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Dumbass

Man, did I feel like an asshole last night. Readers of this blog know that I have a tendency to just say shit, unchecked. The problem with the blogosphere is that anyone, including someone who has no idea what he’s talking about, can start a blog, and somehow people will take that person seriously, quoting from him or her as if an opinion-based blog — even one that occasionally reports fact — is a legitimate source.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a little puff piece of On Deadly Ground, Steven Seagal’s underrated 1994 directorial debut. In that post, I got all defensive because I felt like Vern, the author of Seagalogy (the book that inspired me to watch Seagal’s first dozen or so movies back to back), had unfairly trashed On Deadly Ground. Like I said, I’ll just say shit. There’s no filter here, so even though I’m constantly wrong, I don’t expect to get called out.

Well, Vern called me out. In a very reasonable, polite way that had me instantly feeling guilty. Last night, he left a comment on my post:

Good post. But as the author of SEAGALOGY I have to disagree that I trashed ON DEADLY GROUND. I love this movie and in my book I defend it on many of the same grounds that you did. I praise the complex construction of the bar scene, say that the movie is “daring in so many ways it’s ridiculous,” that “as a director I honestly think Seagal did a good job,” and list in detail all of the Seagal trademarks and themes that this movie has the ultimate example of. I’m not sure how you could interpret that chapter as a trashing, but it’s disappointing to find that out.

Anyway, good to see someone else enjoying the movie and even having some respect for what Seagal was trying to do.

So I went back and re-read his chapter on the movie, and I realized — not only was he absolutely write about not trashing him, my post on the subject makes similar points. I’d like to chalk my mistake up to the sampling of negative reviews I’ve read, or maybe the fact that I read Seagalogy faster than I needed to and, let’s face it, his movies share enough similarities (that’s one of the points — recurring motifs and themes that cross the movies) that I might have had it confused with a lesser effort by the time I wrote about On Deadly Ground.

I still felt like shit. I wrote a polite response, and he didn’t seem to mind enormously. He seemed happier that someone else found enjoyment in On Deadly Ground than that I unfairly attacked him even though we liked the same movie for many of the same reasons.

I went back and edited the post (there’s an explanatory note as to why at the bottom), but man…it’s really embarrassing to be so thoroughly wrong.

Tags: comment, embarrassment, idiot, On Deadly Ground, Seagalogy, Steven Seagal, Vern

Posted by Stan on April 27, 2008 3:25 PM  | Permalink  | Print-Friendly  | Stories of Hilarity and Humiliation | Digg It