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Re: [OM] On criticism and book reviews

Subject: Re: [OM] On criticism and book reviews
From: Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:53:48 -0500
Easy. Don't write a traditional review. Note the book's author,  
contents and availability, ask people to buy it through your amazon  
link, and move on. I don't mean this in a personal sense, nor is it  
intended as an insult, but the only people who give a rat's arse what  
you think of the book are your friends, real and imaginary, and  
people who don't know how to make up their own minds. The latter  
would be better served by an article exhorting them to learn how to  
make up their minds. I can't tell you how many wealthy people I've  
met who don't have a effing clue as to what good art is, but who  
spend tons of money on art because someone told them it was good/hot/ 
desirable/a good investment. They really didn't know what to think.  
So they paid others to think for them. Some of these folks pick their  
books and music the same way. They read The New York Times to  
determine their own tastes.

Gag me with an effing front-end loader.

Critical comment is to be taken with minute grains of salt. It's  
slightly above pure noise on the scale of crap we have to put up with  
in our lives every day. The only thing I ever heard that made in  
sense as far as critics go is that when one reads the same critic  
often enough, one learns how to judge one's own probable reaction to  
an exhibit, film, piece of music, etc. For me this has been mostly a  
negative process for the past 10 years or so. My belief is that most  
critics have their heads so far up their butts they can brush their  
teeth from the inside. (I didn't steal that here, did I? <g>) So if  
Hortense Snotbuttocks of "The Times" believes a novel is "richly  
rewarding," I know it's feces between hard covers. That said, one of  
my favorite pieces of criticism ever (see, a little hypocrisy never  
hurt anyone) is when Stephen King wrote about a book just released by  
a current "hot literary sage," and called it a "fingernail paring."  
Probably, I liked his comment so much because I agreed with it. I had  
just finished reading the book myself and had debated whether to take  
it outside and urinate on it before heaving it down a storm drain--or  
better yet, sending it back to the author in care of his publisher.

If you try to point out the elephant in the room, all you're doing is  
telling us you see an elephant in the room. It may or may not be  
there. We may or may not see it. Even if it is there, we may not  
care. We also may not be impressed that you saw it and chose to write  
about it--unless we're one of those poor souls mention above who  
don't know how to make up their own minds.

As you can tell, I don't think much of reviews. At least not on  
things so subjective as image making, writing, film, etc. I seldom  
read them, and when I do I do it privately, and I wash my hands and  
use cleansing eye-drops afterwards. There are lots of ways of calling  
attention to work you either admire or loath without playing critic.

But that's my very own extremely jaded 2 cents worth.

--Bob Whitmire
www.bwp33.com

On Feb 23, 2009, at 10:58 AM, Ken Norton wrote:

> I'm very impressed with the pictures in the book and the writing.   
> It's a
> book that I'd recommend, but how do I acknowledge the elephant in  
> the room
> without opening up a huge world of hurt?  Certain individuals have  
> achieved
> "god status" and a critic of the book would probably be criticized  
> as being
> a hack photographer in comparison.  I'm definitely a hack in  
> comparison, but
> I know when something isn't quite "right".

-- 
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