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Saying Something Nice (For a Change)Feb 24 '10 (Updated Mar 09 '10) Write an essay on this topic.
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10 epinionators I'm fond of... annexation: Mark Anthony Brooks is not the kind of reviewer, I think it's safe to say, that Epinions had in mind when they developed their business model. "Dealing douchebaggery since the summer of 2000," Mark currently has but 24 epinions to his name. Once upon a time there were many more. I'm not sure what happened. I'd like to believe (the eternal optimist here) he freely removed them of his own volition, but I suspect that's not the way it went down. Mark's a funny guy. If you can make me laugh you'll win me over every time and Mark, to his credit, has frequently done that. Sure to get a laugh is his Aquarium How To epinion, Goldfish for Dummies. "I used to think that Goldfish were for pansies," the piece begins, with Mark telling us he "preferred much manlier fish, like fantail guppies." Mark is married to Lacy Chenault, a woman he met through Epinions. You can see pictures of their baby boy, Anson Christopher, on his profile page. And you can read all about how the couple met in a "Not Helpful" epinion posted back in 2001. I love this story. bilbopooh: Erin is a Lord of the Rings and Winnie-the-Pooh fan, and her user name combines two characters from those books. She's a Top Reviewer in three media categories (Music, Movies, Books) and lemme tell you, that is some kind of achievement. She's from Erie, PA, the setting for the Tom Hanks film, That Thing You Do! I wrote an Express Review, but this isn't about me, so please check out her full review here. Looking over Erin's profile page, I see that she likes Simon and Garfunkel (Sounds of Silence) and the late John Denver. Jimmy Stewart is one of her favorite actors (mine too), and Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music are two of her favorite movies. She also appears to be a big fan of Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events (she has reviews of all thirteen Lemony Snicket books in that series). I also see that she's posted a list of Top 10 Movies for each decade, starting with the 1940s and ending with the 1990s, which I've done as well. She's one-upped me, however, by doing "Best of" lists for single years (1999 - 2008). Among these I like the 2007 one. Be sure to check out some of her individual reviews from 2007 as well, such as No Country for Old Men and Juno. ChrisJarmick: I thought it was almost over for us when I got into a little comment skirmish with Chris a while back. Actually, in this case I was polite, but I do have a bad habit of sometimes being rude and abrupt with my comments. As of the latest tally, Chris has the site's most popular epinion, i.e. the one with the most hits (an astounding 537,347 at the time of this writing). Obviously it doesn't need my help. But I am glad I took a look at it recently, because it does remind me that I bought a thrift store copy of The Hunger on VHS many years ago with the idea that I would one day actually watch it. Chris and I both love Albert Brooks. You really ought to check out his review of Lost in America ("This is comedy that comes from pain"). I thought I knew practically everything there was to know about Albert Brooks: I've followed his career, I've watched all his movies, I've read countless interviews, I even have an autographed photo. And yet Chris points out some things I've missed, and other things I hadn't considered. George_Chabot: A Top Reviewer in 6 different categories, George has written over 1,900 reviews and logged some 1.5 million hits. This from a guy who says he has "an MS in BS." Pretty much like myself, George is into Westerns and male action films. Some favorites we share include: Ride the High Country, The Wild Bunch (both from director Sam Peckinpah), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Great Escape (both from John Sturges), Fixed Bayonets (Sam Fuller), Sahara (Zoltan Korda), Ulzana's Raid (Robert Aldrich), The Shootist (Don Siegel), and many more. We're both into film noir too. Once upon a time George even dedicated a review to me (well, to me and Stephen, but my name came first). In this particular review, he writes: "For those of you who don’t know yet, Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton made several of the definitive films noir - Raw Deal, T-Men, and He Walked by Night - in the late 1940s." Unfamiliar with film noir? George has a good primer on the subject (Peering Through the Glass, Darkly: What is Film Noir?). lemon_lime: A onetime fellow Movie Advisor, Chad has got to be one of the coolest people on Epinions (anyone who puts a James Agee quote on his profile page is A-OK in my book). Chad once worked at Seattle's famed Scarecrow Video. This store put out a video guide called The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide, and Chad wrote "about 25 reviews in the book." To quote Holly Hunter in O Brother, Where Art Thou?: "He's bona fide.'' Chad's a fan of Woody Allen, so I should probably point you to some of those reviews: Annie Hall ("The best romantic comedy in the last 30 years"), Crimes and Misdemeanors ("A near perfect blending of drama and comedy"), Manhattan ("A beautiful love poem to New York City"), The Purple Rose of Cairo ("A wonderful gem of a film from the mid-80s"). mfunk75: Mike Stone hasn't posted an epinion since 2005, but I have a very slight personal connection with the guy so I can't not include him. What if he comes back? I'm sorry, I just can't chance it. The good news here is that I don't have to spend a lot of time traipsing through his epinions, because he probably won't return