etc (which I left for posterity). My most successful write-off: Successful? Well, I created one, if that’s what you mean. I did create one called the Deja-View write-off (http://www.epinions.com/content_3337724036), in which the point was to review an original film and its remake(s). Did anyone even participate? I cared so much by the end that I ended up just writing one review (http://www.epinions.com/content_113998401156) instead of the required more than one. Oh, and there was the Calling All Souls Write-off (http://www.epinions.com/content_3093340292), although to be honest that was far more a creation of jankp’s than it ever was of mine, so I don’t think it really counts. This was my entry in any case -- http://www.epinions.com/content_3116015748 Favourite write-off I participated in: This would have to be Loislane05’s Found Poem W/O. (http://www.epinions.com/content_3854672004) The whole idea was to use “found” material, like song titles, poem titles, or basically anything random like that, and construct a poem from it. I sort of cheated because,while I used titles (from a poetry collection by Evelyn Lau), I spruced it up with lines and thoughts of my own. But I enjoyed the writing -- it really breaks you free from the restraints we sometimes put on ourselves when we try to create something. My most complete review: Frankly, they are all movie reviews, with the exception of possibly two magazine reviews and two music reviews. How complete can you get unless you want to reveal as much plot and imagery as possible? To be honest, I can’t help you there - to me, they are all relatively the same. You may have a different opinion, however. My most lucrative review: A quick glance through my account shows, astonishingly enough, that Showgirls (http://www.epinions.com/mvie-review-22A0-C08B06B-3949951C-prod6) review as being the most profitable! I made almost 10 bucks on that one review alone! Nothing else I’ve posted even comes close! (I suppose this is a combination of the fact these kinds of movies always get more outside hits, and the fact that Epinions used to pay at least one cent per member hit... and I’m also sure the income share itself was more back then) My favorite reviews: Another difficult category. The movie reviews are, sort of, all the same, although I’ve written some less than passionate prose about some great movies. I tend to come up with better thoughts after I’ve posted the review. I suppose some of my more contentious reviews include my review for The Battle of Algiers (http://www.epinions.com/content_170075524740), in which I deliberately (and pointlessly?) provoked just to see how many sparks would fly. In reality, I had no problem giving the film five stars and calling it a classic, even though I had one Helpful, one who said she would not “support” the film, and a few who just did not care for my attitude toward some of the central characters. Another problematic review would be the one for the Hungarian film The Red and the White (http://www.epinions.com/content_108591615620), in which I was slapped mercilessly for, basically, not knowing what I was talking about. And my review for How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (http://www.epinions.com/content_127160127108) was troublesome in that it was little more than a bitter and angry rant (although that stemmed from Simply Crispy’s write-off, mind you) Some of my movie reviews were fun to write, especially a few of the five-star reviews. It’s always good to find a movie in which I can confidently give five stars to, and which I have actual occasional memories of months later. The movies I can think of right now that qualify are Seven Beauties, Swept Away, The Vanishing, The Snake Pit, Opening Night, We of the Never Never, Fires on the Plain, and a few others. To digress, I’m sure there’s a few four-star reviews I should have bumped up to five. And of course, the stories and poems I’ve posted are probably more closer to my true favourites. I’m still shocked that I haven’t got ticketed for any of them yet. Here are a few of the better ones. The Search- http://www.epinions.com/content_4202406020 Words, Bound in Paper - http://www.epinions.com/content_3869483140 Anarchy in the Province of Love - http://www.epinions.com/content_4073889924 ~Grounded Flight~ - http://www.epinions.com/content_4298875012 ~Nineteen~ (with the hidden “NH” see below) -http://www.epinions.com/content_4292190340 Things I like about Epinions: Well, hey, I can, like, post reviews and stuff. Now after that numbingly obvious statement, I must come up with some reasons why I like Epinions. I have met a few cool people here -- well, frankly, they are all of the female persuasion (at least they claim to be), because I need to make it worth my time, you know. (more on this below) And of course there are some good authors out there. Once in a while, I’ll actually watch a movie because of what somebody