John Scalzi

C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 16:52 UTC

Got a lot of Brit friends over here on Bluesky, so to all of you, I wish you an awesome and patriotic 4th of July! Send those Tories packing tomorrow and take your country back. Looking forward to returning to a kingdom that has returned to sanity.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:53 UTC

The screenwriter has done all right in the interim.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:41 UTC

I actually prefer the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven, largely for pacing reasons, but I think it's useful to see the director's cut once for context.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:40 UTC

Who is an Oscar winner, if you can believe it!

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:39 UTC

Three times if you count Raiders of the Lost Ark, for which he co-wrote the story, and produced. "Radioland Murders" (again co-writing/producing) will mess up this formulation but that really was more of a technology test than anything else.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:30 UTC

One of the very few "director's cut" editions that improved a film was Blade Runner, and that mostly by taking things out (Ford's awful voiceover, demanded by the studio and recorded basically under duress).

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:26 UTC

To be scrupulously fair, there are botched edits as well -- There's the chainsaw editing of "The Magnificent Ambersons," and Harvey Weinstein was famous for taking films away from directors and having them chopped up to his order (which is something studios have regularly done, but he was notorious)

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:22 UTC

My understanding is that he got the gig in part because he taught Lucas at USC.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:20 UTC

Lucas deserved neither award, though. If we were to de-Allen the '78 Academy Awards, I would give director to Herbert Ross and Original Screenplay to Neil Simon. But, all around it wasn't a great year. Allen's work was the best in these categories, even if he was (and IS) problematic as fuck.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:10 UTC

Also, there is no fucking shame in things saved in the edit; that's what the editing is for.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:08 UTC

The version in the film really is perfect for the moment and for the character.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:04 UTC

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:02 UTC

When I was 15, something 20 years ago was ancient history, and here at 55, something 20 years ago was yesterday

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 15:01 UTC

You just did what I did I think

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:59 UTC

She really is, and it's why I'm always clear to people that none of what I have been able to get done in my career would have been achievable without her. It's a full partnership. I'm the public face and product creator, she is the one who handles the backend and quality control. It works!

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:48 UTC

Yup. This is business, don't fuck with the business.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:45 UTC

(Correction: Half-century, no half-decade, that's a hell of a bit of denial on the part of my brain, isn't it)

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:45 UTC

What? (looks) OH GOD DAMN IT

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:44 UTC

Krissy does this for me. As I am fond of saying, she loves me too much to let my shitty writing slide.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:38 UTC

Time is a Sith

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:37 UTC

Believable dialogue was indeed never his forte, he needed others for that.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:35 UTC

Star Wars is almost 50 years old!

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:33 UTC

Yuuuup. On the technical side of filmmaking, Lucas is unquestionably the most important filmmaker of the last half decade - modern cinema is built on the innovations he and his team pioneered. But he's a shit writer and a mediocre director who absolutely requires mediation from others.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:24 UTC

Marcia Lucas in fact won an Oscar for her film editing of Star Wars. George Lucas was up for two that year and won neither (he was beaten out by Woody Allen for both of them). He has still not won a competitive Oscar.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 14:13 UTC

Interesting thread and not surprising to me. There was a reason I left X for good.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 12:51 UTC

Here's some pretty flowers for your timeline today, thought you might want them.

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 03:01 UTC

Yes, I knew this already

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 01:45 UTC

The Internet is thinking of @scamperbeasts.bsky.social today

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 00:08 UTC

I've been out in the real world all day, have I missed anything other than generalized panic?

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 14:50 UTC

(Caveat that "standard grammar" in English is generally bullshit made up to sell books to status-conscious Victorians, even if it has some use in communication. Perhaps a more accurate way of putting it is "common usage.")

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 14:48 UTC

Yes, that should be "and/or"

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John Scalzi @scalzi.com [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 14:45 UTC

Continuing my vague grammar theme for the morning: I am seeing the word "costed" (as a substitute for the verb "cost") pop up rather more frequently, and in places where the writer is otherwise using generally standard grammar. I'm wondering is this a legit use shift or lax educational standards.

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