The Dissolve is no more.
July 8, 2015 6:47 AM Subscribe
The End..because of the various challenges inherent in launching a freestanding website in a crowded publishing environment, financial and otherwise, today is the last day we will be doing that.
Noooooo!
posted by JimBennett at 6:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by JimBennett at 6:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
What? No! Why! What!
posted by shakespeherian at 6:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by shakespeherian at 6:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
i had a feeling when they laid off rabin earlier this year that they were in serious trouble financially. i had no idea the hammer would drop this soon, though. the extremely short notice of this makes me wonder what kind of weird back door stuff was going on. i hope pitchfork didn't just lay them all off like, yesterday.
the dissolve was wonderful. i've been following these writers since the av club, and now that the onion has ruined that site i am at a loss for where to read intelligent film criticism on the internet. the comments there were wonderful as well.
i would happily pay them $15 a month to continue making this content, i'm sure others would too. i hope they look into patreon or kickstarter for a follow up. relying on advertisers for a site like this was never going to work in this day and age, as sad as that is.
posted by JimBennett at 6:57 AM on July 8, 2015 [11 favorites]
the dissolve was wonderful. i've been following these writers since the av club, and now that the onion has ruined that site i am at a loss for where to read intelligent film criticism on the internet. the comments there were wonderful as well.
i would happily pay them $15 a month to continue making this content, i'm sure others would too. i hope they look into patreon or kickstarter for a follow up. relying on advertisers for a site like this was never going to work in this day and age, as sad as that is.
posted by JimBennett at 6:57 AM on July 8, 2015 [11 favorites]
After the great avclub exodus to Dissolve I thought that it would be too good to be true. A site with great writing and minimal clickbait seems like an impossibility these days. A sad say for film geeks.
posted by boubelium at 7:06 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by boubelium at 7:06 AM on July 8, 2015
Aw man...
If they can't do it then it makes me wonder who the fuck can.
posted by Artw at 7:07 AM on July 8, 2015 [13 favorites]
If they can't do it then it makes me wonder who the fuck can.
posted by Artw at 7:07 AM on July 8, 2015 [13 favorites]
I'd been getting by in a post-AVC world with Todd VanDerWerff at Vox for TV and The Dissolve for film. This is a tremendous loss for film buffs. The comments there, from staff and reader alike, rivaled the blue for quality and intelligence.
.
posted by enjoymoreradio at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
.
posted by enjoymoreradio at 7:08 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Aw man. They were my go-to for determining if I wanted to see a film that I was on the fence about. Well what did The Dissolve think? Oh they liked it? Excellent let's go.
posted by Aznable at 7:12 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Aznable at 7:12 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is depressing. And badly handled to boot. They stopped updating in the middle of the day yesterday with no explanation and then put up the goodbye post earlier today. Even their Movie of the Week segment (this week's pick was "Grizzly Man") had only published one of their traditional three posts. Why the hell couldn't Pitchfork (or whomever) just let them finish the damn week?
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:14 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 7:14 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
A damn shame. I hope they can find a way to keep the band together.
posted by Iridic at 7:15 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by Iridic at 7:15 AM on July 8, 2015
I understand the concept behind it, but covering TV in addition to film would have given people a reason to visit more than once in a while when they want to know what to see. Considering my film-viewing habits are split between what can be timeshifted from cable and torrents (most of the time, not-so-recent stuff on either case), I forgot about The Dissolve maybe a month after it debuted, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
posted by lmfsilva at 7:20 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by lmfsilva at 7:20 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
This sucks pretty hard; I've been talking to Twitter pals all morning about the shitty ins and outs. It galls me that a site devoted to appreciating movies from the point of view of thoughtful adulthood can't make it, apparently because they didn't write in all caps in Hulk English.
Also, my understanding is that The Dissolve was formed after Phipps & Co left the AV Club in a dispute over overreliance on TV recaps. Since the ubiquity of seeing every fucking second of televised content recapped all over the internet drives me nuts, it's hard not to read this as proof that you can't make an internet culture site work without suckling at the TV recap nozzle. Which, boo.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 7:24 AM on July 8, 2015 [13 favorites]
Also, my understanding is that The Dissolve was formed after Phipps & Co left the AV Club in a dispute over overreliance on TV recaps. Since the ubiquity of seeing every fucking second of televised content recapped all over the internet drives me nuts, it's hard not to read this as proof that you can't make an internet culture site work without suckling at the TV recap nozzle. Which, boo.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 7:24 AM on July 8, 2015 [13 favorites]
you can't make an internet culture site work without suckling at the TV recap nozzle.
