Marley & Me -- SPOILER INCLUDED

It annoyed me that the editors edited printouts of Wilson's stories rather than view the articles on computers. Come on, now. Newsroom editors haven't edited via hard copy in how many decades? Doesn't every managing editor have a computer on his desk?

 

Blue font, harbinger?

 

I saw an advanced screening in a room of about 300 people -- screening was at noon on a Saturday in Hollywood and about 100 of the people there were under the age of 10.

The response to the ending was horrendous; I've never heard 300 people sob at once -- particularly amplified by 100 wailing children.

Good grief; Marley & Me was the surprise winner on Christmas Day, topping Ali as the biggest Dec. 25 opener ever. But people in the movie business are dying to find out what the word-of-mouth is...I suspect by Saturday, Bedtime Stories and Ben Button will both overtake M&M. to win the weekend 4-day average. As if anyone cares.

 

Were they cutting and pasting the stories too?

Although, when reading my own stuff, I prefer editing it on hard copy. Seems like you'll see something when it's on paper that you've passed over five times on the computer screen.

 

I can't remember a time in my long career when an editor sat down with me to go through a story and had a hard copy in hand.

 

As in a proof of a page?

We edit on screen, then print them and give them a thorough edit on the proof then make the changes.

 

We still have one or two editors here who print out stuff and edit on hard copy. Old habits . . .

 

The top editor at my last shop, where I was ME, required reporters to give him printouts. He used his computer for surfing the web. He didn't even have the newsroom front end software installed.

Oh, and as for the movie, that was the longest death sequence I can remember.

 

Haven't read the book or seen the movie, but why not take kids to see it simply because the dog dies?

Death is a part of life, isn't it? It's a lesson that children must learn, isn't it? If it's a talk you've never had, I understand how you wouldn't want it to happen in the aftermath of film.... but there are plenty of kids who've had to learn about death first hand. If the lesson can be taught in the context of a movie, it's a small blessing, no?

 

Does your teaching-by-movie theory apply to sex education as well?

 

That's how I learned.

 

My reproducing sister took her eldest (6) to see this. She was pissed. She had no idea the dog died, so she couldn't prepare my nephew for the fact that something bad was going to happen and he was really upset, like crying until he threw up sick.