A Quick Note

I was thinking of putting a disclaimer up, but I realized something: If I really need to put a disclaimer up because exactly one person tried to use my own review as proof of their argument that had no ground whatsoever, that's an insult to whatever repeat readers I have. Let's be honest, I more than likely don't have many readers. Herein lies the trick, though: I really don't care.

I write my movie and game reviews for two reasons. The first being I do get commissioned to write freelance reviews for an upstart independent magazine that I put on this blog as well, with the magazine editor's permission. These have extended to the Horrid Horror Movie Reviews as of late, as well. Yes, the pay sucks, but that leads to reason number two.

I love to write, whether it's a fictional story, or putting my opinion online. Some people may not agree with me, and that's perfectly acceptable. What isn't acceptable is when people make assumptions about me through this blog. When I do non-HHM Reviews, I do ask for input from other people about their translation of a movie. This isn't unusual for any movie reviewer, many prominent ones, such as Roger Ebert, having done so in the past. It is quite possible for me to find evidence later on that something I wrote may, in fact, be wrong after I publish the post. Luckily, I can edit it on this blog, but usually I may not get around to it due to the fact that I have school, work, a girlfriend, and a life.

What also isn't acceptable is trying to pick arguments for the sake of picking arguments. I have gotten in polite political discussions more civil than an argument I had with someone yesterday because she was convinced that she was right about something because she read it somewhere. I have a friend who is in that particular field, who corrected what was initially said in the blog, after showing me evidence that it was not completely correct. I then went to research it myself, including several reputed journals and guides, and corrected my entry. The kicker is that her opinion was not only based off of something that holds no water in the real world (about as much as saying Cindy Crawford has skin cancer because of her mole), but also because "she's right, I'm wrong (added to the fact that -- OH NO! -- I made a typo... which fucking happens)" just for the sake of believing that she was right. Who am I going to trust: the professional talking to me as well as the research laid out in front of me (added to the fact that I have been studying the same field since the middle of high school to recently), or someone who read an argument that most professionals don't read into?

I'm sorry for the irate nature of this post today. I do try to keep it light around here on purpose (if not for my few readers sanity, then for mine), and I hate having to put stuff like this up. If you're opinion is educated and different than mine on any topic, feel free to comment and discuss it. As long as you're civil (on my other blog, I even had a guy joke around, which is perfectly acceptable), I will calmly reply. I love discussing different opinions that are intelligently thought out. But, if you try to use my own posts as a condescending attack against me, you are not going to like the results.

Again, I apologize to the few regular readers I have on here. I know that I do have some, and I appreciate it. Whether you laugh at the HHMR's, or just enjoy reading my reviews, know that, while I do this for the fun of it, the fact that there may be people who enjoy reading what I write means a hell of a lot. Thank you!

Ben