Friday, June 22, 2012

Spoony getting fired from TGWTG, my thoughts.

I noticed the signs a while ago.  I tried to deny it.  I told myself, "It was just a phase, some growing pains.  This is just a transitional period.  Things will get better."  Then the unthinkable happened.  The line was crossed, and I lost all respect... because I had to admit, thatguywiththeglasses.com was a mere shell of what it had been in days past.  It proved that by firing Spoony.

You know, I began getting a bit nervous when I saw their shiny, brand-new ads:  chrstianmingle.com, "Jesus Loves You," and the like all over the site.  I thought, "Well, now we know why The Amazing Atheist got fired!"  But I took that in stride; even in the youtube atheist community, TJ is a controversial figure.  (Honestly, I never know what to make of the guy.)   Honestly, Spoony getting fired is a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.  And before you say anything, Spoony isn't the problem.

First of all, I want to say this:  During the past year, Spoony is the only TGWTG contributor who managed to make me laugh out loud, both in the few and far-between times he made an official episode, AND in his vlog reviews.  Not to mention that I thought his tweets were hilarious.  Honestly, if TGWTG were The Beatles, Spoony would be John Lennon.  He's that good.

What really pisses me off is the alleged reason he got fired.  Before you say anything, no, it's not because Obscurus Lupa can't tell the difference between rape and domination.  (Of course, this sad fact opens up a whole new set of questions about hers and Phelous' sex life which I'm not even qualified to answer, other than to say that it must be sadly vanilla.)  No, he got fired because TGWTG did what every candy-ass Hollywood insider has done since the beginning of time: played it safe and kowtowed to the fans.

One thing you need to know about Spoony: he's a troll and an evil clown.  His review of Final Fantasy 8?  A masterpiece of flamebait.  Even Encyclopedia Dramatica paid him respect, once upon a time.  Can you picture a guy like that kissing fanboy ass?

Yeah, neither could I.  So it's no surprise to me that the guy, every so often, busts his fans and his haters' collective chops.  Hell, he's was doing it LONG before the giant breakup with Scarlett, and he'll be doing it when he gets a new girlfriend.  So these past few days, he's been busting everyone's balls, just like he always does.  Spoony hasn't changed.  The only people who HAVE changed are the folks running TGWTG.  And, of course, the other jerks who interact with him and claim to be his fans.  The guy went through a life-change, shit hit the fan, and a bunch of COMPLETE STRANGERS tried to offer him pity.  Now, I don't know about Spoony, but if some random assholes tried to offer me pity and sanctimonious platitudes, my reaction would be, "FUCK PITY!"  And I'd go off on them, like he did.

Of course, nobody likes it when you refuse their pity, since it makes them think that you probably don't need them to straighten yourself out, even assuming you needed it to begin with.  So the fanboys went sniveling to TGWTG because Spoony... did what he always does.  The only difference is that TGWTG actually LISTENED to them!  And so he was suspended, and eventually fired.

IOW, instead of standing by their best reviewer, TGWTG bowed to HATEMAIL!  (Oh, and don't even think for a second that the Jesus-freaks who sponsor the site weren't involved.  Spoony calls out D&D hate and misconception all the time.  Chances are, Counter-Monkey has as much to do with Spoony getting fired as the twitter drama does.)

And this is a recurring trait!  Check out the commentary on A Simple Wish.  As Channel Awesome's Holly Christine said, the Mara Wilson cameo came because she bawwed about The Nostalgia Critic's reviews of her work.  And instead of, you know, IGNORING the has-been child actress or firing back, they "reached out" to her.  (BTW, for those of you who don't know to "reach out" is simply a corporate buzzword for "contact."  Yeah, the use of corporate buzzwords on a CA commentary track speak volumes in and of itself.)  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Wilson exaggerated her distress because TGWTG has an established fanbase and she realized that she could use her cameo and subsequent association to cross-promote her shitty writing!

