Saving Mr. Banks

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Last November, I happened to be at the park on a day they were filming. I got a few shots of period costumes and props at the entrance gates. I posted them on Facebook.

Sorry, non-Facebookers. It's just easier when you're uploading from your phone. I changed the permissions to Public so this link should work.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Alas, it did not.

[Alex]

Plus, Facebook is blocked at work, so for me it is a place where conversations happen for 18 minutes and I'm not able to easily see them for 2/3rds of the day (especially since on my the mobile app it seems to just offer up a random subset of posts in a random order).

So, out of curiosity, Chris tried to invite me to the group on Facebook again and can't because I have an outstanding ignored invitation. But if I have an invitation I can't find it.

Any brilliant insights?

Maybe a lively Facebook community will turn me around on the service (though possibly not because I'm not going to speak freely since I have no trust that it won't be something eventually made visible to friends and coworkers I'd rather not see it).

[Strangler Lewis]

I like dismissing things out of hand with minimal exposure to them. Especially with popular TV shows, it frees up a lot of time.

So, here goes, re Twitter.

I was curious what Chris Rock had to say about the George Zimmerman verdict, so I found his web site. It had a link to his Twitter feed. The "discussion" was pretty much on the level one finds in the Comments section at the end of anything, i.e., overheated and stinko. I would think Facebook discussions at least have the advantage of developed paragraphs of stinko and fewer contributors to slog through.

And a style point: I can't imagine signing up on Twitter to "follow" anybody.

Back to it.

[Alex]

Oh, I don't think good discussion happens on Twitter either. And while there are some celebrities I follow I don't see what anybody else says to them so the inanity of the general public doesn't come up for me often (I've clicked maybe one hash tag in my life and searched a topic only a couple of times).

That said, as a tool for keeping up with my friends I find what they say on Twitter to be of more interest on Twitter than on Facebook. Part of that is probably because I'm not spammed by stupid games on Twitter. Nor do they post so many pictures of [babies | pets | weddings | etc.].

And I'm not saying good conversations don't happen on Facebook. Just that they're not frequent enough for it to draw me there as a normal course of events. And even when there is good conversation I'm censoring myself in ways I'd prefer not to and when I don't then I feel like I should apologize to the person I was commenting to for any ruckus caused.

Yes, ruckus.

[innerSpaceman]

Thanks, Jen - - I didn't see those cool photos the first time around.

Alex, if you're blocked from Facebook at work, I can see that as a big sticking point. In my experience, 90% of Facebook posting is done during business hours. Says something about the state of the goof-off economy, I guess.

Anyway, while Twitter offers only text, and rarely conversation - but it's possible ... Facebook offers conversation, photos (yep, pets and such), links to topics of interest, and - as I said before and don't need to hammer - just about anything that the other social media sites specialize and operate nearly exclusively in.

So thanks again for those photos, Jen. Facebook IS the best place for them.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

The LoT page doesn't count as super lively, I don't think.

Sorry SM, it looks like "Public" means "Anyone on Facebook".

[Moonliner]

So I'm guessing Disney is not going to stay true to this aspect in "Saving Mr. Banks"

Spoilered in an over abundance of paranoia.

Spoiler:

1. Disney’s Mary Poppins might be a cherished childhood memory for a lot of us, but for author P.L. Travers, it was a complete slap in the face. Despite having script approval, Travers' edits were largely disregarded. Travers loathed the movie's animated sequences and was perturbed that Mary Poppins’ strict side was downplayed. After some heated meetings, Travers reluctantly approved. She would have been shunned from the star-studded premiere had she not shamed a Disney exec into an invite. The 65-year-old Travers spent most of the movie crying and ultimately refused to let Disney touch the rest of the series.

Ohh, and Drat. You can't see which horse Mr. Disney is riding. I have my hopes in that respect.

[innerSpaceman]

That was an interesting read. I guess most authors don't realize that simply filming the book is not the way to make a good movie. I suppose filmmakers don't much understand what it takes to make a good novel either.

But it's funny to see authors grouse about such CLASSIC and nearly universally BELOVED movies as Mary Poppins, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Forrest Gump, The Shining and A Clockwork Orange.

Really hard to give the authors credence for their film criticism of such masterworks of cinema. Stick to writing books!

[Alex]

To be fair, Forrest Gump really is an awful movie.