Whither Faraci?
I’d love to know the real story why Devin Faraci is departing CHUD as of this Friday. The Scott Pilgrim-adoring columnist is a major geek brand, as far as it goes. It seems odd that he and owner Nick Nunziata would part ways. Faraci announced his departure this afternoon, adding that he’s part of “an exciting new venture that launches this fall, which will offer lots of interesting partnership possibilities, both online and in the real world. I’ll be able to share more details in a couple of weeks.”
Wherever he goes I’m sure he’ll take his lazy use of asterisks and fanbase baiting, nigh pathological disdain for certain properties.
My first thought was Knowles’s Monster mag that he just bought. Launching October 1st, will be online then move to print… I’m not sure i can see Harry and Devin working together, but it does fit the parameters above.
“I think LexG is a really pathetic loser and that the people who give him all this attention will be partially responsible when he finally kills himself.”
– The wit and wisdom of Devin Faraci.
http://twitter.com/devincf/statuses/21597851228
That in mind, I hope the “exciting new venture” is an “interesting partnership” between Weight Watchers and plastic surgery, or between the unemployment line and a fucking janitor job.
“both online and in the real world.”
Online is the real world now. What could he possibly mean…print? Because that’s going so well.
more nerd stuff from a nerd. who cares?
Speaking of nerds, I gotta honor Deezee and mention that Satoshi Kon – creator of Inception and other classics – died WAY too young yesterday. Total bummer.
He’ll be busy writing the screenplay for Scott Pilgrim, the Squeakwel..
“more nerd stuff from a nerd. who cares?”
To the outside world the guy who obsesses over the contents of a criterion blu-ray is just as nerdy as the guy who waits in line 5 hours for the Iron Man panel at comicon. I’m sure that they get laid about the same. One just happens to have better taste.
Although I disagree with some of Devins positions (like his misguided Scott Pilgrim praise), he’s a thoughtful and articulate writer. I’m sure he’ll be fine.
The bigger question is what happens to CHUD without Devin?? The only other writer on the site worth anything is Nunziata, and he probably writes more on Twitter about cigars than he writes on that site about movies. Without Devin, CHUD essentially becomes AICN: a lazy dinosaur coasting on past glories/links.
Curious- What is a guy like Devon worth? How do these web site writers get paid? guys like him, Peter over at Slash and Alex at First Showing. Do they make an OK living, a good one or a very good one?
Im really curious about this is anyone wants to chime in.
Faraci is a dreadful person, as Lex points out. His recent attack on Wells for not liking Scott Pilgrim showed his true colours, too. Calling him an old man with papery skin and wispy hair, that sort of shit. He pretends he’s this gifted writer and an intellectual titan within the geek world, but he’s as base and unpleasant as the rest of them. A real smug sense of superiority and a bullying, holier-than-thou attitude towards his readers and other critics.
That said, his leaving is a huge blow to CHUD because he’s one of the few geek writers with a decent work ethic. Look at AICN – a writing staff of about eight or nine contributors, and they best they can muster is three day-old links to Latino Review.
Nick Nunziata is a loon with the attention span of a gnat. Hilariously takes on doomed projects with comical frequency, so without Devin captaining the ship I’m sure it’ll degenerate. They do have a popular forum, though, which always helps.
“Honestly, I’d rather just see the guy get some help. He’s a tragic mess, and I don’t understand why so many people enable him. “
Devin’s latest wisdom re: Lex. What a jackass. “Enable him”? Fuck off, this isn’t Celebrity Rehab. What a turd.
He should take a look in the mirror before labelling someone a “tragic mess”. Or just closely observe the obvious disdain in the eyes of the G4 hotties when he and McWee stink up the studio in their grimy-ass Tron t-shirts and black overshirt.
Though I don’t always agree with him, I am a fan of Faraci’s advocacy of obscure exploitation films and the other things he obsesses over. He’s not a geek who would ever claim to be watching an Ophuls film when some sleaze-core flick just arrived from Netflix.
The answer to the Chud question is that it will probably go away. Nunziata has been checked out on that site for years except to berate its users for not supporting the site financially while continuing to flog a movie he has a tenuous attachment to through a gifted “associate producer” credit. Like him or not, Devin is the brand that brought the readership, not Chud.
