Sucking Up...
First Zak Weisfeld writes a nasty review of Attack of the Clones—and then Metro Pulse doesn't have the testicles to stand behind it. You counter with this wimpy "correction" about DVDs, and then an article called "They Live Among Us" [Gamut, May 23] that says these super-nerd grownups spending all their money on Star Wars toys aren't such strange guys. Huh? Could you suck up to them just a little more? Could you back-peddle just a little faster? Why write a review if you don't really mean it?
Your Star Wars retraction issue is almost as pathetic as Sen. Bill Clabough's "survey." He wants us to make up his mind for him on the budget crisis rather than actually take a stand on his own. Both of you need to head over to UT Hospital and get backbone replacement surgery.
Metro Pulse has sadly lost its edge in recent years. You used to be entertaining and daring, but now the paper is a weekly waste of trees dying for no good reason.
As for Attack of the Clones, I plan to see it Friday night. I'm taking my 8-year-old son, and good or bad, we'll have fun together. I actually make up my own mind about movies I want to see, and "critics" have very little to do with my choices.
Dare you to print this.
Chuck Denney
Knoxville
...to the Freaks?
Tamar Wilner's [Gamut, May 23] article has the sneering, patronizing tone of a spectator commenting on a freak show. She expects all fans to be socially inept, insecure, weenies.
Not true. What does she expect to achieve by expressing her contempt of fandom? To alienate young fans already bullied by a misunderstanding world into depression and suicide? To provide readers with a portrait of people so they can say, "Thank G-d I'm not like that?" This article caricatures fans as freaks much as sensationalist journalists caricatured roleplaying gamers as Satanists in the 1980's.
As a female fan (yes, we're out there) and a con goer, I sincerely hope that people disregard this article and realize that fandom is a hobby no less acceptable than others, and that fans are simply regular folks with an interest in sci-fi and fantasy.
Anna Johnson
Knoxville
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