Author Topic: Tell it like it is, James Ellroy (Read 11922 times)

mgriffin · « **on:** April 04, 2011, 11:40:59 AM »

Author James Ellroy (LA Confidential, Black Dahlia, etc.) decided he was fed up with Facebook and wrote this classic "goodbye" to FB.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1584245276&v=wall

Dear FB Friends,
Fuck Facebook!!!!! -- It has proven to be worthless as a book-selling device, and is nothing but a repository for perverts, reparation-seekers, old buddies looking for handouts, syphillitic ex-girlfriends looking for extra-curricular schlong and hack writers begging for blurbs. For those looking for the REAL Ellroy shit, go to my wigged-out website: JamesEllroy.net.
Sayonara, Motherfuckers!!!

Hilarious!

hdibrell · « **Reply #1 on:** April 04, 2011, 03:19:57 PM »

I love it!!

mgriffin · « **Reply #2 on:** April 04, 2011, 03:21:50 PM »

Wonder what he thought of Myspace?

Mark Mushet · « **Reply #3 on:** April 05, 2011, 11:42:24 AM »

Quote from: mgriffin on April 04, 2011, 11:40:59 AM

Author James Ellroy (LA Confidential, Black Dahlia, etc.) decided he was fed up with Facebook and wrote this classic "goodbye" to FB.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1584245276&v=wall

Dear FB Friends,
Fuck Facebook!!!!! -- It has proven to be worthless as a book-selling device, and is nothing but a repository for perverts, reparation-seekers, old buddies looking for handouts, syphillitic ex-girlfriends looking for extra-curricular schlong and hack writers begging for blurbs. For those looking for the REAL Ellroy shit, go to my wigged-out website: JamesEllroy.net.
Sayonara, Motherfuckers!!!

Further proof that writers are self-satisfied, cheap, self-involved, blinkered and deluded chronic masturbators.

einstein36 · « **Reply #4 on:** April 05, 2011, 02:24:21 PM »

Quote from: Mark Mushet on April 05, 2011, 11:42:24 AM

Quote from: mgriffin on April 04, 2011, 11:40:59 AM
Author James Ellroy (LA Confidential, Black Dahlia, etc.) decided he was fed up with Facebook and wrote this classic "goodbye" to FB.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1584245276&v=wall

Dear FB Friends,
Fuck Facebook!!!!! -- It has proven to be worthless as a book-selling device, and is nothing but a repository for perverts, reparation-seekers, old buddies looking for handouts, syphillitic ex-girlfriends looking for extra-curricular schlong and hack writers begging for blurbs. For those looking for the REAL Ellroy shit, go to my wigged-out website: JamesEllroy.net.
Sayonara, Motherfuckers!!!

Further proof that writers are self-satisfied, cheap, self-involved, blinkered and deluded chronic masturbators.

LOL...I resent that:)....I am upcoming writer working on part 2 of my novel, Alien Tears...Alien Tears part 1 will be out this month...
but I am not cheap, self-involved, etc:) heheheheh
I still compose music from time to time, like to blow aliens up on Crysis 2 on my Xbox...

Antdude · « **Reply #5 on:** April 06, 2011, 03:58:10 PM »

Priceless. I've met Ellroy twice at book signings, and he's just as raw, inappropriate, and hilarious in real life. And to be honest, I'm thinking of chucking FB, too. I hardly even check it anymore, and I'm beginning to wonder what it will evolve into over time.

APK · « **Reply #6 on:** April 06, 2011, 04:57:09 PM »

I'm pretty much against anything that promotes shallow, facile, etc, social interactions.
And things that promote a dumb self-importance.

Maybe its just me.

Mark Mushet · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2011, 11:17:37 AM »

Quote from: APK on April 06, 2011, 04:57:09 PM

I'm pretty much against anything that promotes shallow, facile, etc, social interactions.
And things that promote a dumb self-importance. Maybe its just me.

Yup. It's just you!

FB is like anything else that is open to the public in that it well reflects societies weaknesses and strengths. Specific to the subject of writers, though, I must say that because I manage a literary/arts magazine's FB page, I see a lot of inappropriate spamming and clueless self-promotion that only serves to put us off. FB is not, primarily, a sales tool for writers.

Joe R · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2011, 05:32:00 PM »

Not much for me on facebook I'm afraid. My wife, for some reason, set me up with a facebook page a few months ago. After the initial novelty wore off --about two days-- I rarely visit it.

Mark Mushet · « **Reply #9 on:** April 10, 2011, 10:07:44 PM »

Quote from: Joe R on April 10, 2011, 05:32:00 PM

Not much for me on facebook I'm afraid. My wife, for some reason, set me up with a facebook page a few months ago. After the initial novelty wore off --about two days-- I rarely visit it.

Beware! You are probably being represented by a suite of goofy cat pictures!

petekelly · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2011, 04:04:01 AM »

Quote from: APK on April 06, 2011, 04:57:09 PM

I'm pretty much against anything that promotes shallow, facile, etc, social interactions.
And things that promote a dumb self-importance.

I agree.

