Professional Reviewers vs. Bloggers

I know I said I’d post on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but I just hate waiting and I have too many thoughts to be patient anyways. So, here I am! Hope your Monday has gone well (it’s about 8 o’clock in my time zone).

Today, I read an article from The Guardian, by Robert McCrum; it was discussing the differences between professional reviewers and amateur reviewers (i.e. bloggers). The final statements were decidedly leaning towards professional reviewers, because their works were thoroughly edited and carefully polished until the final diamond was shining before them, ready to be published, as compared to the “raw” postings of a blogger. The author wrote, and I quote:

None of this [editing] guarantees that such a review will not be savage, destructive, ad hominem or partisan, but it will be considered, and it will loosely articulate the idiolect of literary criticism, a genre that stretches back to Hazlitt, Coleridge, Emerson, Dr Johnson and Macaulay, to name but a few. Any good print reviewer today stands on the shoulders of giants. In other words, such criticism is a) professional, b) not anonymous and c) placed in a literary critical context.

Now, it does say print reviewer. I will allow that minor nuance…

When I first read this, my thoughts were somewhere along the line of: “This man practically called me and everyone else who blogs about books a babbling, bumbling band of baboons.” (Thank you, Ms. Rowling) I was quite offended, to be perfectly honest. But, once I took a step back and swallowed some of my pride, this man *sort of* has a point. Bloggers do tend to have more of a subjective view, in the fact that we express explicit opinions – I do like this, I don’t like this. But every human being expresses an opinion in every word that they speak or type – no one is truly objective. Unless you’re a Vulcan, in which case this post is moot and you can leave now.

Other than that, I really don’t agree with McCrum. (See – we bloggers know how to get to the point.) There is a time and a place for an eloquent, high-brow review that nit-picks every single theme, character, and flaw. I can appreciate the deep analysis and philosophical arguments as to the lasting importance and impact a book might have, but, when I’m trying to decide if I want to read a book or not (and this applies to movies, music, and tv, as well), I just want the straight facts. And most of the time, a blogger will fill that need better than a professional review. I want the honest truth about something – Did it suck? Is it so cliché that it’s good? Am I going to pee my pants laughing? Should I bring a box of tissues? Am I going to be so horribly disappointed at a novel-to-film adaptation that I’ll need my rotten tomatoes? Such questions need answers.

Sure, a blog post is raw. It may include some curse words, some sarcastic wit, some colloquial expressions that are “banned” in literature, but it gets the point across in a way that I won’t have to spend an extra half hour using my dictionary.

That’s all I have to say on that subject. As always, comment, question, wax lyrical about how incredible I am, and so on… (Just kidding on that last part… A bit.)

Bonus question for the day: Do you prefer professional reviews or blogger reviews?

Contact me:

Twitter: @astrid_elaine

Email: astrid.elaine2@gmail.com

Adios, and see you tomorrow!

~ Astrid Elaine ~

PS: Here’s the link to the review I just reviewed - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/oct/01/professional-book-reviewers-better-amateurs?CMP=twt_fd

Juno - Movie

Before I start my "real" blog post, I guess I should introduce myself a bit. My name is Astrid, and I live in Southern California. I'm seventeen years old, and I've recently graduated college. Yep, you read it right! I was home schooled, and I was given the chance to complete college classes while I was in high school. I promise, though, I'm not a creepy stalker, and I actually do have friends. I don't wear huge, ugly glasses (anymore - thank God for contacts!) and I've developed quite the fashion sense! Being seventeen... I can't really go anywhere, so I'm currently working and trying to decide what to do with my life. I think I want to try out journalism, so that's how I ended up here. I love movies, books, and music, and I figured I should do something with all of the time I spend sitting on the couch doing one of those three. Plus, now I have an excuse to buy a new movie... "Mom, it's for my future!" I won't always do contemporary stuff; I love the oldies, too. It'll be a mix of topics, and I'll try to post Tuesdays (I'm posting this on Monday because I won't be home tomorrow!), Thursdays, and Saturdays, so keep me in line! I tend to forget things easily.

Today I'll talk about one of my all-time favorite movies: Juno. There are a few reasons I love this movie, so I'll break it down for you.

