Listless
Not much to contribute today. I see that
the
rush to
wrap
up 2003 is on. I suppose these guys already have their
holiday shopping done, too. About the only thing that stirred
much of a reaction was
Steven
Grant's piece on criticism, particularly this passage:
As reviews editor at a music paper, I annoyed other
reviewers by banning the word "I" from reviews — one woman complained
"If I don't say 'I think' the readers won't know it's just my opinion,"
to which I commented, "Believe me, they will, and if they don't..."
[Insert shrug.]
I understand what he's getting at: Hopefully readers are
sophisticated enough to distinguish fact from opinion. But
sometimes reviewers write as though they're unaware of that distinction
themselves. As an example, here's
a recent
commentary from my local paper on
Rolling Stone's list of
the 500 greatest albums of all time:
In its list of the 500 best albums of all time, published
Friday, rock's old-guard fanzine gave top props to the Beatles' "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and a whole lot of other overrated
rock fossils.
The choice of "Sgt. Pepper's" -- followed by the Beach Boys' "Pet
Sounds," and then the actual best Beatles album, "Revolver" -- was
utterly predictable.
I had to stop there. Any reviewer who uses the phrase "actual
best" isn't worth my time. I'm all for strong opinions, but I
like them better when they're strongly supported, not just strongly
worded. Or to rephrase as though Steven Grant were editing
this: Strong opinions are great, but they're better when they're
strongly supported, not just strongly worded.
