Tonight I went out with some friends for dinner and a movie, and also heard about the pettiness of humanity.
I have taken my medicine and am now quite drowsy, but I must say whatever anyway.
First, some friends and I got some really bad reviews for our work, written anonymously by perhaps some of our 'mutual friends'. My advice to them was to just don't give a fuck. If I had paid attention to bad reviews, I would have killed myself a long time ago.
In fact, I was quite entertained by said reviews because they accused us of being 'Mohamadeians' - a term I have not read for decades. It entertains me because of all the effort it took to be spiteful and harsh, and how I could do it better, with half a teaspoon of bena-expectorant and one tablet of Actifed. Wheeeee!
Amateur reviewers take great pains, thinking people actually hang on to every word, every opinion they say. I have reviewed things for almost 10 years. Not that long, but long enough to know that it doesn't matter.
One review I wrote earned the ire of some 'powerful' people so much that they threatened a lawsuit, and they kept mentioning it for the next few years to anyone who would listen. A few YEARS. Now THAT'S a scathing, impactful review.
And yet, I remain as I am, and they remain very powerful in their circles. Nothing has changed.
The point is, and I can't repeat this enough, whatever you do, 3% of the people will love it, 3% will hate it, all for completely different reasons, and 94% don't give a fuck.
I am much more concerned in encouraging more people to do things rather than doing reviews, because reviews do not forward society, culture or anything. Especially in this day and age where everyone gets a say. And I thought the whole point of my generation - Gen X - was to not be told what to like and who to like.
Also, if Babe - the greatest movie ever made - could not reach 100% at RottenTomatoes - then what hope does any of us have?
A more disturbing thing is about a writer who has published quite a few novels - more than most of his contemporaries, certainly more than me (just one so far) - and have enjoyed some success, and then, when bits of his perhaps disturbed psychology surfaced, and some people tried to poke him online.
I do not care to speculate their motives - jealousy, perhaps? a feeling of being lied to? - whatever the fuck, I don't give a flying fuck. I just don't think picking on people - mentally unstable or no - as something you should do.
This sheds some insight as to what monkeys we have degenerated into, as a society. We deserve our leaders, and it is no surprise then that one of the leading politicians impersonated a monkey quite publicly, shouting 'ka-kaaa! Woo hoo hoo!' and manages to get the support of many.
So, just do your things, man. I thought all those shows in the '80s and '90s with the ugly clothing and bad rapping taught all of us that nothing and no one really matters. And that at the end of the day, the work that you have done is much more important than the work you have never done, but wanted to.
Stop being such cowards and just write and do shit, shoot films or play songs or whatever the fuck. No one gives a fuck about you, so revel in it and do what you love, because only you will love your own work. You will regret not taking the plunge than taking it and finding that you got a bit wet, or bumped your head on a rock.