[FanFare tugs collar, glances at audience]
posted by Iridic at 7:31 AM on July 8, 2015 [21 favorites]
[FanFare tugs collar, glances at audience]
posted by Iridic at 7:31 AM on July 8, 2015 [21 favorites]
I followed them on twitter, so got updates with new content all the time. By which I mean, I didn't just go to them for ideas when I was looking for a movie to see. I don't actually see all that many movies, at least not when they come out, so I liked it when they looked at older movies. Also, I really enjoy reading about movies, even ones I'm not likely to see. So, for instance, I really enjoyed their article yesterday about female sexuality and the new Magic Mike movie. I'll really miss the site.
posted by not that girl at 7:34 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by not that girl at 7:34 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is a real shame, especially as the AVC slides further into endless relinks of content hosted elsewhere and hastily written and poorly copy-edited tv recaps. The Dissolve commentariat were extremely knowledgeable about film, and seemed really close and largely drama-free.
Personally, I would blame navigation problems and extremely poor formatting as being a big barrier to get into the Dissolve, but realistically that's just my pet peeve with the current web aesthetic.
posted by Think_Long at 7:35 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
Personally, I would blame navigation problems and extremely poor formatting as being a big barrier to get into the Dissolve, but realistically that's just my pet peeve with the current web aesthetic.
posted by Think_Long at 7:35 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
Dang that was a really good site :C
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 7:36 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 7:36 AM on July 8, 2015
.
Darn, The Dissolve was my favorite place on the web for film commentary. Very sad now.
posted by octothorpe at 7:36 AM on July 8, 2015
Darn, The Dissolve was my favorite place on the web for film commentary. Very sad now.
posted by octothorpe at 7:36 AM on July 8, 2015
Broadly speaking, I wonder if the Dissolve's failure could be a casualty of the shitty state of modern, commerical film-making. Television commentary thrives in the so-called "golden" age of tv, yet film commentary seems to stutter in the age of endless film sequels and remakes.
posted by Think_Long at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Think_Long at 7:39 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Personally, I would blame navigation problems and extremely poor formatting as being a big barrier to get into the Dissolve, but realistically that's just my pet peeve with the current web aesthetic.
I didn't spend much time there, because I never felt sure I was actually able to locate more than like 10% of the content.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:40 AM on July 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
I didn't spend much time there, because I never felt sure I was actually able to locate more than like 10% of the content.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:40 AM on July 8, 2015 [9 favorites]
I'm not super sad to see it go. While it was easily the best film reviewing website running, I had a whole lot of problems with it. First and foremost was the comment section. I did not find their comment sections as worthwhile as others here, and would have vastly preferred it if Pitchfork had mandated their No Comments policy here as well.
They were the best going, but I'm hopeful that whoever tried to take their place will be even better.
posted by dogwalker at 7:49 AM on July 8, 2015
They were the best going, but I'm hopeful that whoever tried to take their place will be even better.
posted by dogwalker at 7:49 AM on July 8, 2015
What didn't you like about their comments section? I thought they were, generally speaking, pretty refreshingly up to speed on gender and racial issues, so the discussions tended to be a bit more evolved in my limited experience - I never actually participated.
posted by Think_Long at 7:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Think_Long at 7:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
It had stopped updating when Rabin got laid off, but I am in mourning for Forgotbusters.
posted by Jeanne at 7:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Jeanne at 7:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
i am at a loss for where to read intelligent film criticism on the internet.
Nowhere, basically.
posted by blucevalo at 7:56 AM on July 8, 2015
Nowhere, basically.
posted by blucevalo at 7:56 AM on July 8, 2015
Letterboxd is a decent place for intelligent discussion of film, provided you're connected with the right people. I'll be following as much of the Dissolve staff there as I can.
posted by naju at 8:00 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by naju at 8:00 AM on July 8, 2015
I'm finding it odd, this rush of people on a few sites I follow reacting to this by saying "Oh, I hope they start their own site now, I'll pay a monthly subscription!"