said about it! And I’m impressed that I’ve posted a few possibly scandalous things over the years, and never was once threatened with a ticket... not yet, anyway. Things I dislike about Epinions: Well, the search engine is pretty bad, but something like this doesn’t really upset me, personally. I’ve been able to find everything I need.... eventually. And I suppose those hidden Not Helpfuls are pretty annoying too. It just makes one curious as to who would rate your review NH, and not reveal him or herself. I’m still curious as to who rated one of my most recent poems an NH -- since Not Helpfuls of any sort are, oddly, very rare in the DavidMac world, I’m sure there’s a good reason for it. (the fact it was a vulgar and obscene piece of work would be a start) Of course, I’m not actually upset with the NH or the fact that it is hidden -- it’s just a tantalizing mystery which may never be solved...... I wanted to fit this in here somewhere, but it really doesn’t fall under the “like” or “dislike” categories. I was going to say how some of the most amusing aspects of this site include such dramas as the recent “inthelilypond” fiasco and supposed cases of cyber-stalking and flame wars and other such nonsense. Now, this is coming from a person who apparently does behave blissfully detached from pretty much everything, and who is looking at most of this stuff in a clearly self-interested and detached fashion, but as funny as a lot of this stuff is, I have to wonder at why certain members take so much stock in these clearly bizarre scenarios. I mean, are things really that bad that an internet-derived drama would consume your life? When I hear about people disappearing for months at a time because some bogus duplicate account is “cyber-stalking” you, or when I see people fight back and forth and forth and back with spam and cut-and-paste, or when members decide to say mindless things to others for no reason at all.... I think, man, you’ve all got problems, every one of you. My life is incredibly boring -- but I really don’t have the time or interest or energy levels to get involved in internet dramas. All it gets you is sore fingers from typing too much crap. Who cares? I do not. Well... notwithstanding wanting to read about other people’s drama... that’s humanity for you. Members I admire most on Epinions: That’s a tough one, because “admire” is a pretty loaded and possibly sentimental word. There’s some pretty good authors on this site, most of them on my WOT, and whenever I’m in the mood to actually read some Epinions (I’m not really a helpful example of a fully functioning and participating member, despite my high number of postings), I will usually check them out. There are a few authors out there who seem to have a movie-watching pattern similar to my own -- stephen_murray and metalluk, and a few others, have that sort of movie-watching pattern (although they don’t always watch the same movies I do) that I occasionally find myself in, which is odd considering that I don’t consider myself to be in any way “cultured.” (right now, I’m listening to cheesy 70s music online, and I have grown up watching bad sitcoms, and consider game show legend Mark Goodson to be some sort of unheralded genius -- cultured, I think not.) I’ve “met” people online, but online relationships are always odd because for the most part, I’ve never “spoken” to these people, although in some cases, I wish I could. Over the years, I’ve talked a lot to people like millinocket, jankp, toospoiled, beckytcy, pranapana, cletta1201, artemisadorned, and others, and we’ve had some good chats. How about I tell ya the two top Epinionators whom I wish I could meet face-to-face, or at least talk to on the telephone instead of being content with only text on a screen (hint, hint)..... Loislane05 - a.k.a. Jennifer. Now, if all I know about this girl is true, she would be my perfect match (well, at least one of them!). She is a great writer (yet she never shows any of the stuff I’ve seen to the Epinions public, at any rate, so you’ll just have to take my word for it), and is straightforward, without much of an “attitude”, pretty low-key, etc -- well, I suppose the low-key part is something I can relate to, at least! She is just one sweet girl. tjolims - a.k.a. Mel. Another fantastic writer! Definitely posted the best fiction pieces I’ve seen on this site. And, again, from what she’s told me over the months, she’s a very fascinating person. She’s pretty cool. She is the type of person whom I’m sure I’d be able to talk to all the time about many interesting and sometimes oddball and unusual topics... and I wouldn’t bore her (which in my life would be pretty novel). The truth is, as you can see, I only joined Epinions so I can pick up chicks. I consider posting reviews to be a perk. romasuave’s writeoff -- http://www.epinions.com/content_4445347972  |
| Read all comments (4)|Write your own comment |
