Shanghai Knights

Not from writing, mind you. From publishing. After more than two decades of spending day in and day out deep in the trenches, sleeves rolled to his elbows, soot on his cheeks, and dirt in his mouth and hair, after more than twenty years of banging the keys of his faithful typewriter, working to provide financially for himself and his family, after almost three decades of doing everything he could by way of the writing game he decided, in the second half of last year, the time had come for him to do what he always wanted to do:

Write.

(Yes, I know Stephen King made this announcement last year. No, the writer in question is not King.)

Now this writer decided the time had come for him to write. Nothing more. Oh, if he should happen to write something he wanted to share with the world he would do all necessary to see it published, but beyond that he was, he said, done.

So there we were, at this party for him. As such events go those attending ate too much, drank too much, and become rather melodramatic before long; before the goodies and the check for this indulgence arrived.

Of those attending there was one--also a writer--who took to bemoaning over the state of things in the publishing world.

Bull, said another writer. It isn't just the publishing industry that is circling the great drain of existence. The entertainment world is equally damaged and ruined.

Almost faster than you could say 'poor me', the event turned into a certain bitch and howl session and almost faster than you can blink the attention turned to me.

And the writer who started this entire primal scream therapy session looked straight at me and said, 'Well, if some people did their job and did their job properly--this wouldn't have happened and we wouldn't be here. If critics and reviewers were honest in their work then the crap that is produced would not be produced.'

What could I say, what could I do as response? The only choice I had was to nod. After all, I take it as my duty as critic and reviewer to be honest in the matter of films and movies, otherwise known as 'cinema'. And when it comes to honesty, avoiding it is almost impossible.

That is, IF one wants to be taken seriously, to achieve respect and credibility.

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