On Wednesday The Hollywood Reporter ran an article by Andrew Wallenstein criticizing Andrew Keen’s upcoming book, “The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet is Killing Our Culture”, to be published in June. For those of you unfamiliar with this upcoming book, Keen argues that user-generated content is overwhelming traditional media, the eventual consequence of which will be that “quality” content shall disappear among a sea of poor and/or false consumer content.

I look forward to reading this book so that I can make my own judgments without the filter of subjectivity from another commentator. Wallenstein’s criticism, however, is echoed by the Publisher’s Weekly blurb quoted on Amazon.com, perhaps adding more credence (at least Wallenstein is not a lone objector). My own gut reaction to what I’ve seen so far is disagreement. Regardless, it is worthwhile to comment now on the question as a whole, even if discussion as to the specific arguments laid out needs to wait.

I believe technology has a democratizing effect that is ultimately good for society. It takes the power of out the hands of the few and puts it into the hands of the many. Why should only those with money be able to dictate what the rest see and hear, and thus potentially influence how the rest think?

What is occurring with the Internet and content (both video and otherwise) reflects what has already happened with the digital video revolution in filmmaking. One frequent argument against the influx of DV was that a lot more garbage would be made, since money was no longer a major obstacle to entering the filmmaking market. Such an argument ignores the fact that a diamond in the rough that might never have been otherwise produced due to the high-cost of shooting on film could now be made. In the long run, quality always seems to rise to the top, no matter how large the sea of mediocrity from which it has to rise. Big media does not necessarily equate with quality or veracity (e.g. schlock mega-flops and falsified news reports) anymore than consumer content necessarily equates with garbage or rumors and lie. The virtues of quality and truth can be found anywhere. In fact, they are all the more likely to arise when more people are capable of creating and/or seeking them.

The ultimate irony of this book is that Keen is a former dot-com entrepreneur, and Wallenstein writes for The Hollywood Reporter, which, for the most part, covers big media. One must wonder if Keen’s book is a case of the scientist realizing just how dangerous the monster is that he has created… or a case of the young growing old, the liberal becoming conservative, or, most insidious, the old guard paying off the new. It’s very easy to turn against your own road to fortune once you’ve already profited from it.

The Don Imus Controversy… Undoubtedly, what Imus said was ill-advised and insensitive. I don’t defend his comment. But should he lose his job over it, as the Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have called for? Absolutely not. First of all, there’s a little thing called the First Amendment to be considered. Secondly, Imus’s comment wasn’t a hate-filled tirade of the ilk of Michael Richards, just a joke in very, very poor taste. He’s an entertainer telling jokes, just as rappers are entertainers writing and singing songs. Last time I checked, Sharpton and Jackson weren’t calling for every hip-hop artist who has ever used the word “ho” to be banned from ever recording another album. If it’s good for the goose, it’s good for the gander. Thirdly, if Michael Irvin’s Tony Romo comment and Bryant Gumbel’s Winter Olympic comment, both with racial implications, aren’t enough to warrant them being fired, Imus’s comment shouldn’t warrant such an act, either.

Is it okay for some people to use a derogatory term like “ho” (i.e. rappers) and not others? Of course, not–that’s hypocrisy. And it’s not as if Sharpton and Jackson are strangers to inciting racial controversy. Who remembers Sharpton’s defamatory statements and false accusations in regards to the Tawana Brawley case, or his “diamond merchants” comment during the Crown Heights Riot? What about Jesse Jackson’s derogatory references to Jews on multiple occasions? If Imus should be fired, shouldn’t those statements have merited the end of Sharpton’s and Jackson’s careers? I guess I missed the press release stating it’s okay for them to be bigots. Hypocrites.

Anyone else wonder if Sharpton and Jackson are enacting a personal vendetta for all the jokes Imus has made at their expense?

I saw “Blades of Glory” this past week and once again was thoroughly impressed by Will Ferrell’s performance. He is quickly becoming not just the comic actor of his generation, but one of THE actors of his generation. Yes, I truly believe that Will Ferrell has developed into one of the finest film actors around.

What makes Ferrell so good? He fully commits to his roles, no matter how ridiculous they may seem, to a degree that only a handful of other performers can match. In doing so, he makes the most unbelievable of characters believable. Take Buddy in “Elf”. Playing completely innocent can be very difficult for adults to do, but Ferrell exhibits a childlike innocence so well and so earnestly that you completely accept him. No one else could deliver a Buddy or Chazz Michael Michaels so perfectly.

Add in that Ferrell has the willingness to do absolutely anything on the level of a John Belushi or Chris Farley and he truly stands out among comic actors–if not among all actors.

Who else is amused that Britney, Paris, Anna Nicole and the rest of the tabloid trash clique can all be upstaged in a single instant by Keith Richards and his “I snorted my father’s ashes” story–regardless of whether that story is a joke or not?

That’s why Richards and the rest of the Stones are real stars and the tabloid trash simply irrelevant.

So it’s come and gone. One of the most highly anticipated rookie debuts in ages. And Daisuke Matsuzaka, “Dice-K”, lived up to the hype.

What makes Matsuzaka so fascinating is that he was a legend before he ever threw his first major league pitch. He has been a legend in Japan since an unbelievable run in the high-school Koshien Tournament in 1998, capped with a no-hitter in the finale. His legacy grew even greater with his MVP performance in the World Baseball Classic, which also served as his introduction to American audiences. That was followed by an epic bidding war between several Major League Baseball franchises just to have the opportunity to negotiate with Matsuzaka, with the subsequent contract negotiations with the Boston Red Sox being no less manic. The clincher? Dice-K may or may not throw a pitch which may or may not exist–and if he does, he may be the only person in the world who can throw that pitch.

That’s the stuff of which legends are made. And what does that make Matsuzaka? Quintessantially baseball.

In a review of the new director’s cut DVD of The Natural that I recently wrote for Collider.com, I discussed how that film “perfectly captures the time-transcendent mythology of baseball” and how “legendary names like Babe Ruth, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio still tower over the game years after they all stopped playing”. Baseball is all about history, mythology and legends, and Dice-K’s career to date perfectly falls into that structure.

The only real question that remains is, can he acutally throw the gyroball?