and we really didn't know each other that well in the first place (just kidding, Mike). Actually, Mike has said some very nice things about me (none of which I can find at the moment) and I know that I've returned the favor. And even though I lost out in the first round of his 32 Epinionators Vie For My Love smackdown, so did mangiotto, which puts me in very good company. millinocket: What can be said about Sue? It would appear she has it all. I don't know her, but here's what I do know (some of which may actually be true): She's from Wisconsin; she's married to a doctor who likes to cook; she has two kids, a girl and boy (how perfect); she has a piano (there might still be a Christmas ornament on it); she has cats; she does some kind of craft (I'm thinking beads); she has a thing for Johnny Depp; she was a pom pom girl in high school (sounds like cheerleader to me, again, perfect); she likes to wear black and green clothes (how does he know this?) and, oh yeah, she can write. I like her review of Up in the Air. Sue has a terrific photo of herself on her profile page, which I often gaze at, and she gets more comments than just about anyone (she always responds when you leave her a comment, try it, you can't miss). She probably doesn't remember this, but one time I made her laugh. At least I'm pretty sure I did. There's a comment exchange between us where I tell a joke. Kind of a joke. I laughed, anyway. naphtalia: Talia (and I hope it's okay for me to call you that) is a longtime member of Epinions who has penned over 1500 reviews. She grew up Jewish and has written many informative pieces about Jewish customs, including circumcision (Understanding Why Jews Do Circumcise) and maintaining a Kosher diet (Keeping It Kosher - The Basics). She's a vegetarian and likes to eat at various San Diego area restaurants. Who knows, maybe we've bumped into each other, as I live in San Diego County. I first noticed her back in 2005 (maybe earlier), when I read her positive take on Ken Silverstein's The Radioactive Boy Scout, a true account of a kid from Michigan who built a model nuclear reactor in a backyard potting shed. She doesn't know this, but I sought out the book because of her review, which you can read here. At the time I was in a book discussion group. I suggested the book and we did, in fact, read it. You just never know how your writing might impact others. Stephen_Murray: When I think of Epinions, I think of Stephen Murray. If you've spent any amount of time here you're familiar with the name. A "San Franciscan originally from rural southern Minnesota," I gravitated to Stephen many years ago when I discovered we had similar taste in movies. We like a lot of the same things but, perhaps more importantly, dislike similar things ("Taste," to quote Paul Valéry, "is made of a thousand distastes"). For example, in The 10 worst films Oscared as "best picture" Stephen writes, I loathe “Titanic (1997) and "Braveheart"(1995) and am more than a little dubious about “Dances With Wolves” (1990), but "Forrest Gump" (1994) is every bit as manipulative and even schmaltzier than they are. You get a sense of Stephen's taste in this piece: thumbs down to Forrest Gump (1994's Best Picture winner) and thumbs up to Krzysztof Kieslowski's Red and Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction; thumbs down to the "overblown" Gandhi (the 1982 Best Picture winner) and thumbs up to Sydney Pollack's Tootsie; thumbs down to the "hideously manipulative" Rocky (the 1976 Best Picture winner) and thumbs up to Scorsese's Taxi Driver; thumbs down to West Side Story (the 1961 Best Picture winner) and thumbs up to The Hustler. I happen to like West Side Story, so it's nice that Stephen admits he does as well. I agree, however, that The Hustler, an all-time favorite, was more deserving of an Oscar that year. Some of Stephen's favorites can be found in I. My favorite films (some of my favorites can be found here too: e.g., McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Alphaville, Yojimbo, Le Samourai). Stephen is good at calling attention to movies that aren't well known but are worthy of your attention. I really like his review of Attack! Be sure to check out the review and then seek out this underappreciated film. You won't be disappointed. trust12345: The first thing you need to know about John Stone is that he hates his ID ("When I joined this site, I did so in a hurry"). Aside from that, I don't know a lot about him. I take it he's from Manhattan (the Upper West Side), and there are some facts he's posted on his profile page, one of which is that he "[c]omposes music for dance, theater and film." Anyone checking out his profile page will also notice that a unicycle figures in four of the five photos. To quote Sue in one of her comments, how can you not trust a unicyclist? Speaking of trust, I came to trust John in an odd way. It all started with a disagreement. John wrote this scathing review of The Scent of Green Papaya, a movie I happen to love. We exchanged some comments and, ultimately, this led to me writing my own review. This would not have happened had it not been for John. If you don't know John you can get to know him better by checking out his two-part list of favorite films: Sharing such lists, we are not only celebrating the contents, saying, "These are wonderful things," but announcing our affiliation to those things, our identification with them. The lists can be found here and here. I also like his Top 10 Cult Films (On the Offbeaten Track). John, too, writes excellent individual movie reviews. A couple you may have missed: Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film and The Harrad Experiment.  |
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