IT'S ONLY A MOVIE, INGRID (A NOTEBOOK)

Everybody has a blog these days, your humble servant has two and even my mother's late dog had one. And as there's a critic born every minute, Movie blogs are in some respects dazibaos of what is left of contemporary culture.

The theme of this first episode of It's only a Movie, Ingrid (the Notebook of http://tattard2.blogspot.com/) will naturally be... blogs. « Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose »...

IT'S NOT ONLY A BLOG, INGRID...

The ultimate reference in Movie blogs, if not in Movie business news, is of course Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/). In Hollywoodland, Nikki Finke is the daring voice of intelligence and common sense and her field of expertise covers every aspect of the Infotainment industry and Cinema business from Box Office to corporate, egos... er, personalities and - remember what it was all about in the first place, Movies.

Not to mention the fact that Nikki's address book is as big as my annual consumption of coffee and Nestle milk tubes and that the résumé of this great journalist includes Associated Press, Newsweek, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vanity Fair and Esquire. And her non-stop coverage of the WGA strike will remain the mètre étalon of what Movie journalism should always be.

OPEN CHANNEL D

The Fantastic Adventures of Furious D (http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/) is another of your french Milk tube addict's favourites. Furious D defines himself as « the ultimate Pop Culture outsider » and parodies egotism applied to Movieverse with hilarious posters. But the interest of this blog lies in the tone and the style of his views, mixing a true and sharp Philosophy of Movie business with a pretty good dose of humour.

Morceaux choisis of Mr D's Thoughts:

- « You see, in Hollywood, the popular mindset is that to land an Oscar nomination you must play someone who is mentally handicapped, terminally ill, or both. »

« [...] the fundamental tenet of capitalism is that in any deal all sides must walk away happy. »

« The casual renter-buyer, not the raging fanboy, is what will make a movie profitable in DVD. »

- « When I was a kid the joke about Hollywood movies was that everything was a sequel to something, and to a certain extent it was true. Hollywood's predominant philosophy was that every film needed a sequel, and possibly more, preferably with the 3rd instalment in 3D. »

- « Because the majority of Hollywood's A-List stars couldn't sell tickets to a lifeboat on a sinking ship. »

- « I would like to see everybody in the movie business make money, be happy, the world to be all sunshine and unicorns, and Alyson Hannigan to do nude scenes. »

TOLDJA! (NIKKI FINKE'S MIX)

One of Nikki Finke's trademarks is her now famous « Toldja! », which she uses when news she attributed to her sources are officially confirmed (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aqDlk_JfMeBk&refer=us) or when one of her predictions goes real. Recently she let me indulge myself in a typically french exercise of arrogance when I shamelessly borrowed her « Toldja! » after the announcement of a fourth opus in the Austin Powers franchise.

Almost one month before I wrote under one of her posts (http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/get-smart-over-love-guru-by-more-than-2-1/) a comment comparing the course of the talented Mike Myers' career to the one of Peter Sellers, after The Love Guru bombed, and asked myself if - all proportion kept - the Austin Powers movies would become his equivalent of the Pink Panther series - my conclusion being that I would not be surprised if another one began shooting soon...

« Ingrid » in French:

http://thierryattard.blogspot.com/2008/06/ce-nest-quun-film-ingrid-le-bloc-notes.html
http://thierryattard.blogspot.com/2008/06/ce-nest-quun-film-ingrid-episode-2.html
http://thierryattard.blogspot.com/2008/07/votre-fidlit-chers-lecteurs-mritant.html