tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post411452292712726934..comments2024-03-06T01:12:50.627-08:00Comments on Dick Hyacinth's One-stop Hyphen Shop: The Harold Bloom of comics blogs?Dick Hyacinth's Ghosthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11199236541341734429noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-10548696647385452492010-04-30T13:43:56.170-07:002010-04-30T13:43:56.170-07:00this is not bet basketball said to beat up on Nine...this is not <a href="http://www.enterbet.com" rel="nofollow">bet basketball</a> said to beat up on Nineteen EightyFour, but to point out that we do not go on reading the book because Orwell possessed a large talent for prose fiction. He did not; <a href="http://www.enterbet.com" rel="nofollow">sportsbook</a> he was a moral and political essayist who had the instincts of a pamphleteer. A great pamphleteer, like Jonathan Swift, is a master of irony and satire. Here again, Orwell plainly is deficient. His literalness defeats his wit, such as it is, and his only ironic gift is as a good parodist of political slogans. <a href="http://www.enterbet.com" rel="nofollow">march madness</a> And yet Nineteen Eighty-Four survives and will have life whenever we are threatened with totalitarian utopias, whether political, economic, social, or theocratic. "Political correctness," our now-passing rage of liberal conformity, is very much an Orwellian phenomenon, and our universities, wretched parodies of what they are supposed to be, are veritable monuments of newspeak and doublethink.<br /><a href="http://www.enterbet.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.enterbet.com</a>pedro velasquezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04906868750940934366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-57151789569220302007-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:002007-02-12T09:20:00.000-08:00I've got people.I've got people.Mr. Ricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03221098688529569487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-38011658015834791392007-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:002007-02-12T09:12:00.000-08:00What?!?!? I'm not a favorite?!?!?!? Now I'm sad....What?!?!? I'm not a favorite?!?!?!? Now I'm sad.<BR/><BR/>Since Joe lives in Brooklyn and I live in Mesa, AZ, I doubt if he'll force me to stop writing about books he thinks sucks. Maybe he'll come all the way out here and break my fingers, but I doubt it.Greghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13481137891542684401noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-20420709440642403112007-02-10T16:16:00.000-08:002007-02-10T16:16:00.000-08:00Oh, yeah, and Jog's my favorite, too. Ah, to be m...Oh, yeah, and Jog's my favorite, too. Ah, to be more like him . . .Mr. Ricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03221098688529569487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-42591087614042587792007-02-10T16:03:00.000-08:002007-02-10T16:03:00.000-08:00I think you've got it in one, honestly. The real ...I think you've got it in one, honestly. The real realization I've had here is that my "audience" is no longer fifty-or-so people who know me and my sense of humor (deprecation through false-smugness). I'm about to start what I hope to be a better review. Although I'm all nervous now. The pressure's on! This is a very important, uh, review of . . .uh, comic books. Hm.Mr. Ricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03221098688529569487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-68351500140539469662007-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:002007-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00Now I feel bad.My favorite online reviewer right n...Now I feel bad.<BR/><BR/>My favorite online reviewer right now is Jog, and I think you two have a similar, catholic approach to comics. This is basically my approach to reading comics, so I'd be happy to see more critics lumping together all genres and formats. <BR/><BR/>And I didn't mean to suggest that you were in reality an "indie snob," so much as to suggest that people who leave comments on CSBG perceive you as such (you wouldn't deny that, would you?). I can't prove it, but I've always suspected that critics who are perceived that way end up doing as much harm as good. I don't mean to say you're "emboldening the enemy" or anything like that, just that superhero fans have thin skins. That's why I said you're basically poking them with a stick--it seems like your columns are intended to provoke as much as enlighten. There's a role for provocation, of course, but I don't think it's working in these JRMR columns. It's mostly smug and snarky put-downs mixed with wildly enthusiastic reviews of avowedly non-superhero work. Too many superhero fans seem to have self-esteem issues, and so they respond to these sorts of columns by lashing out at all the worthwhile stuff coming out in other genres. Same thing happened with manga, when it became clear how much better it was selling than Marvel or DC.