Here's the premise:
Juno is a high school student who finds herself pregnant with her best friend's baby after a night of "we're bored" sex. The first impulse is to abort the baby, but Juno finds that she can't bring herself to do it, and so she and her other best friend, Leah, look through Pennysaver to find an adoptive couple. Through the next nine months, Juno deals with the adoptive parents (Mark - a man whose band dreams are still evading his grasp, and Vanessa - a semi-OCD woman who just wants to be a mom) and the changing social status she experiences in school. Many other shenanigans ensue, but I don't want to be a spoiler!

The characters: 
Juno (Ellen Page) - a sarcastic, witty girl. She loves old music and horror movies, and her favorite accessory is an old wooden pipe. She takes everything in motion, and acts by impulse, but has her moments of thoughtfulness. Did I mention that her telephone is shaped like a hamburger? I still want one.
Bleeker (Michael Cera) - a track runner who is very awkward, but still manages to be lovable. He wants the best for Juno and their baby, and let's Juno makes the decisions. He has an addiction to orange tic-tacs.
Mac and Bren (J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney) - Juno's biological father and stepmother. They support Juno throughout the journey, and are brutally honest with their daughter about the consequences of Juno's actions. Mac is in the air conditioning business, and Bren does nails at a salon.
Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) - the adoptive parents Juno chooses for her baby. The couple was unable to conceive, thus their turn to adoption. Mark still hopes that his career as a musician will take off, but for now he writes songs for commercials. Vanessa feels guilty that she couldn't conceive, and has placed her hopes in Juno.

Important themes: 
Number one, obviously, is the issue of teen pregnancy. MTV has capitalized on this, and has made numerous shows that focus on this topic. Whereas less than a hundred years ago, a girl would be ostracized and looked down upon for pregnancy out of wedlock, especially in her teens, nowadays it's quite common. Girls today are called names, and shamed, but they still go to school, and still move on with their lives. I have had two girls I know become pregnant before the age of 18, and that was before I had barely even turned sixteen. In Juno, the different choices and paths are laid out for viewing. Juno originally intended to choose abortion, but while at the clinic she met a pro-life classmate who alerted Juno to the fact that her baby now had fingernails, and Juno couldn't do it. Thus, one door is closed. The other two obvious choices remained: adoption, or keep it. Maturely, Juno decides to give her baby up for adoption. In the words of Katy Perry, "A baby can't have a baby, and I'm still a baby." Thus, Mark and Vanessa enter the picture. In the movie, adoption isn't shown as an easy process; Juno doesn't just have the kid and hand it over. There is struggle and heartbreak all along the way. In the end, I felt that even though it was a movie and it probably was glossed with the Hollywood sparkle, the consequences of teen pregnancy were well addressed. Ellen Page, as Juno, plays her character with such finesse that it is quite easy to feel as Juno does, and so the message is even more personal by the end of the movie.
A second, less dominant theme, is love. Juno and Bleeker, obviously, experience some changes in their relationship throughout the movie. They try to decide where exactly they stand with each other, and if it really is love or if they should just stay friends. Juno finds it hard to believe in love, because her parents divorced, and other people in her life have had failed relationships as well. By the end of the movie, the message is: love is different for everyone. No one can define it, because no two people are alike.

My personal opinion:
I fell in love with this movie the moment I started watching it. The soundtrack is perfect, and it makes everything more real. This is the kind of movie I like to watch when I'm really tired, or sad, or lazy, or just in a particular mood that I still can't put a name to. It's a feel-good movie, at least for me. Any contrite or cliche aspects of it I can ignore, because the end result is the same; it's just a good movie. It's one of those that is just good, because it simply is.

Notable/awesome quotes: 

"Look, in my opinion, the best thing you can do is find a person who loves you for exactly who you are. Good mood, bad mood, ugly, pretty, handsome, what have you, the right person is still going to think the sun shines out your ass." - Mac

 

And there's Juno in a nutshell! As a disclaimer, I'd like to point out that whatever I say on here is my opinion, and I mean to offend no one and I'm always open to different interpretations of these movies/books/music cds that I write about. This is just my personal rambling space, and I'm taking you all on the ride with me. 

See you on Thursday, 

Astrid Elaine