John Gruber?s tweet last night reminded me I?d never written up a review for Room 237, the documentary about Stanley Kubrick?s The Shining. Gruber writes:
Broke down and watched ?Room 237?. It was bad. Really bad. Boring bad. Crazy people.
Just watch ?The Shining? again instead.
I agree. I watched it earlier this year and disliked the film so much, I didn?t even finish it, which is rare for me. As I hinted at on Twitter, I?m exposed to enough anti-vaccine, anti-evolution, anti-anthropogenic climate change, anti-science, and religious fundamentalist ?theories? in my day-to-day reading that are genuinely harmful to humanity that an examination of how the minds of conspiracy theory crackpots take the smallest little details and weave them into fantastical stories that make no sense is not how I want to spend my time.
As if to underscore my dislike of the film, the following arrived in my inbox shortly after I watched it.
To: Jason Kottke <[email protected]>
Prospective Story: Re: Stanley Kubrick?s ?The Shining?i?m not good at salesmanship so i?ll get right to the point. i?ve solved the mystery of room 237 in stanley kubrick?s ?the shining? i?m shopping this information to various media sources. here?s the deal:
*** the price is $13,000.00
*** i?m aware of the documentaries, the scholarly analyses and the terrabytes of web space dedicated to the topic
*** nobody has gottten it right
*** i guarantee satisfaction
*** there?s no risk. either you think the solution to the greatest cinematic mystery of all time is worth 13k or you don?t. all i require beforehand is a conditional agreement protecting me from ip theft
*** i remain anonymous. once the transaction is complete the information is yours. i don?t care who receives credit or what you do with it
it?s been over 30 years. this information should be public. YOU can be the first.
i look forward to your response
Putting on my tin foil hat for a minute, DONT YOU SHEEPLE UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS MEANS? That someone is watching what I?m watching! How did this person know I had just watched Room 237?! I bet it?s the NSA! Or something! They are watching for people with large audiences to plant lies about Kubrick to deflect attention away from the faked Moon landing! For some reason! THIS IS THE PROOF WEVE BEEN WAITING FOR!??
Yep: ?Really bad. Boring bad. Crazy people.?
