The Worst Review I’ve Ever Read: Ignorant, sexist, and insulting to fans of fantasy.

Never have I felt quite as insulted when reading a review of any novel, film, or television series, as I was when I read New York Times critic Ginia Bellafante’s “review” - if you can call it that - of the new series, Game of Thrones, and I am most certainly not alone.

The review came to my attention as I stumbled across the waves of anger and backlash that flowed across the internet in the wake of Bellafante’s article being posted on the NYTimes website, and out of curiosity, I endeavoured to investigate. I wondered, what could have possibly triggered so much frustration and fury from so many people? What I discovered, as I read Bellafante’s article, was enough to have me seeing red.

To begin with, I have sadly never read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels, though I do own the first one and intend to read it this summer. I had seen some of the promos for the new HBO series and had long since made the decision to check it out (hey, it’s epic fantasy, a genre I’ve loved since I was eight years old - why wouldn’t I watch it?). I didn’t know much about it other than what I’d been told by enthusiastic fans (I used to work in a bookstore, so I interacted with ASoIaF fans often as they arrived every couple of months or so to inquire as to the new publishing date for A Dance With Dragons). So, like many others, I had thought that perhaps Bellafante’s “review” would give me a bit more insight to the series, and perhaps give me an idea of what to expect to see.

I was so very mistaken.

It seems that Bellafante’s understanding of the term “review” is rather different from the general population’s view. I, personally, would consider a review to be a written (or spoken) analysis of a work that examines all the aspects of it and makes a recommendation of its quality - in more basic terms, someone with experience critiques a work and makes an argument as to why they think it is good and worth a person’s time and effort to see, or why they think it is not. Bellafante, on the other hand, seems to have decided that reviewing Game of Thrones was the perfect opportunity to not review the new TV series, but instead attack the fantasy genre as a whole and, to cap it all off, insult the female population of the planet in the process.

Why "Knowing" is an awful film.

Even the poster is rather awfully Photoshopped. 

I was reading through io9 today and came across this article: “In which our critic confesses to loving the end of Knowing” (http://io9.com/#!5797215/in-which-our-critic-confesses-to-loving-the-end-of-knowing). The review argues that the film isn’t great, but Nic Cage mostly makes up for it, and it attempts to make some kind of point about something but doesn’t quite get there.

Sure. I can agree with that. I’m sure there was a point buried in the nonsense that was never quite uncovered; still, I would never, ever come close to calling Knowing a good film in any way. I didn’t even like it, at all, and I’m a big sci-fi fan who is very accepting of even mediocre sci-fi, or spec-fic, or whatever. I love the genre so much I’m willing to forgive a lot and even if I recognise it’s bad, a film can still be enjoyably bad.

Not so with Knowing.

Ah, the life of a student filmmaker.

I have a confession.

I have been negligent in my blog-posting duties. I must apologise for this disgrace, and promise that I will be much better in the future!

The reason for my absence from the blog-sphere is, naturally, life as a student filmmaker. End of term hit like a freight train, with exams, papers, excessive studying, and - of course - the last few weeks of editing this year's film for SFU before the big deadline (the sound mix at Sharpe Sound) and the second big deadline, Tuesday's film screening.

But now everything is coming to an end, and suddenly I have some free time that did not exist before! My blog will prosper once more, and rest assured, I have many ideas for interesting blog posts (much more interesting than simple colour correcting, I promise - that post didn't seem to get as much attention as the Riese or Sharpe Sound ones did, and I can see why).

To begin my return to this blog, I will post a rant I wrote on my other, slightly more random, Tumblr blog (myriadthoughts). It is in response to an article I read on the very awesome website, io9.com, about the film Knowing - a train wreck of a film if ever I saw one. Surprisingly, I've discovered there is a lot of love and admiration out there for this awful film, and I felt compelled to write my own thoughts on the subject. I hope you find it entertaining!

The Awesome Magic of Colour Correcting

It’s one of those little things that I’d always taken for granted, one of a list of settings in Final Cut Pro that I had generally ignored, because I had never really seen much use for it... or rather, I had, but had not realised it was this that I needed.

Colour Corrector in Final Cut Express

What is it, exactly?

The little widget that I am now going to praise with a dedicated article is the fantastic Colour Corrector, also sometimes used as the 3-Way Colour Corrector. It is the tool that can miraculously change the image of a video from a bland colour palette to a vibrantly colourful one, or vice versa; it changes contrast, it adjusts saturation, it manipulates the image in such subtle but impactful ways - or, if you would prefer, not quite so subtle. 

I have recently discovered the joys of colour correcting, and thought I’d share.