What's in a Name?

Dearest Reader, I am referring to the illustrious name of this blog, "Fuck You Too And the Porsche You Rode In On." I felt that I should provide a bit of perspective on what the blog's name means for me and for you, the digital revolutionary:

1) Besides how it just feels good to say "fuck you" to those who deserve it, the blog's name is obviously a shout out from a writer and filmmaker with a chip on both shoulders about our media establishment. After all, until very recently they have enjoyed a disproportionate control over the destinies of creators--and they'll continue to hold sway a little while longer until access to filmmaking is entirely democratized (and it will be). Yes, "revenge is a dish best served by writers," I like to say (and I like to say it especially cuz I made it up).

2) This blog's title is deliberately subversive, if a bit sophomoric. While there's something thrilling about the words "fuck you," to actually have the words instantly published for the world to see, well that's just downright empowering. Sort of like the first time I wrote something on a bathroom wall. It was third grade and I wrote the words "Pink Dink" in ballpoint pen with my heart in my throat. I'll never forget it. Someone would read those words, I thought. I put them there, and in the privacy of this stall no one would ever know it was me. So this blog's title takes me back to that thrill of doing something naughty. And if ever there was a time for filmmakers to be naughty, it's now. The threat of studio executives being able to control the content we create vanishes more so every day. You can create a television show with tits and cocks and swear words if you want. If you think revealing body parts in all their glory keeps your creation truer to your artistic vision, there's no reason to compromise. Write it and shoot it and get it out there for us to see. The ultimate arbiter of taste will be the consumer of your creation, not advertisers or executives.

Art needs subversion. Subversion needs art. And don't for a moment think that there's a single great artistic endeavor, including every film "classic," that hasn't contained a healthy dose of subversion. The digital revolution is subversion. Embrace it. Use it. Fuck it.

What's in a Name? (Part II)

You might have noticed, all three of you, that the title of this blog isn't the same as the blog's URL address. The blog's URL address is http://mewanthorsie. blogspot.com/ (or "me want horsie" for those of you incapable of deciphering personalized licence plates). At the time I created this blog, I didn't really know why I chose that. It was instinct and a riff on the "horse you rode in on" theme. But only today did I realize there was more to it (a writer's subconscious is ever at work)...and it has a lot to do with a profound shift in the ways I am now consuming film and TV.

You've heard it before: The distribution and consumption of film is changing forever. And like you (and a whole bunch of Brits), I watch less TV than I used to. In fact, there are shows I really want to see because of the good word-of-mouth, like NBC's Heroes, but I don't even know what night they're on and I just don't have the will anymore to bother figuring that out. Because my HABITS have changed. Keep in mind that a habit is something that isn't necessarily good for you, nor rational. It's just what we default towards out of, well...habit. And my habit is not to even look at a TV schedule, nor to care about what that schedule might reveal. A sexy scandalous new TV movie? Whatevah. An all new episode of Lost? I just don't feel like organizing my life around it. And with the increase in serialized storylines (shows that tell on-going stories that evolve over a season, rather than self-contained shows like Law & Order) I just can't bear to watch a show partway through a series having missed so much supposedly "good stuff." I want to start with episode one. Call me obsessive compulsive, my therapist does.

So instead, I watch good TV on DVD, so I can watch it whenever I want. The downside, obviously, is the long wait until the show is released on disc. So, what will bring me back to "network television"? Downloadable content that's what. I realize just how much the Internet has re-programmed my viewing appetite. I don't want to be home on Thursday night at 8 pm to catch a show. I can barely remember to eat dinner let alone keep a specific hour of my life free for a television program that might be a repeat or pre-empted by a football game. And I most definitely don't want to fiddle with a contraption I don't even own to record the show for me (a la TiVo or what have you).

To sum up what I want: well...me want horsie, that's what! The immortal words of a petulant, spoiled child who gets what she wants, when she wants. I want to Google the show, click download and a few minutes thereafter, I wanna watch it. Give me a link to Heroes right now and I swear to gawd I'll give it whirl. Note: BitTorrent is a lot of work and full of viruses and incomplete or bogus files. And I'm not talking about stealing programs anyhow. I'm talking about being more than happy to pay for them, or alternatively accept the advertisements contained therein. Get downloadable Internet content on my TV now and someone will be making a fortune off me and my brethren. Microsoft is already in on the game--they smell the revolution. Check out Xbox Live, which is allowing for video rental downloads, including HD movies and TV programs. So strange how quickly the traditional model of television delivery seems completely counter-intuitive. We will gravitate to whatever technology suits our fundemental nature. And rushing through traffic so I don't miss the first ten minutes of "Who Cares" doesn't suit my nature any longer. I want my MTV whenever I want it, from whomever I want it, and for that matter I want to be able to make my own MTV too. Feed me, Seymour. Me want horsie, now!