"Hostel"

[Joe Taylor]

I love how some of you "Directors" and "Dp"s and other working professionals find the time to dig up dirt on some 17 year old kid just because he likes "Harry Potter" and "Baby's Day Out."

[Micah Fernandez]

I love how some of you "Directors" and "Dp"s and other working professionals find the time to dig up dirt on some 17 year old kid just because he likes "Harry Potter" and "Baby's Day Out."

I may not agree with all the dirt-digging, but I do understand the concern that motivates doing it. This is supposed to be a professional forum where industry people come to share helpful advice, tips and stories about their work in the filmmaking industry. I, for one, did not join up to seek counsel from some random kid in Indiana whose experience is more than questionable. The advice he dispenses is often misleading and could be dangerous to an unsuspecting newbie.

[Landon D. Parks]

I'm not arguing with anyone about this anymore... Beleive what you wanna beleive, as it's clear nothing I say is gonna change what anyone beleives. Really, I don't know what your arguing about? If you think I'm lieing thats up to you, but you don't need to disrupt an entire forum just for your own 5 minutes of fame.

 

PS) I was 15 (I think) when I joined indietalk (my bad, it has been a while after all), I'm almost 18 now (in 4 months). Thats was 3 years ago, things change in 3 years. Plus, it's not a matter of my age at the time, as you will see if you read below:::

 

IMPORTANT: What you have to understand about me is this: When I get into a new "Sport" or get interested in a new "Career", I always get excited at first. Just like 4 years ago when I started Caving, I was all hyped up about planning charted trips to Mammoth cave and such, and about becoming president of my own caving club, ect... But within 6 months, I grew out of it and relized that It's not gonna happen (at least yet), so I just need to settle down and go with the flow.

 

Sadly, Indietalk did not give me the time required to chill out, and fit into the flow of things. That is why I was banned from Indietalk, and no other reason.

 

Another example is when I dreamed of "Starting a theme park"... I pictures myself at 15 owning a Kings Island type park with huge rides, and hell, I'd even spend my day drawing up plans for it and looking online for investors, until Finally I relized that It's not gonna happen yet.

 

I can't change the way I am, I'm sorry. Thats just the way I am, and the guys over at Indietalk did not understand this. But I can assure you, I have since grown out of my "Im the Super-Filmmaking 17 year old that directed 5 features and 15 plays".

 

As I have said before, I'm not going to fabricate an entire 5 years of my life just for the enjoyment of people on a forum, I learned my lesson from that one on Indietalk.

 

sorry If I'm making people mad, I really am... But I need to be heard, and people need to understand where I'm coming from.

 

DROP IT!

Edited January 25, 2006 by Landon D. Parks

[Josh Bass]

Dude. . ."Baby's Day Out?"

 

Really?

 

 

Dear God, why?

 

How 'bout Baby Geniuses? 'Cause the only thing cooler than babies getting into hijinx are TALKING babies getting into hijinx.

[Robert Edge]

I am a lot more turned off by the behaviour of some of the adults on this website than I am by Landon.

 

If he isn't real, his creator is a very talented writer.

 

If he is real, one has got to wonder why adults would engage in a pack mentality to take apart a young man who, like most young men, has some things to learn.

 

As far as I know, Landon has never gone after anyone in the way that I have seen experienced cinematographers on this site go after one-another or, on occasion, the way that they have gone after him.

 

What am I supposed to think of professionals who make phone calls around North America to see if they can "out" someone who is doing no harm, or of professionals who start searching the internet for the same purpose so that they can post a link that says, in effect, "Got ya".

 

Here's what I think.

 

If Landon isn't real, he is a great creation.

 

If he is real, which is my own view, he has a few issues to deal with, not unlike a lot of people, especially of his age, and I have a lot less trouble with him than I do with the so-called professionals who don't understand that.

 

From my point of view, I'll take a civil Landon over some of the uncivil stuff that goes on on this site anytime. Being over 21, I'm smart enough to understand Landon - it is the incivillity of alleged adults that has really turned me off.