You know, I'd like to think that TGWTG wasn't always like this.  I'd like to think that they originally had the same general idea as Spoony.  "Bad movies and games deserve to be hurt back!"  But either way, the TGWTG of 2012 is lame, tame, and pussified.  They're pushing out all of the real talent to make way for idiots like Blockbuster Buster.  Him?  Seriously?  His being on the site is proof that old TGWTG would kill new TGWTG.

So am I boycotting TGWTG over Spoony's firing?  Yes and no.  I'll watch the Nostalgia Critic, Todd in the Shadows, and Angry Joe, BUT...

I had turned my adblocker software off so that I could support the site.  I am now enabling it for thatguywiththeglasses.com and blisteredthumbs.net, just like every other site on the web, except spoonyexperiement.com. I will not buy thatguywiththeglasses DVDs.  Instead, I will download the episodes I want to watch on my TV and burn them to a DVD-ROM.  I will not buy any thatguywiththeglasses.com swag, because let's face it, I'm not so pathetic as to wear a website on my T-shirt.  If I see any of them at a con, I'm walking in the other direction.  And for the record:

I'm not boycotting Obscurus Lupa because I think she somehow got Spoony fired.  I'm boycotting her because her character is the most annoying retard this side of Abby on NCIS.  She stole Spoony's act of reviewing obscure films, which makes her misconstruing Spoony's remarks on JO as a "rape joke" (it wasn't) and getting the fanboys on board with that that much more sinister.  Either she's extremely malicious or extremely stupid (and see the crack about her sex life above), and I don't reward either with viewership.

I'm not boycotting Phelous because I think he somehow got Spoony fired.  I'm boycotting him because, let's face it, I don't watch his videos anyway.  But even if I did, his girlfriend is in pretty much all of his videos (or so I've heard) and that's incentive enough to watch them.  Not to mention that he seems enthusiastic about dragging Spoony's name through the mud on said girlfriend's behalf and propagating the "rape joke" misconception simply because Obscurus Lupa says so.

And I'm certainly not boycotting JesuOtaku because she was the victim of a tasteless remark.  I'm boycotting her because, in her Month of Miyazaki Nausicaa review, she cut a portion of a line in the movie to make the pro-environmental/anti-human stand Miyazaki took in the movie to be more hard-line than it actually was.  If you're reading this, JO:  Madam, I question your honesty and integrity as a reviewer, and I am NOT joking.  I don't watch dishonest reviews.

And Spoony, if you're reading this, I like your work.  I'm a huge fan.  But I'm not your friend.  I don't know you; you don't know me.  So understand that, if you do have something wrong with you, I hope it doesn't get cured.  I hope you tap into that anger to produce the funniest videos on the web, just like you have been doing all these years.

20 comments:

  1. So you're convinced that despite wildly unprofessional behavior (including a current rampage on twitter where he basically craps all over everyone) Spoony should not be punished because… he made YOU laugh.

    Well, you've convinced ME.

    Oh, and it WAS a rape comment. All the Spoony fanboys insisting that it was just a S&M joke need to open your eyes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I'm convinced that shouldn't be punished because it's his twitter and he can say whatever he wants on it. And professionalism? From TGWTG? They're a fucking entertainment troupe, not Goldman-Sachs. Two years ago, Spoony could have crapped all over everyone and they wouldn't have given a fuck.

      Tell you what buddy: Prove that it was a rape joke. Because last I checked, I was the only Spoony fan (or TGWTG fan for that matter) smart enough to make the distinction. Like I said, you guys on TGWTG must be fairly undersexed.

      Delete
    2. I'm not a Spoony fanboy. Not even close. But you can't make the claim that it was a rape joke and tell people to "open (their) eyes" when you, in fact, have no proof of your claims. It was a tweet. There's no context to be taken into consideration. It was not part of a larger piece. You can interpret anything any way you want to but if you criticize others for not having the same interpretation, you'd damn well have some evidence to back up your claims. You don't. Your opinion is not fact. The sooner you learn that the better off you'll be.

