Sometimes I wonder if there is any piont in reding ran dumb reviews on th internet. I men somtims they csn be reley bad. 4 relz. Mostly BEacuase... ok I can't do it anymore, it is just too hard. Seriously though, have you ever looked at the reviews on iTunes? Of the 400 best-album-ever's and the 100 or so this-thing-sucks there might be three or four that take an objective look at the album and actually know what they are talking about. Ironically, most of these are not even rated among the "most helpful" reviews. It is frustrating. I was, nevertheless, intrigued as I examined the website Goodreads. There certainly seems to be a higher-brow of reviewer contributing here. The majority assessments are lengthy, well-thought-out, and insightful. This as opposed to the everyone-take-a-side philosophy. Is this good or is this bad? That sort of judgement rarely has a legitimate place in the world of art. It just does not make sense to make such divisive statements of things for which why is so much more important than what. Thank you for delving deeper reviewers of Goodreads. Still, I am slightly wary of the site after looking over the list of "The Best Books Ever" as voted on by the general Goodreads community. Apparently, Hunger Games beat out Crime and Punishment, Leaves of Grass, and The Bible. Who would have thunk it? ...Lists are stupid anyway.
Friday, May 10, 2013
This post sucks
Sometimes I wonder if there is any piont in reding ran dumb reviews on th internet. I men somtims they csn be reley bad. 4 relz. Mostly BEacuase... ok I can't do it anymore, it is just too hard. Seriously though, have you ever looked at the reviews on iTunes? Of the 400 best-album-ever's and the 100 or so this-thing-sucks there might be three or four that take an objective look at the album and actually know what they are talking about. Ironically, most of these are not even rated among the "most helpful" reviews. It is frustrating. I was, nevertheless, intrigued as I examined the website Goodreads. There certainly seems to be a higher-brow of reviewer contributing here. The majority assessments are lengthy, well-thought-out, and insightful. This as opposed to the everyone-take-a-side philosophy. Is this good or is this bad? That sort of judgement rarely has a legitimate place in the world of art. It just does not make sense to make such divisive statements of things for which why is so much more important than what. Thank you for delving deeper reviewers of Goodreads. Still, I am slightly wary of the site after looking over the list of "The Best Books Ever" as voted on by the general Goodreads community. Apparently, Hunger Games beat out Crime and Punishment, Leaves of Grass, and The Bible. Who would have thunk it? ...Lists are stupid anyway.
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That was a funny YouTube video. I agree reviews can be pretty ridiculous and you do wonder if anyone knows how to spell anymore! Or maybe I just don't know the new lingo. I need to get involved on Goodreads so I can put my vote in for Crime and Punishment, Leaves of Grass, and The Bible! There is one consultation, at least Twilight didn't beat them out!
ReplyDeleteActually hunger games (book 1) was #1, harry potter (book 5?) was #2, and... yes the one and man-I wish-it-was-the-only twilight (book 1) was #3.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am not too surprised since realizing that the Goodreads audience is a younger one. But that makes me laugh that there was not a consolation after all!
DeleteGoodreads has a young audience, and YA novels tend to have rabid fans.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a wonderful resource, and what you said about higher-caliber reviews holds. I was able to get lots of balanced views on Junot Diaz's Oscar Wao which helped me better decide whether to read it.
Criticism (including reviews) invariably becomes part of the art. Sometimes I don't want to read a review before consuming media, because I don't want to be influenced ... but I rarely do?
You know, I was thinking the same thing when I was looking on Goodreads for books to read for my English 420 class. I found the reviews to be incredibly helpful, but I see Charly's point as well about the YA novels having rabid fans. You would have a lot of angry people on there if you were to be one of those "this book sucks" people commenting on Twilight.
DeleteThe thing that I found difficult, was almost all of the reviews on the books I was't so sure about we good reviews, even though I ended up hating the book. I think people only rave about favorites, so there isn't really a mix on there.
I think you make a very good point. Art should first be consumed before we formulate an opinion. There are so many people who say something is good or bad just because they read a review telling them what to think. This is why I would say the majority of reviews are worthles;)even harmful.
DeleteThis in response to Charly's post.
DeleteHaha so true, reviews can be pretty terrible sometimes.
ReplyDelete