 

Whatever you want to call it, this site is not professional - and Landon is definitely not responsible for that.

[Mike Lary]

Congratulations, Landon. Once again you've managed to create the most popular thread on the site. Well done.

 

BTW, I was going to cast a vote on your Alice in Wonderland remake poll, but you didn't have my choice - a fully CG, silent rendition with an original score by GWAR.

[zrszach]

Well, Landon does seem to have his name out there. good or bad, alot of people know who he is... :blink:

[Landon D. Parks]

I don't come here to start trouble, trouble always starts with me. All I said was I didn't care for Hitchcock, maybe thats wrong, I don't know. But that is no reason to start questioning if I'm a real person, or if I'm lieing about my past.

 

Every thread I start or post in always turns south and starts to question if I am a real person or not. I never said "Hitchcock sucks, and anyone who likes him sucks too!"... I would not attack someone like that, cause I know that everyone has there own mind, and they can decide for thereself what they like and don't like.

 

If you like Hitchcock, great! Thats certainly not a bad thing, but still there is no sence in bashing me because I don't CARE for him (note: I did not say, Don't LIKE him)...

 

I would never attack any one on here the way you guys (select few) have attacked me in this thread and many others. Just because your "Pro's" don't mean that you should control the whole world.

 

IMHO, I don't think my dislike of Hitchcock will infulence my filmmaking skillls. Might I be wrong? Hell yeah, and a Probly am. But that is just my feeling.

 

Sorry.........................................

 

Maybe I should start bshing people who make fun of my favorite Director, Chris Columbus? Every time someone says they don't care for him, I can bash'em to hell for it... Just like you guys are doing me. What makes my opinion that I like Columbus wrong, and your about Hitchcock right?

 

Ohhh, and PS) Just for kicks, how do you know MCCT ment "Monroe County civic theater"? It could have ment "Monroe County Childrens Theater" or "Monroe County Community Theater" or anything else? You just naturally assum that MCCT stands for "Monroe County Civic Theater".... Thats what scares me... AND THEN: You go to the links of calling someone at there personal home (There is no office, you probly called Rance Fawbush's WIFE) and ask questions that she probly would not know, more less care about.

 

THATS what scares me... Are you the same type person who hires a P.I to spy on your wife, to find out if she is cheating on you, cause it would not surprise me.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Landon D. Parks

[Robert Edge]

Landon, here's the deal.

 

Recently, a "senior" participant in this website explained that he is disappointed in the films produced over the last year. Why? Because there weren't any "masterpieces", and he is used to seeing two per year.

 

This same person has had some things to say about you in this thread.

 

In some circles, the idea that an adult would say that the film industry normally produces two masterpieces per year is more difficult to understand than a statement by a young person that he or she is not keen on Hitchcock.

 

I am putting that as mildly as I can.

 

However, on this website it is apparently hunky dorry to say that the film industry churns out masterpieces like jelly beans, but a capital offence to say that Hitchcock is not to one's taste.

 

It is very easy to be condescending. If I wanted to, I could talk about how, when I was 17 and 18, I was directing plays by Harold Pinter and WB Yeats. Talking like that is not only condescending, it is not constructive, although I'll admit that experiences like that do have something to do with why I have trouble with the the suggestion that the film industry produces masterpieces like rabbits. But that is just my opinion.

 

On aesthetic questions, let alone technical questions, some of the things said by professionals on this site are not as self-evident as they are sometimes asserted to be.

 

There's also an important question, when it comes to art, about being ready. I believe that War and Peace is the greatest novel ever written, but it is a novel that I was unable to read, despite several attempts, until I was 22. When I finally was ready, it took over my life until I was finished reading it.

 

Maybe you'll take to Hitchcock at some point, maybe you won't, but in the meantime I'd take a lot of the aesthetic advice you receive on this site, especially when it is accompanied by a strong dose of condescension, with a grain of salt.