      Grow up.

      Delete
    3. I really, really, doubt the ads for Christian groups have anything to do with this (which don't even show up outside the US). For one thing you came up with at least one more legitimate theory - fan backlash. Fan backlash is what stopped the Nostalgia Critic from reviewing Matilda, and plenty of other things. Fan backlash is a powerful thing and that is ignored at your peril.

      I suspect you have also found a better reason for the 'Amazing athiest' being sacked as well. If he is controversial even among other atheists he isn't going to do so well on a general review site. Was Christian feeling to blame for his departure? I doubt it. Film Brain and Sage are both agnostic and their is at least one other atheist on the staff.

      And hell, they EMPLOYED him knowing he was one! It's right there in his name!! The only way he could really have gotten thrown out for being atheist is if he started being an asshole about it.

      I have no idea what Spoony believes and I doubt you do either. Lets not go about making wild accusations and simply assume the most obvious of your theories - that Spoony did what every abrasive comedy troll has done and got himself in trouble for being an abrasive comedy troll.

      Delete
    4. I was being a smartass, dumbass. And FACT: The christian ads appeared AFTER TAA was fired. It's plausible that TGWTG had wanted Christian sponsorship. When you take money from an organization, you give that organization a controlling interest in your company. Question: Are Film Brain and Sage active in the nontheist community? If they were, Film Brain and Bennett would be out on their asses. No, they aren't. And if you think that hardline fundies like the ones on christianmingle.com wouldn't piss and moan at a guy who actively goes out to debunk the D&D/satan correlation and even called them out on their Harry Potter hate in his "Mazes & Monsters" review, you're seriously naive.

      As far as fan-backlash goes... PLEASE. Not only has Spoony never given a shit about what the fans think, neither has Ben Croshaw. And Spoony accounted for roughly one-third of TGWTG's fanbase. Same as TAA, they knew what they were getting into when they recruited him. It's just that TGWTG has changed into being a company with integrity to pandering to the lowest common denominator.

      Delete
    5. 3 years going on 4 TGWTG seems to be holding up. I guess you were entirely pointless. P.S. Spoony is the only comedian that made me want to shove nails in my ears over how fucking terrible he is.

      Delete
  2. The fact that one, just one, joke can lead to a person's downfall is just fucking disgusting. I don't care what the joke was about. It doesn't matter if it was malicious or done in bad taste. It was a joke on a stupid "Social Networking" site and means absolutely nothing.

    If a guy who makes a living out of making off color remarks gets this amount of shit for making an off color remark then what is he supposed to do?

    I just don't see the big deal. I don't understand why this is even a thing. I have lost a lot of respect for Lupa because of this. If the person who he made the joke to said something, that would be different. But this is just a case of starting shit for no reason.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's true, and I probably shouldn't have said anything about JO, since she wasn't even really involved in this shit. I've just been looking for an excuse to get the Miyazaki thing off my chest.

      Delete
  3. This has all been blown out of proportion. The original comment may have been in bad taste, but that's a matter of opinion and even if it was.. its on twitter.. who the fuck cares what people say on twitter. Are you kidding me? Using that as a real life reason to end a business based relationship, is retarded. And did JO even have a issue with it? I'm fairly confident that it was all other ppl. I'm convinced that Lupa and her Bf had a major hand in this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, if we're to believe Holly, it had nothing to do with the JO joke. It was a bunch of asshole Spoony-haters whining to TGWTG. My theory is that a certain Fat Kat had more to do with it than he's letting on.

      Actually, what annoys me is that the Lupa fanboys are using her faulty premise as an excuse to troll Spoony. (And they say that Spoony fans are rabid.) They'll probably start egging her and Phelous on to continue slinging crap at him, whether they want to or not. You see this shit all the time on youtube between their celebs in that little neck of the woods.