Nunziata’s involvement in the giant shark movie that never was, ‘Meg,’ was pure internet comedy gold.
Who the hell is going to do their reviews now? Lex if there’s a wedge and he’s leaving on bad terms, you should definitely apply.
Devin who?
Funniest thing about Nunziata? His multitude of criminally average garage bands and the angry and/or pleading MB threads he starts when he realizes people are ignoring that week’s new release.
Devin can show his ass on that site from time to time, but once he gets away from his bipolar editor maybe it will mellow him out.
Eloi, thanks for the update. Truthfully, though, I don’t really read Faraci and never had an especially bad opinion on the guy… Not even sure why I’d be on his radar, ask the extent of any jabs on my end has been inquiring if he gets laid, dumb low-rent stuff like that. I’m fairly indifferent to him and his Dr. Drew level advice, and after last week’s IDIOCY on my end, I’m not itching to spar with another movie critic who’s doing a hell of a lot better than I am…
But what TOTALLY pisses me off is whoever’s egging Faraci on to get into a “flame war” with me, who apparently thinks I wouldn’t hold my own in such a moronic contest. And who apparently thinks the possessive form of “Wells’s/Wells” is spelled WELL’S. Nice education.
Knowles would actually be wise to hire Faraci. At least he’d update the site once in a while.
What does Mr. Beaks do for a living? He was hired back from CHUD to much fanfare, but he probably posts an article once a month or so. I just don’t understand how any of those guys earn a living wage, apart from Knowles.
What do ANY of those guys do for a living?
I’ve puzzled over that here and elsewhere dozens and dozens of times. It’s not my or any of our business how workaday film bloggers and freelance writers pay the bills… But LA costs a fucking fortune. Yet I follow two dozen of the usual suspects on Twitter, and their average day seems to consist of… sitting around the house watching DVDs, interrupted only by the occasional critics’ screening or celeb interview.
I live in the same goddamn city, and if I don’t make 200-300 dollars a day five days a week, I don’t eat, I don’t keep a roof over my head, I don’t keep credit card companies at bay. I can’t IMAGINE a couple short pieces for movie sites a week, if that, plus a freelance review that pays 150 bucks TOPS would get you a studio apartment in rural Wisconsin, let alone a one-bedroom in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Sites like AICN and CHUD have time on their side; they were in the game early, garnered tons of links, and have grandfathered themselves into high traffic numbers. One little ad can bring thousands of dollars a week. Perez Hilton charges around $10,000 a week for one ad on his site. You can see how that adds up.
I’m more confounded by a relatively new site like FirstShowing, which is horribly written and blander than Michael Cera’s face, yet manages to pay an idiot like Billington a living wage. Truly bewildering.
FirstShowing is bizarre indeed. It makes ThePlaylist’s existence on Blogspot seem even more strange. Why, if First Showing can attract massive banner ads, does the Playlist not shift from that grimy-ass free blogger software? It’s johnny-on-the-spot with the updates, and even has the occasional exclusive.
You guys think FirstShowing is hiring?
I’m actually half-seriously asking, despite the unlikelihood given how much Faraci dislikes me (same goes for Knowles and AICN)… WOULD those sites pay if I tried contributing stuff?
And… how do they do that with a 1099 and shit? Like when Poland throws a few bucks at one of his writers, or Cinematical, etc… Do you guys really trust sending your SSN and personal info over email to the head of a movie web site? Not saying any of those guys are shady, but I imagine they’re totally disorganized and I couldn’t imagine anyone wanting their personal info just floating around to such a casual, startup Internet operation
Yeah, I was never a very big Faraci supporter, so my thoughts basically lie with Eloi on this one. Devin’s legacy appears to be his unintentionally hilarious take on the frozen White Castle burgers. Just because I can’t stand the thought of someone else not partaking in my amusement:
http://www.chud.com/articles/blogs/210/We-Are-Going-To-Blog-You-Frozen-White-Castle-Burgers.html
But, I have to admit…his departure from CHUD is a pretty big blow to that site and leaves it in a state of limbo. The guy could write every once in awhile (his take on Inception last month was both thoughtful and genuine; it was some of his best work on that site, ever).