[David Mullen ASC]

I think what got everyone so annoyed was the TONE of this post by Landon:

 

"Hitchcock? I never did see what was so great about him anyway... I about feel asleep in the middle of "Psycho"... Not even remotly scary, nor was any of his other films that I'v seen. I mean come on, Psycho was not even remotly scary (at least the Hitchcock version wasn't.. But the Gus Van Sant version was a little better)..."

 

It goes beyond simply saying that Hitchcock is not his cup of tea. It's not a reasonable and thoughtful critique of Hitchcock. It's downright arrogant and cocky, especially for a young person of limited experience and knowledge to make such a sweeping judgement of someone so important in cinema history.

 

Now I admit that none of us should get too riled up by anything a 17-year-old says, but Landon's always accusing us of not taking him seriously, and wants to be treated like an adult, but I don't see how he can have it both ways.

 

Either he accepts the consequences for making ridiculous posts like that, and the barrage of criticisms that naturally follow, and be willing to make a serious, thought-out argument for his position that at least makes sense, even if we don't all agree -- or we should all just ignore him when he makes posts like that because he's young afterall and shouldn't be held responsible for making provocative statements like that. Probably we should -- afterall, we're the adults here, not Landon. We should know better.

[Joe Taylor]

Landon,

 

I think the majority of the people who are bashing you are a bit jealous of your age. You have an advantage over most people, even people your own age, because you have a lot of passion for whatever it is that interests you. Most people these days have zero interests in anything. No hobbies, no nothing. They put in 8 hour days then watch tv till bedtime, then repeat the cycle over and over.

 

I don't know much about you since I have only recently joined this site. But in my opinion you've handled yourself like a champ. Most people, no matter what their age, would have resulted to childish name calling by now. A few of the pros have taken a disturbingly large amount of their time to actually dig up dirt on you and even make a few phone calls. That's pretty sick.

 

It's cool that you like caving. A few years back I worked as an assistant to a photographer who was doing a major photographic documentation, on 4x5 no less, of Mammoth cave. We had to crawl on our bellies, for over a hundred yards, to get to an area that hasn't been visited by humans since pre-historic times. We found piles of human waste that was thousandsof years old. Just think, some dude actually squated there so long ago. Even petrified bats that were still hanging from the ceilings. Cobwebs that were thousands of years old.

 

Really cool stuff. That's what you should focus on instead of this embarrassing, worthless crap.

 

Good luck with whatever your heart desires.

[Dan Goulder]

Hey folks,

The title of this thread is "Hostel"...NOT "Landon". Some of us might actually be interested in feedback regarding the movie to which this thread is supposed to be dedicated.

[Alex Ellerman]

You guys feeding Landon these ideas about people being jealous of him are not doing him any favors, because I sincerely do NOT believe any of the working people on this forum want to trade places with him, for whatever reason... fact of the matter is, Landon called himself the 'future of filmmaking,' which is a bit premature, as he hasn't made any films, and that kind of posturing draws a lot of attention.

 

if Landon wants people to drop this, then he should drop it as well.

 

Now, people could be a little nicer to landon, but you have to take the aggregate of his posting on this site to understand why some people are a little harsher on him, not just this single thread. People get a little miffed when he doles out advice on subjects over his head - in essence, devaluing the craft they have taken time and care to learn, and perhaps sending another just as important youngster down the wrong path.

 

ae

[Brad Grimmett]

I can't change the way I am, I'm sorry. Thats just the way I am, and the guys over at Indietalk did not understand this. But I can assure you, I have since grown out of my "Im the Super-Filmmaking 17 year old that directed 5 features and 15 plays".

 

But I need to be heard, and people need to understand where I'm coming from.

What you don't yet understand Landon, is that you CAN change the way you are, and should. Everyone changes as they grow older....as they should. So being upset about someone wanting you to change is very counter-productive. I've changed so much since I was 17, and I've changed for the better. The only constant in life is change, so you may as well embrace it.

