The unfortunate thing about the internet is that, if you're the reader, you're at the whim of a bunch of cyber geeks and their computers, led to believe every word that they type and print. Although, in some cases, it's not very unfortunate being that the internet has expanded the possibilities of conveying messages quickly and to large numbers. Star Wars websites have replaced Star Wars magazines for news sources showing that the 'net can and will be used by many as a first line of being able to keep up to date.

But, unfortunately it can be destructive and at times embarassing.

This past month, Ghostbusters HQ was proudly promoting what we called the "Ghostbusters HQ Sponsored Event at the Rialto Theater," but words are very powerful as you quickly learn when dealing with the beast known as the internet and without a second thought, I went along with Ghostbusters HQ Contributing Editor Brandon Keleyla in saying that indeed, the midnight showing was a GBHQ "sponsored" event.

Remember, at times it can be destructive and embarassing.

It seems that, in fact, the word that was being searched for was "endorsed" meaning that Ghostbusters HQ ran it through the drudges and gave it the A.O.K. stamp of approval, where sponsored, rooting from sponsorship would have meant that GBHQ pulled a Nike and invested money in the showing of the film. And unfortunately, this miscommunication between myself and Brandon caused a few heads to turn, and a few people to take offense.

And, regretably, a good friend to think twice about me.

Unfortunately, I wasn't at the showing to oversee things, and to help out so I have no room to talk but from my point of view the largest mistake made was that it was sloppily put together. Though it was for a good cause and many people had fun, the complaint that I heard the most was that it just was poorly planned. The "pre-show" right down to the showing itself.

Also something that I wish to address, and yes, I've talked to Paul personally on this, is Doreen (Ghostbusters Fan Forum)'s review of the night of the Rialto:

"I scanned one of the autographed 8x10s Robin signed for me, outside the theater before the event, in 3 sizes: small, big and HUGE! Ê I got one for Nora and I (Why I never thought to do this before on other occasions we've spent with Robin is beyond me!), and one for Paul Rudoff, who I feel was badly abused on a certain message board the other night, even called a "saboteur," simply because Nora called the Rialto to get some details and ask if we could videotape Robin for her site. Ê We were only repeating what the theater manager told us: "No midnight screenings are EVER sponsored." Ê It wasn't Paul that blew things out of proportion and then wouldn't let it die, either. For all you do for this community Paul, you deserve so much better, and I want you to know that while she signed your pic, Robin said she's certain you were not trying to "sabotage" anything. Ê

Personally, I think that your accusers even thinking that a simple phone call to ask for details is harmful *in any way,* especially when they were supposed to be trying to promote the event, is more than a little odd.

The Movie Still Kicked Ghost-butt: Ê The biggest downfall was that even after finally establishing contact with someone who told me we could tape Robin and the preshow in the street, suddenly the preshow was moved inside the hot, smelly, unair-conditioned theater, forcing us to leave our cameras in the car, as per the Rialto's policy ... A policy that was broken by other people there. Ê It was an inconvenience, to all in attendance, when so much ado made the movie start nearly 1/2 an hour late ... I sure hope poor Robin got *some* sleep before she had to get up for work at 4:30 AM! Ê As for me, I've been having a hankering for some s'mores since we got home."

Again, I feel embarassed as though all this was taking place in my absence (I was in the Cook Islands filming a movie), Brandon was acting as an ambassador of the film and things were blown completely out of proportion. Paul, who is a good friend of mine was concerned with that earlier misnomer of a tag that I spoke about and called the theater's manager to see just exactly what Ghostbusters HQ had done to sponsor the event (as well as for purposes which Doreen mentioned).

The way that I see it, my collegue Brandon took Paul's actions to be an act of jealousy and became upset with the actions. And by the time I had heard about it, I was getting ready to leave the country again and didn't have time to do much about it.

Future journalists, please take note all this over one wrongly placed adjective.

So anyway, this is not to set the tone for my columns- none of 'em will be like this after this one I just feel like I need to set the record straight. Especially since this event was also publicized in the Los Angeles Times (which, unfortunately my location didn't allow me to see the issue).

Paul, I apologize for all the trouble that this has caused or for anything that I or any of my fellow GBHQ writers may have said to offend you. I always here "well, you've gotta break some eggs to make an omlette" but that's not true. None of this is worth risking our friendship over, let alone the relations and the reputation of this website and others. Doreen, I also apologize for you having to be involved in any of this- I for one did not take any offense or think any of your actions harmful in any way, I just wanted everyone out there in Southern Cal to have fun even though I had nothing to do with it and wish I had.

For all those that responded to those messages that I have carefully read on the message boards which also may have been slanderous toward Paul or any fellow Ghostheads let me make one thing perfectly clear, there is no competition Ghostbusters webmasters such as Paul, Chad, Bill, Castewar and myself have always remained close knit. Paul is not secretly plotting espionage to destroy anyone's websites as much as I'm plotting to steal ideas from Chad's hard drive in the middle of the night. Each of our websites has its pluses and its minuses, and the great thing is that each of us strives to correct and better those minuses. So the name calling, the mudslinging, and all the Jerry Springeresque nonsense needs to stop, it's not benefiting the fan community at all. I received "reviews" of the event referring to certain people as "goobers", and "childish brats." Come on guys, let's remember what this was really all about, the movie.

The way I look at it, we were fortunate if not privilaged to even HAVE a midnight showing of Ghostbusters at any given time here in the country considering just how much it costs to rent a print of the film we've all come to know and love.

For those yelling obsenities in the crowd that night, get a life. Because unlike certain fan based communities, we have one. Ghostbusters isn't the bible, it's not a way of life, it's just a film that we all grew up on, laughed dozens of times with and have followed ever since. It is after all, just a movie. I don't run this website in the hopes that someday we'll boldly be going where no man has gone before and fighting Klingons, I run this website to remind people about a comedic masterpiece.

And I certainly don't run it to stress out over petty and usless mudslinging- I've said before that I won't tolerate it and I'm sticking to it. I hope that lessons have been learned and life as we know it can proceed as regularly scheduled. Agree with me? Disagree? Poetically moved? I'd like to hear from ya, my e-mail's always open.

- Troy (images courtesy Doreen's Fan Forum and Brandon Keleyla)