Trevor Writes:
What about Lord of the Rings?
And I know you loved the first two Pirates movies; I
would count that in as a very consistent trilogy from recent memory.
Nick Replies: Trevor’s referring to my comment in my Ocean’s Thirteen DVD review about that series being the most consistent in recent memory aside from the Bourne films. I stand by that statement because I think there’s a massive dropoff in the second Pirates film and The Lord of the Rings is a saga, one gigantic film stretched out. The Matrix and Pirate films were both cases where two sequels were added on after the fact, very large and unwieldy ones. I’m not saying that Soderbergh’s heist series has the most depth or is even the best, but it’s consistently good and that was the reason I said what I said.
Sean Writes:
Long time reader of the
site, first time mailer (other than contests, anyway). I saw in your Sage
Advice column #2, that you went looking for a book on Kubrick for the sake of
reading up on the man himself. I just thought I’d ask what book you went with
(there are many, just hard to find them), and if you hadn’t found one, to
recommend one myself. I just graduated from college this past year, and during
my senior year, did a term paper on Kubrick’s body of work, specifically what
it might reveal about his views on religion and theology. I ended up heavily
using a book simply titled "Kubrick", which has a short biography, a
multitude of film stills from production and the finished works, as well as
several phone, radio, and television interview transcripts with the man himself
and those close to him. I liked the book so much I actually ended up stealing
it from the school library (though how you can steal a book that’s free to take
to begin with, I’ll never know). Hope you luck in your search.
Nick Replies: Much appreciated. Looks like I’ll have to go online since my local stores treat film books only slightly better than books about why the Nazis are great and why you shouldn’t shop at large bookstores.
Carl Writes:
Just wanted to let you know your
recent increased input into your site is well appreciated. Keep it up sir.
Nick Replies: Thanks! I’ll toot my own horn a little and say that the silly and playful tone of most of what I do lately helps balance the meatier and sometimes more cutting stuff written by the other boys, though when Devin decides to love on a filmmaker boy does he become a sweetheart. I am pretty content doing the lists, podcasts, DVD reviews, and Steady Leak stuff without it getting too much in the way of the film and comic book stuff I’m doing so if you guys keep reading and writing, I’ll keep doing it.
Mahir Writes:
Just wanted to say that I really enjoyed Jeremy Smith’s
interview with Pete Seeger.
Nick Replies: As did I. I wasn’t expecting that one, and it’s a shame that folks on the message boards tend to not let folks like Jeremy know that they read and appreciate the time consuming and intellectually stimulating stuff that appears on the main site when we run interviews and stuff. A lot of work goes into stuff like that and I hope there’s a lot more folks like you who dig it.
Floyd Writes:
As an avid CHUD reader, i have to say that i throughly enjoy
the quips, puns, and totally made up story descriptions. Normally, they
do their job, which is to make the reader want to read the actual article being
promoted. However, i do have to strongly object to the post regarding Woody
Allen’s movie Cassandra’s Dream, posted 11/6/07.
Specifically, i am objecting to your use of the following
title:
WOODY HIRES A COUPLE OF DO-DIRT NIGGAS!
This is not an e-mail sent to ask you to be politically
correct; it is one pointing out that the use of the word niggas is neither
funny, cute, nor appropriate. Nor did it have any relation to the purpose
of the post. While it did draw my attention to the article, it drew it in
a negative way. While i enjoy the site for its irreverence, I have to
question why a site like this felt the need to run with this highly
inappropriate and polarizing title.
I will not spend time relating the history of that word, nor
its effect on an entire race of people; i will say that your casual use of this
word it reprehensible, and i do hope that it is not something that will be
repeated. I would hope that this is not a direction that CHUD has decided
to take.
Nick Replies: Look, I think people just see that word or a variation and a spring goes loose. Period. Then the synapses fire and the questions get asked. Is the author black? Are they posturing? Do they have a track record of being racist? Is it a joke obviously enough so as to not be offensive? What’s their intention? Is it to get a reaction? Blah. Blah. Blah. Blah.
I get tired of pussyfooting around stuff involving race, sexual preference, and religion. This site’s been here for a very long time. A very long time. Everything we do is out there for all to see. We may be smartasses but racists we aren’t. I’m confident in my status as a decent human being and the staff here is comprised of people worth going into battle with. I know Jeremy’s not a racist, in fact at my last recollection his roomate is a black guy. I thought that article was fine, and I jumped a bit when I saw the title too, not because I was offended but because we’ve forced ourselves into reacting violently to any use of the word "NIGGER". Smarter and more respected people than I have explained that word’s weight as a weapon as well as its place as just another word in a lexicon of many, but the bottom line is that you ought to know by now through reading this site for such a long time… that we are equal opportunity offenders and hardly in it for the controversy or as a pulpit for our racist beliefs. I mean, I’ve spent the past ten weeks doing these "Pants Bulge" columns making jokes about rape, bestiality, killing people, and people get that the column is not really all that serious. Are those things in reality BETTER than using the bad N-Word? In fact, they’re much worse but it’s the context that counts.
I stand behind Jeremy on this one and hope you realize there was no foul intent. Plus, I hate when people posture. You won’t see that kind of stuff here, except in small doses and you can pretty much pinpoint the folks who are just trying to get attention and who is simply trying to prove a fun and diverse experience on CHUD.com.
That said, I know you’ve been a longtime reader and I’ve sent you bunches of passes over the past six years or so. I hope to continue calling you a valued reader of the site.
Richard Writes:
Your site has content, the nuts and bolts,
bravo. But w/ the exception of J. Smith (of whom in general, if one were to
approach it w/ an absence of humanism like cutthroat marketing capitalists, I
could more or less take or leave), it’s curious, questionable, whether the rest
of you could accomplish a paragraph w/o sexual explicitness or innuendo. We’re
all kids at heart.
Nick Replies: I can make it through a sentence without innuendo, but why would I want topenis?
Ricardo Writes:
Hi there!
Ricardo from Portugal here, daily reader of CHUD for what will amount to one
year this Christmas/Kwanzaa.
Just writing in to say that mister Jeremy Smith is an outrageously brilliant
writer.
Also, could you please try and tone down the indulgence of posting pictures of
pretty ladies when said ladies have a minor news item? Because I read CHUD at
work all the time, and I’d like my coworkers to think I do other things than
look at pictures of Jessica Alba in a glittery dress.
Guess I didn’t just write in to praise Mr Smith. Praise he’s worthy of. Goddamn
the Blade Runner Final Cut review gave me chills, and the American Gangster one
was very insightful.
Keep up the solid work!
Nick Replies: This just in: People with variations of the name Rich have an opinion of Jeremy Smith! Wow. It’s amazing not to get all Devin-mail these days. Take that you LA transplant starfucker!
Justin Writes:
Is there any reason why 90% of the CHUD staff looks like
Al Pacino in Serpico?
Nick Replies: I personally don’t see it, but judge for yourselves, folks:
Devin Faraci
Russ Fischer
Jeremy Smith
Nick Nunziata
Alex Riviello
Jeremy Butler
Eileen Bolender