 

Addressing the second part of your post......You are heard. If you weren't being heard do you thing so many people would continue to respond to your posts? The problem is, a lot of the time people don't like what they're hearing from you. And when they express they're dissappointment in what you post you get mad and scream at them to drop it. If you want people to understand where you're coming from you have to understand where they're coming from as well. You've shown no signs that you have any interest in listening to what other people have to say on this forum. You just want to make big sweeping statements (about Hitchcock or other films and filmmakers) and have people agree with you ad nauseum. It doesn't work that way on this forum, and it doesn't work that way in life. If you want to work in this business you have to have your ears open and your mouth shut a good portion of the time. This is something that you haven't learned yet, but need to. People respond much better to actions than they do to words. And if you're going to use words you should at least learn to spell. Saying that spelling isn't your strong point isn't good enough. If you really want to be a writer or director you need to be able to spell, or at least learn to use spell check. I'd be embarrassed if my grammar and spelling were as bad as yours. That's not meant as an insult, it's the truth. People have tried and tried to tell you this, yet you have ignored them every time.

I don't see you showing a lot of respect to the other members of this forum, so I don't think you should expect any respect from them. Hopefully this can be one of the first changes you make to yourself. Like someone said earlier in this thread, "respect is earned", and you haven't earned it yet. Of course, that could change.

[Brian Wells]

You've shown no signs that you have any interest in listening to what other people have to say on this forum.

He did change his title to "student". That means something, doesn't it?

[Robert Edge]

I think what got everyone so annoyed was the TONE of this post by Landon:

 

"Hitchcock? I never did see what was so great about him anyway... I about feel asleep in the middle of "Psycho"... Not even remotly scary, nor was any of his other films that I'v seen. I mean come on, Psycho was not even remotly scary (at least the Hitchcock version wasn't.. But the Gus Van Sant version was a little better)..."

 

 

It goes beyond simply saying that Hitchcock is not his cup of tea. It's not a reasonable and thoughtful critique of Hitchcock. It's downright arrogant and cocky...

 

Lord knows what you would have thought of my friends and me when we were 17 - probably not much.

 

Over Christmas, I gave a very intelligent young man in the UK, age 12, a copy of The Old Man and the Sea. He lives on an island in the English Channel and has never heard of the author. I re-read it a couple of years ago, and decided that the book was much thinner than I had recalled as a young adolescent, but it had a huge impact on me at his age. I'm waiting to hear what he thinks of it. I'll be delighted if he loves the book, but I won't be crushed if he decides that it is a bore. When he is 17, I won't be surprised if he says that Hemingway was not a great writer. If he forms that judgment, with which I happen to disagree, he will be in pretty good company.

 

I'm writing this on a mobile device and I have to go because We're about to pipe in the haggis.

 

Happy Robbie Burns Day. Have a good single malt tonight in his honour.

[David Sweetman]

Ohhh, and PS) Just for kicks, how do you know MCCT ment "Monroe County civic theater"? It could have ment "Monroe County Childrens Theater" or "Monroe County Community Theater" or anything else? You just naturally assum that MCCT stands for "Monroe County Civic Theater".... Thats what scares me... AND THEN: You go to the links of calling someone at there personal home (There is no office, you probly called Rance Fawbush's WIFE) and ask questions that she probly would not know, more less care about.

 

He knew it because you didn't object until now, and he lives an hour away. You said you had directed ten plays, all getting great reviews. You haven't. That's why people attacked you.

 

Why don't you ever straight-out admit it? You did the same thing on indie talk. You never admitted you had lied. But you lied yourself blue in the face there, as you did here.

 

The thing is, Landon doesn't take any of this seriously.

 

Cut it out. Stop posting about this. Please. It's not what we come here for. If you had been honest from the start, you'd have a foot in the industry right now, being offered onto a film set.