And my immediate reaction is "Well, we call that a magazine, and all industry experience and market research to date says that no, no you wouldn't."
The notion of "film critic" as a profession doesn't make sense anymore. Either pursue it as a deeply-loved hobby, or broaden the scope and admit that such criticism only works in a context with television, comic books, music, Youtube, and yes, celebrity gossip and reality shows. You know, like exactly what the AV Club is doing....
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:01 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
And my immediate reaction is "Well, we call that a magazine, and all industry experience and market research to date says that no, no you wouldn't."
The notion of "film critic" as a profession doesn't make sense anymore. Either pursue it as a deeply-loved hobby, or broaden the scope and admit that such criticism only works in a context with television, comic books, music, Youtube, and yes, celebrity gossip and reality shows. You know, like exactly what the AV Club is doing....
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:01 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
What didn't you like about their comments section?
There's a lot I didn't like, but here's an example for The Overnight, which is the last movie I saw (this past weekend). It's not exactly the height of film discussion, only one comment really shows that the person making it actually saw the movie being reviewed, and it got a shitty reply. It's just people talking about whether they want to see the movie or not and the actors' other projects. With I guess some snarky jokes? Sure, it's absolutely better than the vast majority of web comment sections, but I don't find it worthwhile enough to justify its existence. (Obviously, I'm talking about 1 page on their whole site, but it's a fairly accurate representation of my larger experience. Not unpleasant, but ultimately worthless.)
posted by dogwalker at 8:06 AM on July 8, 2015
There's a lot I didn't like, but here's an example for The Overnight, which is the last movie I saw (this past weekend). It's not exactly the height of film discussion, only one comment really shows that the person making it actually saw the movie being reviewed, and it got a shitty reply. It's just people talking about whether they want to see the movie or not and the actors' other projects. With I guess some snarky jokes? Sure, it's absolutely better than the vast majority of web comment sections, but I don't find it worthwhile enough to justify its existence. (Obviously, I'm talking about 1 page on their whole site, but it's a fairly accurate representation of my larger experience. Not unpleasant, but ultimately worthless.)
posted by dogwalker at 8:06 AM on July 8, 2015
i am at a loss for where to read intelligent film criticism on the internet.
There are some pretty great writers at rogerebert.com.
posted by octothorpe at 8:07 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are some pretty great writers at rogerebert.com.
posted by octothorpe at 8:07 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Can they just all get re-hired by the AV Club, and everyone pretend like there was no exodus?
posted by drezdn at 8:09 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by drezdn at 8:09 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
This makes me wonder if there's room for a totally different approach to running a site with this kind of content. Like, maybe something like the Dissolve could exist under the aegis of a large, well-funded art museum that considers film to be part of its brief (MoMA? The Walker in Minneapolis?). There'd still be revenue expectations, but they might not be as cutthroat; and the museum would see some significant gains in extending their audience beyond the typical art-museum member base. I dunno. Probably wouldn't work, but it's an interesting thought experiment.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2015 [15 favorites]
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:12 AM on July 8, 2015 [15 favorites]
.
I really liked the site, and I will miss it.
Other sites I'd recommend for their film coverage are The New Yorker (esp richard brody), Tiny Mix Tapes, and Slant.
posted by wyndham at 8:33 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
I really liked the site, and I will miss it.
Other sites I'd recommend for their film coverage are The New Yorker (esp richard brody), Tiny Mix Tapes, and Slant.
posted by wyndham at 8:33 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
^ That sounds an awful lot like public radio.
Which is to say, I'd totally support high-quality online journalists using that same model.
posted by schmod at 8:34 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Which is to say, I'd totally support high-quality online journalists using that same model.
posted by schmod at 8:34 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Like, maybe something like the Dissolve could exist under the aegis of a large, well-funded art museum that considers film to be part of its brief (MoMA? The Walker in Minneapolis?).
There actually is something almost exactly like that, called Reverse Shot which is partnered with the Museum of the Moving Image. Their content is typically pretty good, if focused on more esoteric pictures than The Dissolve, but maybe if they had a dozen more writers...
