Sunday, March 29, 2009 : 10:40pm
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Things I Hate, the first in a series

This is a blog series I've thought about writing for a while. One regarding personal pet peeves that always seem to bring the chagrin of others. This post is about all things I dislike, but other people seem to love. When certain subjects arise in conversation, they set off intense hate in me. And I struggle to grin and bear it.

First up on the list, and certainly no surprise, Quentin Tarantino. Like everyone else, I was once a big Tarantino fan. Loved Reservoir Dogs, thought Pulp Fiction was great.

That is, until I saw Ringo Lam's City on Fire. Lam's film was completely ripped off by Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs. Not just the plot, but entire scenes, chunks of dialogues and the complete film. I documented this travesty in a blog post I wrote twelve years ago.

When I caught City on Fire years ago in a packed rep house, the audience audibly gasped in scene after scene as the group collectively began to realize the extent of Tarantino's theft. It was shameless. For months afterwards, I would discover other films he had ripped off. Some of his more fervent fans would claim homage, but the level at which Tarantino would steal was far beyond tribute. It was wholesale plagiarism. Entire plotlines and stories from Pulp Fiction, some of the most quotable dialogues, all stolen from other, lesser known films.

I'll be having lunch with colleagues, when invariably the subject of Tarantino's genius comes up and my blood begins to boil. It never lasts long before I have to speak up and blast Tarantino for his crimes against cinema.

The guy is a straight up hack.

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Keywords: Ron Lim, creative director, associate creative director, art director, ATTIK, Spider-man, original art