 

Landon is not being bashed because of his age. I am a year older and I don't get any of that. I strive to set an example that all kids are not like Landon. I hope I more or less achieve this, and it kills me when I fall into the stereotype he perpetuates.

 

I don't even know why I'm posting...I want this thread to end as much as any of you.

[Landon D. Parks]

I have some quotes that people on here might get a kick out of:

 

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.

- Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

 

you gotta love good ol' Oscar, don't ya?

 

For the last time, I'm done with this topic. It's doing me no good to argue my possition, and I have better things to do than sit around and argue about something with no end in sight.

 

as a final note: If you think I'm lieing, thats fine. It don't effect me one way or another. I'm not going to go out of my way to prove myself to you guys! Why should I? I stand nothing to gain from proving my abilities to you. Maybe in time, you'll see that I'm not lieing, but really, I don't care one way or another.

 

I'm not trying to prove myself to you, so don't for a second think I am...

 

PS) I did come over a little harsh in the Hitchcock statement, even though I didn't mean too. Sorry if I offended anyone, I really did not mean to come over that harsh.

 

But still, thats no reason to go calling places and stuff trying to find out if I'm real or not, in fact, to me thats Invasion of my privacy. I actually feel offended by anyone who would call around places and TRY THERE HARDEST to dig up bad stuff about someone just because they have a gruge against them.

[K Borowski]

He knew it because you didn't object until now, and he lives an hour away. You said you had directed ten plays, all getting great reviews. You haven't. That's why people attacked you.

 

Why don't you ever straight-out admit it? You did the same thing on indie talk. You never admitted you had lied. But you lied yourself blue in the face there, as you did here.

 

The thing is, Landon doesn't take any of this seriously.

 

Cut it out. Stop posting about this. Please. It's not what we come here for. If you had been honest from the start, you'd have a foot in the industry right now, being offered onto a film set.

 

Landon is not being bashed because of his age. I am a year older and I don't get any of that. I strive to set an example that all kids are not like Landon. I hope I more or less achieve this, and it kills me when I fall into the stereotype he perpetuates.

 

I don't even know why I'm posting...I want this thread to end as much as any of you.

 

David, I think some people are drawn to the internet because it's the only instant form of communication besides telephones where one's stupidity can't get one punched in the face. Other people are so starved for attention (because no one in the real world can STAND them) that they try to make themselves out to be VIPs on the internet. Even worse, some will say anything then can think of just to get a rise out of people. I agree that it is unfair for people to brand us teens as a group of obnoxious, hyperactive, inexperienced fools. That is no better than sentiment such as "Don't trust anyone over 30." Ageism is discrimination too. Then again, I'd be angry at the comments made about Hitchcock on this thread regardless of who said them. I certainly am not in the majority decision of my respective age bracket, but I can certainlly recognize Hitchcock's power to create suspense and fear on the big screen. I feel bad that people like Landon need to see tits and ass and rape and murder just to get some sort of baseline emotional reaction from them. I guess with so many directors like Tarantino out there though it's only natural that teens are so unphased by gore. I feel lucky that I personally haven't developed this sort of shield. Movies new and old still make me laugh and cry and make me angry at the world. As corny as it sounds, film should still be about FEELING what the characters up on the screen feel, about empathizing with them about understanding them. It's really sad that only a film like Hostel can stir up this kind of reaction in generation X & Y.

 

Regards

 

Karl Borowski

[Josh Bass]

I have noticed a trend that many who side with Landon don't have their real names either as their username, or in their sig. Good times.

[Landon D. Parks]

To the contrary, I'm not a horror fan. I don'y care (no like) freaky movies. That was one of my many complains about this film.

 

I like a good dramatic film just the same as anyone else. I'm not some teeny bopper that spends his Friday night at the cinema watching Hostel, Wolfe Creek, ect... Generally, if I go to the cinema, it's for a GOOD reason. Very few movie today are worth my $8.00, so if I go to the movies, chances are I'm seeing something I have already seen.

 

I have seen my share of bad movies to last me a lifetime...