I'm really upset about the lose of The Dissolve, both because the lack of new content but also what it says for high quality film writing on the web. Our best minds go to figuring out better algorithms to serve ads, but figuring out how unusually good content can stay online seems to be impossible? Terribly sad.
posted by Schismatic at 8:39 AM on July 8, 2015 [15 favorites]
There actually is something almost exactly like that, called Reverse Shot which is partnered with the Museum of the Moving Image. Their content is typically pretty good, if focused on more esoteric pictures than The Dissolve, but maybe if they had a dozen more writers...
I'm really upset about the lose of The Dissolve, both because the lack of new content but also what it says for high quality film writing on the web. Our best minds go to figuring out better algorithms to serve ads, but figuring out how unusually good content can stay online seems to be impossible? Terribly sad.
posted by Schismatic at 8:39 AM on July 8, 2015 [15 favorites]
Had high hopes but just didn't see sharp enough criticism or other aspects that weren't being highlighted other places already.
posted by destro at 8:44 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by destro at 8:44 AM on July 8, 2015
I'm still a little in shock and desperately casting about for replacements. One critic I've really enjoyed over the past few months is Tim Brayton, whose blog Antagony & Ecstasy typically covers one film a day, either a current release, a classic film (typically on Sundays), a film requested via reader donation to his annual cancer research fundraiser, or part of a current ongoing project- right now he's writing the final year of his traditional "Summer of Blood," covering horror films that marked important turning points in the American film industry.
posted by Merzbau at 8:54 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Merzbau at 8:54 AM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm pretty bummed about this. They were the best place for film buffs on the web. I read them all the time. I will follow those writers elsewhere to wherever they go.
posted by vibrotronica at 8:55 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by vibrotronica at 8:55 AM on July 8, 2015
Whoa, Reverse Shot winds up being pretty decent. Huh, thanks for pointing me to it.
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:58 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by the phlegmatic king at 8:58 AM on July 8, 2015
A high profile website with quality, intelligent, well written content, commenting on other media, which is member supported with an annual fund-drive of sorts to supplement advertising and other revenues? That'd never work, would it? :)
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:00 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by TwoWordReview at 9:00 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
i had a feeling when they laid off rabin earlier this year that they were in serious trouble financially.
I had missed that -- I am on record as being not so much a Nathan Rabin fan -- but I did notice him freelancing at the AVClub recently and wondered what was up.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:01 AM on July 8, 2015
I had missed that -- I am on record as being not so much a Nathan Rabin fan -- but I did notice him freelancing at the AVClub recently and wondered what was up.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:01 AM on July 8, 2015
Well, I guess that's just one of many 2014 retrospectives they did, but it's charming.
posted by kenko at 9:19 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by kenko at 9:19 AM on July 8, 2015
Wow, I had no idea. Was just looking for something of theirs last night, couldn't find it and didn't investigate more to find out why. Damn. I agree their navigation was baffling. It will be interesting if we really are finally moving to the direct-reader-support model for this kind of thing.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:26 AM on July 8, 2015
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:26 AM on July 8, 2015
Why the hell couldn't Pitchfork (or whomever) just let them finish the damn week?
Especially since this Friday was their second anniversary...
posted by Ian A.T. at 9:27 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Especially since this Friday was their second anniversary...
posted by Ian A.T. at 9:27 AM on July 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ever "celebrate" an anniversary when you're on the verge of splitting up?
It ain't fun.
posted by the bricabrac man at 9:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
It ain't fun.
posted by the bricabrac man at 9:53 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Matt Zoller Seitz's tribute the The Dissolve.
posted by octothorpe at 10:08 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 10:08 AM on July 8, 2015 [5 favorites]
DAMMIT
posted by kyrademon at 10:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kyrademon at 10:52 AM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
It had stopped updating when Rabin got laid off, but I am in mourning for Forgotbusters.
Can they just all get re-hired by the AV Club, and everyone pretend like there was no exodus?
Rabin has already been doing some free-lance work for the AV Club (four pieces in the past two months), and in particular has revived the My World of Flops series: Mortdecai, I Wanna Marry "Harry".
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:05 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Can they just all get re-hired by the AV Club, and everyone pretend like there was no exodus?