      Delete
  4. It drives me made when people just judge TGWTG by just a few people. Spoony is the only guy you find funny? Seriously? HAve you never seen Ashens, Guru Larry, Roo et cetera on the site? They're ten times funnier than half the people on there, yet they never get any highlight as they're ecliped bu egotistical eDrama and fans not willing to look ever so slightly further afield.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. At the moment, I'm judging Channel Awesome by its business practices, not by who's funny or not. But yeah, I know who Guru Larry is, and I can't stand the guy. Even if I didn't know who he was, I'm certainly not interested in expanding my TGWTG viewing repertoire.

      Delete
    2. It's also worth noting that a lot of the worthwhile content producers aren't aligned with TGWTG exclusively, Roo being a prime example. Out of the people that syndicate their content exclusively with TGWTG, the only ones that are worth a damn are Brad Jones, Todd, and occasionally the Nostalgia Chick and Angry Joe. I say occasionally because their videos vary wildly in terms of overall quality, and while Joe's reviews leave a lot to be desired, he sometimes puts out thoughtful critiques through numbered lists. Just as an example, his original video on the ME3 ending debacle was pretty good even if I thought he missed the point at times. His video praising BioWare for the extended cut wasn't because he said the big issues had been fixed when in reality it did nothing to correct the core inconsistencies of the story. Each ending packed more emotional punch, but if you're looking for something that stuck to the lore then it still fails.

      I'm of the opinion that TGWTG should be judged primarily based on who is most likely to show up in an anniversary special with any kind of significant role. Roo might be chosen as a cameo but there's pretty much no way he'd get top billing as someone who is, at the very least, in nearly every shot. They just have him on there to pad their ad revenues, and it's a good move for him because it gets him more exposure. The same isn't true of Phelous; he's part of the core group that can't discern, "so bad it's good" from "so bad it's bad." That's the main reason I've stopped watching most of the content on that site.

      Delete
  5. Why don't you like him? His sense of humor is very British, as with Ashens which puts some people off, but his Film reviews are some of the funniest on the entire site. But my complaint is a lot of contributors do get buried on the site when they should be promoted more. Mike J being another.

    But Spoony's situation was blown out of proportion, pandering to trolls and fanboys wasn't the greatest thing TGWTG has ever done.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Everything else aside, I was under the impression that Spoony quit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The general consensus is that he was fired.

      Delete
    2. The official statement from CA is that Noah resigned. Though I don't doubt for a minute that it was optional on his part. I'll bet it was one of those all too common situations where your boss virtually says, "This isn't working out. We're giving you a chance to leave gracefully, before we have to take measures."

      Delete
  7. I've been reading that Noah has been a real jerk outside of his fan rants and basically TGWTG guys couldn't take his crap anymore. Whether this is actually true or not though is irrelevant because 1. If it were true then how TGWTG handled getting rid of him was terribly done. Why ban him for a month (seemingly over that comment) and not give him warnings, or give him some boundaries? In this respect it sounds a lot like how I was let go of my last job. They just built up this file of all this stuff they didn't like about me, never conveyed that to me and just let me go out of the blue. In a GOOD employment you work out the kinks first until those options are exhausted. So if it IS true that he's been a jerk behind the scenes it also doubles that TGWTG also doesn't know how to properly handle what they perceive as problem employees. And if it's not true, then yes, it's even worse as this blog spelled out which is he was essentially let go over twitter comments and fan bashing (which he's always done anyway).

    ReplyDelete
  8. Spoony was not fired for one joke nor for harassing fans. He was fired for continuing with the problem after it had become a public fiasco and after the administration had asked him to back off; the reason this warrants firing is not punitive, but pragmatic. Employees unwilling to do what their employers ask them become a long-run PR liability.

    In short, Spoony was fired for being bad at show-business politics. While such politics is unfortunate, it's the reality realistic people have to deal with.

    ReplyDelete