Tennis Announcer 1: That’s 72 unforced errors for Richie Tenebaum. He’s playing the worst tennis of his life. What’s he feeling right now Tex Haywood??
Tennis Announcer 2: I don’t know, Jim. There’s obviously something wrong with him. He’s taken off his shoes and one of his socks and… actually, I think he’s crying.
The incredibly rapid way blogs work these days is obvious content overload. Tons of updates, updates, reports, rumors etc. Inevitably what happens is new outlets essentially making news: asking actors random questions and making headlines out of not much.
This fine, we know the drill, but the danger is something out of nothing being erroneously reported as news. Case in point, our pals at MTV asking Luke Wilson, rather silly-y, whether he would consider reprising his role as former tennis pro, Richie “The Baumer” Tenenbaum in a sequel to “The Royal Tenenbaums” Of course there are no plans to do this nor is their any sequel on the table, but dare to dream (Wes Anderson fortunately seems like the type who would never venture the thought).
Wilson thankfully shot down the question rather quickly and rather politely, but you can read between the lines.
“I don’t know if you can revisit any of those [characters],”Wilson said skeptically. “I would have no problem playing another [Wes Anderson] character again, [but] you wouldn’t want to ruin the goodwill you’ve created with another movie.”
But it doesn’t always work this way. Asked by MTV if he’d be game for an “Anchorman 2” sequel, Paul Rudd said he definitley would, but suggested if they were to do this, the filmmaker should up the ante and do something absurd like set the film “in space.”
This amusing and all, but rooted in no reality whatsoever, Rudd would likely have no say and wouldn’t write, but this doesn’t stop bloggers from re-reporting the story and asking “Will ‘Anchorman 2’ Be Set In Space???“
Yes, we should get a sense of humor and not take it all so seriously, it’s a light, fun story with no real merit, but this potential kind of misreporting can spin wildly out of control if the blogosphere catches on. What we’re appealing for is a small sense of proceed with caution: those that report and those that re-report. If you take the world at face value and simply regurge what anyone is saying, we’re all going to end up like hacks or the British Press and lord knows, that ain’t a good look.
This PSA was brought to you by the concerned parents for blogger/journalism responsibility and the Acme parents against silly driving. How’s my blogging? Call 1-888-STFU.