Rabin has already been doing some free-lance work for the AV Club (four pieces in the past two months), and in particular has revived the My World of Flops series: Mortdecai, I Wanna Marry "Harry".
posted by Johnny Assay at 12:05 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
too bad; i really liked their section on 'essential' movies, kind of like an updated list of ebert's 'great movies'... i hope they keep it up in archive form?
posted by kliuless at 12:12 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kliuless at 12:12 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Goddammit.
posted by mr_roboto at 12:15 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by mr_roboto at 12:15 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Reverse Shot is indeed awesome, but updates way too infrequently to be considered a proper replacement. I'll especially miss the Dissolve's daily roundups of other quality film writing from elsewhere on the net.
posted by freem at 3:33 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by freem at 3:33 PM on July 8, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh no! I think I used to get several ideas per week about what to watch from the Dissolve, between their in-depth rewatches, and stuff like that 50 badass heroines roundup. But I had started to really wonder at how niche it might have been, 'cos lots of times I couldn't even find the stuff they were talking about, to watch. (I don't stream anything for complicated curmudgeonly/broke-ass reasons, so there's that)
I get that no, I probably won't fund a magazine or whatever, but it really does seem like there should be some kind of, I don't know, public arts funding for stuff like this?
I'll look at Reverse Shot again it- used to be so constantly and viciously contrarian that it just made me tired. That's what I liked about the Dissolve- it did some of that, but it split opinions enough with the AV club that I could usually average something useful out from it. And again, I wasn't generally reading it for HOT TAKES on whatever Marvel has out this week, I was reading it for depth of knowledge. You know, like the internet was supposed to be for?
posted by hap_hazard at 4:24 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
I get that no, I probably won't fund a magazine or whatever, but it really does seem like there should be some kind of, I don't know, public arts funding for stuff like this?
I'll look at Reverse Shot again it- used to be so constantly and viciously contrarian that it just made me tired. That's what I liked about the Dissolve- it did some of that, but it split opinions enough with the AV club that I could usually average something useful out from it. And again, I wasn't generally reading it for HOT TAKES on whatever Marvel has out this week, I was reading it for depth of knowledge. You know, like the internet was supposed to be for?
posted by hap_hazard at 4:24 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Oh bummer. I liked their Essential column. Although I admit I didn't get over there enough.
posted by Rashomon at 5:01 PM on July 8, 2015
posted by Rashomon at 5:01 PM on July 8, 2015
Although I admit I didn't get over there enough.
I was in an online conversation today where I admitted that I hadn't heard of The Dissolve at all, and that this wasn't the first writing/criticism site that I only learned about from its "goodbye" post. The problem of discovery -- and developing the muscle memory to get over to sites enough -- is as significant as for the media being covered.
posted by holgate at 8:56 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was in an online conversation today where I admitted that I hadn't heard of The Dissolve at all, and that this wasn't the first writing/criticism site that I only learned about from its "goodbye" post. The problem of discovery -- and developing the muscle memory to get over to sites enough -- is as significant as for the media being covered.
posted by holgate at 8:56 PM on July 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:-(
posted by barnacles at 10:00 PM on July 8, 2015
:-(
posted by barnacles at 10:00 PM on July 8, 2015
.
posted by On the Corner at 11:37 PM on July 8, 2015
posted by On the Corner at 11:37 PM on July 8, 2015
I'll especially miss the Dissolve's daily roundups of other quality film writing from elsewhere on the net.
Try David Hudson's Keyframe Daily.
posted by Awkward Philip at 5:53 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
Try David Hudson's Keyframe Daily.
posted by Awkward Philip at 5:53 AM on July 9, 2015 [1 favorite]
.
posted by Theta States at 9:54 AM on July 9, 2015
posted by Theta States at 9:54 AM on July 9, 2015
Editors Keith Phipps and Scott Tobias on the End of The Dissolve and the Future of Film Criticism
Yikes...
Is there a larger lesson in The Dissolve's fate? Or is there a danger in generalizing too much from your specific situation?
Tobias: The economics of digital publishing are not encouraging. We had so many advantages going into this: A core group of writers and editors who had great chemistry and had proven themselves as a team at The A.V. Club; a lean and truly independent company that had only published on the Internet and been successful doing so; and a great deal of support from the media world. We executed the site more or less exactly how we drew it up, and we fell short. Probably way short. Draw your own lessons from that.
posted by naju at 2:40 PM on July 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
Yikes...
Is there a larger lesson in The Dissolve's fate? Or is there a danger in generalizing too much from your specific situation?