There appears to be an increasing 'opinion culture' where people's opinions are deemed to be almost necessary. On Youtube for example, there's the option to say you dislike a video and I wonder (unless you find it offensive) what's the point of that ? Same with the BBC website - "What do you think about so and so..."

Joe R · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2011, 02:13:33 PM »

I don't see a lot of opinion-oriented coversations on facebook. What I DO see is a lot of meaningless blather between people. Example- "Im enjoying my morning cup of joe right now." Well no shit! Almost EVERYONE drinks coffee in the morning. Is it worth posting on a website?

mgriffin · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2011, 02:15:35 PM »

I have no problem with posts about mundane subjects so long as they're done in an interesting way (see George Takei for example). Unfortunately, 99.99973% of the time they're exactly as boring as the example Joe offered.

jkn · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2011, 02:33:29 PM »

Sitting listening to the gentle tones of Marcus Fischer sipping water and reading Hypnos forum. I wonder if sushi is in my immediate future.

Julio Di Benedetto · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2011, 08:07:32 PM »

Facebook as a promotion tool is certainly a waste of time....not that I have posted much after being on it for 3 yrs or more so in one respect I would not know....however as a social network.......you know what, it works.

I have made some reconnections after 20 + years with old buddies looking for a few hand outs, and a few syphilitic ex girlfriends.....Seeing this is the tone of the conversation.....that is fucked up!

Im looking forward to meeting and old teenage friend from Berlin that I have not seen in 25 years that contacted me through facebook. This has happened quite a few times and its all beautiful.

Perhaps Im missing the humor here.....Is it Monty Pythonesque, Its not Steve Wright..and you know what its not very funny.

Im no fan of facebook and Im no fan of Ellroys, I did not like either of the 2 movies mentioned. did not read the books so perhaps hollywood just simply messed the novels up in translation.

Love & Peace...Julio

Bill Binkelman · « **Reply #15 on:** April 11, 2011, 08:28:43 PM »

I truly don't understand the hatred and vitriol for Facebook. I certainly find some people's overuse of it a bit puzzling, but what harm does it do to you if you don't participate? Why mock it if you can instead choose simply to ignore it? What is the point of posting sarcastic and demeaning comments about a system that allows people to connect with others who, for whatever reason, they enjoy doing so? If it's mundane and vapid and banal, what difference does it it make to you if you aren't forced to read or participate? Just like this forum...god knows there is enough mental masturbation taking place here as well, to be honest.

Honestly...there are plenty of folks on Facebook that make me scratch my head and ask "Do they have a life?" but who the hell am I to judge them? Don't like Facebook..fine, leave it alone. I would say that 9/10 of the time I could dispense with it altogether, but just recently, Facebook enabled me to find out that a good friend and former co-worker of mine had to put his beloved dog to sleep so that when I saw him next in person I could give him a big hug and tell him how sorry I was. IMO, that's enough justification of a system that, by and large, may be nothing but a lot of "look at me" shit.

Sorry for the rant, but honestly...shit, there are more more important things to get worked up about, IMO...gas in the US is about to hit 4 bucks a gallon...fuck that, IMO.

No offense meant, by the way...but...oh what the hell...

petekelly · « **Reply #16 on:** April 12, 2011, 01:41:03 AM »

Bill, Petrol / Diesel is currently approx. £6 a gallon over here and we hear very little about it on the news.

Back on topic, I don't use facebook myself, I was tempted but I resisted (so far !)

mgriffin · « **Reply #17 on:** April 12, 2011, 05:47:22 AM »

The point of posting Ellroy's anti-Facebook rant was not to say that I hate Facebook, or that others should. I thought the rant was funny because it was so over-the-top and unhinged.

And maybe if the price of gas goes higher, everyone will stop driving giant trucks they don't need. Around here at least 80% of the vehicles on the road are large pickups or large SUVs, occasionally a large minivan. Last time gas topped $4 people were parking their Hummers and Expeditions beside the road with "For Sale" signs in the window but this time my little car is still completely outsized by virtually every other car on the road. How do people with longer commutes afford $660 or $800 or even more than that for gas every month. Sorry, Pete... petrol!

jkn · « **Reply #18 on:** April 12, 2011, 06:17:46 AM »

In all seriousness - I have a love/dislike relationship with Facebook.

Love: I've reconnected with friends and family I really actualylly wanted to find. Heck - I found cousins I'd totally forgotten I had! what a wonderful thing!

Dislike: Facebook's constant changes - and how those changes are almost always non-opt-in - meaning they change something which opens up my info to advertisers and such - or wide open to google - and I'm once again fiddling with the rather painful privacy settings.

I have no problem with people posting about silly things like getting coffee - those are the same conversations I have with coworkers over the wall. If it's a good friend - I care - if it's someone I don't know - I just skim on by.

John

mgriffin · « **Reply #19 on:** April 12, 2011, 08:48:49 AM »

When people post too much of that content-free stuff too frequently, or post every snapshot they take to their wall, I end up telling FB to "hide" everything they post so I don't have to deal with it.

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Author Topic: Tell it like it is, James Ellroy (Read 11922 times)