There used to be a time when people just wanted to tell stories first and formost and used any old "crappy" tool just to tell them.
Nowadays the trend is you cant tell these stories without having something new technical to show. This is a problem with even big hollywood productions these days also.

We have become spoiled by the toys we can have but dont really appreciate them and want more and more.
Usually the best art comes from the ones who have little amount of toys.
Technology and technique needs to have a balance.

With those who are gear obsessed there is little time to make anything worthwhile because within a following year some new gear comes out that they must test. I can never figure out some tests. What are they testing for? To see if it works?? If It takes a image then it works!!
These people are not filmmakers or are swayed away (by toys) from being filmmakers.

Im going to use EOSHD (sorry Andrew) as a example.
He makes comparison videos,he makes slideshow videos. Gets a lot of praises for them.
He actually makes an attempt to make a short film (patsy)...it gets flak from some for "posterisation in the background" or "shooting with original sound" rather than just watching the film...giving construct crit on improving technique.
Even if the film wasnt great it was 100x better than a fucking shot of a bush or alleyway! (So make more films Andrew!!)

So has this what it comes to? Films (loads of online ones for free viewing) even by no budget are scrutinised by what gear/technology is being used BEFORE the content.
Its a bizzarre mentality.

Ive nearly completed my first film,unfortunately Im waiting for a colleage to travel over to record some audio and he cant make it till end of january. I was hoping to post it up here but it'll have to wait.
I cant say it'll be any good but one thing I can say is theres nothing quite like creating...from a personal idea to seeing it alive in front of you.
This is why I got into traditional animation years ago but have no spare time anymore (it needs a lot).

It used to be that as a independant filmmaker you have no one to answer to. No rules no limits on subjects, no rails. Yet a lot of folks are putting themselves on rails inprisonment to the gear.
Go out and shoot on nothing. Minimal crew. Good times!

Thanks for this thread Vitaliy.
I personally think you would appreciate someone making a FILM with your hack way more than the sheer amount of comparison/test crap.
Sometimes I wonder if the hacks are like a frankenstein monster for you in some users hands ;-)

There was a talk at TED a while back where a Guy said that you shouldn't share your great ideas with people until they are finished. Telling people about your project is much easier than actually working on anything yet it causes the brain to feel a sort of satisfaction and approval from others which further postpones the need to do actual work. I think "researching gear" does the same thing for many of us. Before I had easy internet access I helped my sister start a film club at her college. We bought a gl1 and a shotgun mic and an imac dv and went out and started making movies. We never spent any time at all worrying about our gear, just the script and finding actors.

Which brings me to the question of inspiration. How do you people look at inspiration?
Is it something that you wait for, in order to start something? Is it external? Stuff you experience?
Or is it the culmination of discipline? Just going through procedures and once you gain enough material something is created out of the discipline, and that is what inspires you. 8 hours of hard work, 15 minutes in the end of inspiration, sort of.

@jpbturbo
Exactly! Back then we were literally forced by the limitations to think about content. Now we have less limits and the content is lacking.
@oscillian
for me my inspiration growing up on films thanks to my parents being film nuts and I loved animation also. As a result I always wanted to make films but as being from a poor working class family resources were limited...Its easier for the higher class beleive me!
(used to work at a posh school,same one sam mendes went to and saw the film education resources/access freely available for students if they wanted a film career..bastards!!)
Me bitter? Nooo...Thats life I guess! haha

well, in that case get a hi8 for 50 bucks