Teaming Knowles and Faraci probably seems like a good idea on paper, but that’s most likely going to be a case study in Clash of the Egos…I’d be pretty shocked if it lasted even a year.
The irony of all this is that if they just retreated to their respective corners (i.e. AICN and CHUD), I think everyone would be better off.
Actually I’ll cut straight to the middle man:
Hey, Gabe Toro, just send me a couple hundred bucks and I’ll ghost-write your column for a week to make it actually interesting and funny. You’ll probably get a promotion and a shitload of job offers out of it.
Circumvrent: “My first thought was Knowles’s Monster mag that he just bought. Launching October 1st, will be online then move to print…”
Don’t know about Faraci’s involvement in the website, if any, but just to clear up the facts: Harry Knowles didn’t buy FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, it’s owned and published quarterly by Philip Kim. The magazine made its debut this summer(The next print issue–#252– comes out October 21). The Editor in chief is Michael Heisler. BUT, Knowles IS now the editor of the website, which gets a face lift and deep overhaul and goes live in early October of this year. Knowles is looking for the new website to launch in tandem with Fantastic Fest in Austin.
Jesus Fucking Christ, Jeff! This is the 2nd thread in a row that has this obnoxious fucking boot spam that takes up a hundred lines. Can we not STOP this fucking twat? At least DZ’s bullshit links were movie related.
That said, Devin Faraci is a decent writer who just cannot STAND for anyone to dare disagree with his take on anything. Which is something a great many commenters tend to lash out against (I’m looking at you, Jaysmack and LexG…even though I love ya) I guess the main difference is that they are just commenters and he’s a paid writer for the site. It’s funny though, because I lost all respect for the guy when he spent a month trashing Avatar non-stop on CHUD…I mean he couldn’t write a review of Alvin and the Chipmunks without it turning into a diatribe about Avatar and the fucking morons that actually liked it that went on five times longer than the review he was writing, and then went on Attack of the Show on G4 and just giggled and laughed and could NOT for a thousand dollars tell you why he didn’t like it except that it had too much cgi and they looked like smurfs in space…giggle giggle. That is NOT a review Devin, that is a 14 years old bitch fest. Good riddance to bad trash.
I read CHUD Everyday and I’d always read everything Faraci wrote. Of course I didn’t agree with everything he wrote but I understand his voice and he works. Every couple hours there is a new piece.
This is a major blow to CHUD. I can’t rip Nunziata for his producing adventures. I admire that he’s giving it a shot.
PETITION:
LexG should replace Faraci
MAKE IT HAPPEN.
Sorry, Lex, but I doubt there’s going to be a Devin replacement. Nick’s been jealous of Devin’s popularity for awhile and this is the moment where he will reassert his personality over Chud until of course something else catches his eye and he starts to fade again. As he’s saying that he hopes to make it more of a team approach than personality-based, there won’t be a Devin to pick up the slack this go-round. This is a man remember who has chased away every contributor worth their salt from the premises over the years. It’s going to be the Nick Show until he finally makes good on his most often threatened action over the years and closes it down for good.
A lot of you guys waste your talents on Wells message boards. You shouldn’t. If you get my drift. You know where to find me.
I dont remember what it was I called him out on but man, Faraci had a pretty short fuse and blocked me on Twitter. He’s damn good at stirring up a hornet’s nest and I usually enjoy it but for someone who tries to create controversy should really have thicker skin.
I dont remember what it was I called him out on but man, Faraci had a pretty short fuse and blocked me on Twitter. He’s damn good at stirring up a hornet’s nest and I usually enjoy it but for someone who tries to create controversy should really have thicker skin.
BMasterson: I’m not sure what your relation is to CHUD, but my year-long experience there as a contributer doesn’t reflect your snarky observances of the “Jealous Nick Show” in the least. As it turns out, Nick didn’t “chase” people off and consistently defended Devin while giving heaps of freedom to CHUD’s stable of writers. More often than not, life simply happened.