Tobias: The economics of digital publishing are not encouraging. We had so many advantages going into this: A core group of writers and editors who had great chemistry and had proven themselves as a team at The A.V. Club; a lean and truly independent company that had only published on the Internet and been successful doing so; and a great deal of support from the media world. We executed the site more or less exactly how we drew it up, and we fell short. Probably way short. Draw your own lessons from that.
posted by naju at 2:40 PM on July 9, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Pitchfork did right by us from the moment we walked through the door to the moment we turned in our keys"
They hit this point--that we shouldn't be angry at Pitchfork, because they ended it the right way--so often that I have to believe it's more than just them not wanting to burn bridges, but if "fired abruptly in the middle of a weekday with no warning" is fair, I'd hate to see what unfair looks like.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:44 PM on July 9, 2015
They hit this point--that we shouldn't be angry at Pitchfork, because they ended it the right way--so often that I have to believe it's more than just them not wanting to burn bridges, but if "fired abruptly in the middle of a weekday with no warning" is fair, I'd hate to see what unfair looks like.
posted by Ian A.T. at 8:44 PM on July 9, 2015
"but if "fired abruptly in the middle of a weekday with no warning" is fair, I'd hate to see what unfair looks like"
Depends on what "abruptly" and "no warning" means. If they were told earlier this year by management that unless new funding appeared, The Dissolve bank account would be empty and operations would shut down immediately anytime this Summer, that seems average (ie, harsh) operations procedure. Unfair would be getting a call saying everything was fine in May and getting shut down almost immediately.
(also, I don't believe for one minute nobody on The Dissolve staff had access to the financials of the operation and didn't knew how close or far they were from reaching readership/ad/social media goals)
posted by lmfsilva at 6:13 AM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Depends on what "abruptly" and "no warning" means. If they were told earlier this year by management that unless new funding appeared, The Dissolve bank account would be empty and operations would shut down immediately anytime this Summer, that seems average (ie, harsh) operations procedure. Unfair would be getting a call saying everything was fine in May and getting shut down almost immediately.
(also, I don't believe for one minute nobody on The Dissolve staff had access to the financials of the operation and didn't knew how close or far they were from reaching readership/ad/social media goals)
posted by lmfsilva at 6:13 AM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
They are not so much replacements but I read David Bordwell and Cinephilia and Beyond
posted by juv3nal at 6:46 AM on July 10, 2015
posted by juv3nal at 6:46 AM on July 10, 2015
Personally, I would blame navigation problems and extremely poor formatting as being a big barrier to get into the Dissolve, but realistically that's just my pet peeve with the current web aesthetic.
Seconded. The site worked well on a desktop, but I had glitchy javascript issues on Android that prevented scrolling and proper layout. This was not Google Maps FFS, it was a collection of text essays.
posted by benzenedream at 12:21 PM on July 10, 2015
Seconded. The site worked well on a desktop, but I had glitchy javascript issues on Android that prevented scrolling and proper layout. This was not Google Maps FFS, it was a collection of text essays.
posted by benzenedream at 12:21 PM on July 10, 2015
I found the navigation problems minimal, and the excellent content more than made up for any minor clunkiness. The writers who made up the exodus from the AV Club to The Dissolve were what made the AV Club work for me in days past, and what made The Dissolve so insightful: Phipps, Robinson, Tobias and the rest were smart, loved films, and could communicate their enthusiasms clearly, and most importantly, seemed to know more about their topics than I did.
It makes me crazy when the anonymousauthors writers typers of clickbait listicles manifestly haven't the faintest idea about the movie they are taking about, or how movies are made in general. Just this morning I read something along the lines of The 6 Reasons Terminator:Genisys Sucked. One of the problems was apparently that the filmmakers had an Oscar-winning actor -- J.K. Simmons -- but put him in it for only fifteen minutes. Now, there is an excellent argument to be made that Simmons as a lot more screen presence than most of the cast of the movie, but the film in question finished shooting months before Whiplash was released and most of a year before Simmons won his Oscar. I guess "this really good actor had only a small role" is not a snappy subhead, but I am not sure that "the producers are not gifted with knowledge of the outcome of future awards shows" is a solid peg to hang your story on either.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:56 AM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
It makes me crazy when the anonymous
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:56 AM on July 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by cnanderson at 6:51 AM on July 8, 2015