<BR/><BR/>Compare this approach to that of Jog. His reviews are much more inclusive in tone--he reviews plenty of non-superhero work, but always judges it on its own merits rather than (unfavorably) comparing it to Marvel/DC stuff. And it's not like his reviews of mainstream material are always positive--the difference is that he doesn't chide his readers for buying a subpar issue of 52 instead of the new Kim Deitch collection. My other favorite review site is The Savage Critic, which is closer to what I think you're trying to do on CSBG. The crew there are extremely snarky and occasionally smug, but I never feel like they're goading the reader (no matter what Rob Zombie thinks). Then again, you might argue that neither blog has the same readership as the CBR-hosted CSBG, and that your larger audience is going to be a bit less savvy about these sorts of things. That's probably a valid point.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I'm glad that you're attempting to change your style. I figure the reason that you're writing at CSBG again is to convince readers to buy comics they wouldn't normally try. That's a laudable goal. I think you'll be most successful, however, if you don't wound your readers' egos in the process.<BR/><BR/>But I just can't get behind Wolfmother. Trust me, early Blue Oyster Cult is the way to go. I will grant that Led Zeppelin is the original orc-slaying soundtrack band.Dick Hyacinth's Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11199236541341734429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-18012293977331679162007-02-09T06:02:00.000-08:002007-02-09T06:02:00.000-08:00It's funny, Dick. I read through your blog and al...It's funny, Dick. I read through your blog and almost every point I'm thinking "Yeah, exactly!" And then I get to the brutal destruction of me and it's more like, "Oh, Jesus, is that really how people see me?" Part of it is that, yeah, I am a jerk, I guess; but there's also a lot of context being taken away here.<BR/><BR/>Like the fact that I'm a giant admitted nerd that's posted on the CBR forums for 11 years. These reviews were always written there for the people that knew me well enough that when I say "You awful nerds" it was clear it was self-inclusive. But, yeah, listed like that I sound really antagonistic. And I probably am somewhat antagonistic . . .I get real frustrated that smart people ignore good stuff, be it Mouse Guard or Monster Society of Evil.<BR/><BR/>And, come on, indie snob?! Less than half of what I review is indie! Hell, I bought and actually enjoyed New Avengers this week. All Star Superman is one of my all-time favorites! I buy copies of Shazam and Runaways for my students! To say I'm this militant indie dude is to ignore over half of what I review.<BR/><BR/>As for the style of my reviews otherwise, you've got some excellent point. As my buddy who showed me this site put it, I do fall into old habits and it took someone like you that didn't know me to kind of make me realize it. Like I mentioned at the blog, I'm trying to "up my game." It's real damn hard . . .it's easy to toss off some snarky reviews with dumb references and in-jokey insults in a half-hour before the wife gets annoyed I'm not helping cook. This week I'm trying to actually formulate real critiques. It takes time that I don't always have.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, once again, I have a tendency to ramble while posting, even now. I hope you give my posts another look, as I otherwise couldn't agree with you more about pretty much everything. (The Johanna and "coal miners" bit were both pretty damn dead on.) I suspect I'm more, I dunno, likeable to you than you realize at first, as I haven't adjusted my style to what is apparently a bigger audience than just the CBR posters these days.<BR/><BR/>And you'll just have to trust me: Wolfmother is orc-slaying music.Mr. Ricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03221098688529569487noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-14354945790135621042007-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:002007-02-05T09:48:00.000-08:00Wolfmother just seems like an inauthentic referenc...Wolfmother just seems like an inauthentic reference. Blue Oyster Cult or Black Sabbath would have been more appropriate, I'm guessing. I've never played D&D in a hazy basement, so this is just speculation.<br /><br />Hopefully I'll be able to summon the bile consistently enough to update this blog regularlry. I'm acutally a very genial fellow. Just ask my SO.Dick Hyacinth's Ghosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11199236541341734429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-36536595978973832962007-02-04T14:48:00.000-08:002007-02-04T14:48:00.000-08:00BTW, I love the idea of the new blog. Even if this...BTW, I love the idea of the new blog. Even if this post was so many levels of meta--a blog critiquing a blogger critiquing another blogger for not critiquing comics properly--that my head just exploded.Jones, one of the Jones boyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04149754038216055892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7715773315155138002.post-39510459680692844182007-02-04T14:42:00.000-08:002007-02-04T14:42:00.000-08:00Woman! You know you--Woman! You gotta be--Woman! S...Woman! You know you--Woman! You gotta be--Woman! Something something something something know what I mean!<br /><br />Come on, man, Joe Rice likes to ROCK OUT!Jones, one of the Jones boyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04149754038216055892noreply@blogger.com