Books Simply Horrifying!
posted by on January 29 at 10:59 AM
People like Dr. Harp upset my world and send shocks up and down my delicate spine. I wish there was a way to keep them out of all culture. I wish there was a guard at the gates of literature. I wish there was a Ministry of Culture that had the power to punish and banish writers like Dr. Harp. I wish…
On the surface, Grady Harp seems just the sort of enlightened consumer who might lead us out of Web 1.0’s darkness. A 66-year-old gallerist, retired surgeon, and poet, he has reviewed over 3,500 books, CDs, and movies for Amazon. In turn, he has attained a kind of celebrity: a No. 7 ranking; a prominent profile on the Web site; and, apparently, a following. In the week after his endorsement of my work appeared, more than 100 readers clicked on a button that said, “I found this review helpful.” His stated mission is to remain “ever on the lookout for the new and promising geniuses of tomorrow.” At present, Dr. Harp’s vigil runs to about 500,000 words—a critical corpus to rival Dr. Johnson’s—and his reviews are clearly the product of a single, effusive sensibility. Jose Saramago’s Blindness is “A Searing, Mesmerizing Journey” (five stars); The Queer Men’s Erotic Art Workshop’s Dirty Little Drawings, “A Surprisingly Rich Treasure Trove” (five stars).
Amazon reviews are trash, they are either sycophantic or incompetent
You are Dr. Harp.
"I wish there was a ministry of culture..." totalitarian communist talk. your underlying desire for authoritarian regimes deceives you.
We do have a minister of culture--her name is brittany spears.
@2:
Chuck’s underlying desire for authoritarian regimes not only deceives him but also defines him.
y'all got no love for chuck or yourselves.
grady harp commanded my attention when, at imdb.com, i began noticing that many of the best-written reviews of numerous films were authored by this person. i chose him as a "friend" and was thereby able to take a look at all of his comments in a single session.
mainly, he comments on obscure and/or foreign language film. it's rare to see a review from him on the big hollywood movies. he also has a definite bent toward gay-themed film. honestly, his remarks have led me to seek out movies that were certainly below my radar.
sometime later, i realized that grady harp also posts on amazon's site. it's known, of course, that imdb is owned by amazon.
once, i sent a "personal" message to grady harp suggesting that he post a review of a gay-themed, french movie of which i'm particularly fond, "l'homme blesse". he didn't respond. he's never reviewed this movie, to my knowledge. nevertheless, i continue to appreciate his remarks.
it's completely surprising to me that his name and his work has appeared on slog. i wasn't aware of his profile. i didn't know that he's a doctor. i'm quite surprised by his age. i don't really understand what chuck wants to say about grady harp in this post.
i am pleased, though, that attention is being shown to his work online. may i suggest that anyone who relishes film and film criticism scan his work online at both amazon and imdb. after previewing my own comments here, i see that all of my paragraphing has disappeared. if this posts as a single paragraph, it's not the way i wrote it.
Slate and Amazon are "culture"?
And they need a ministry to protect their purity?
As usual, I'm absolutely baffled by Mudede's post. It's not just that I disagree, it's that his point completely escapes me. Why would he choose to go after this guy? He reviews books and movies on Amazon for no pay simply because he enjoys it. I find his dedication to this admirable. Mudede reviews book and films too. What on earth would account for his animosity towards this amateur? To get into the top ten you'd pretty much have to dedicate your life to this. I've bought probably 1,000s of items on Amazon, and I've reviewed a handful of stuff too (my ranking is in three thousand something), and I generally find their system helpful. If, for example, I'm looking to purchase a John Coltrane CD, I have roughly a hundred to choose from. I would find it enormously helpful to take in different opinions about what is the best album to start with, and Amazon is as useful a site here as I know about. Since I own all the Coltrane albums, and I've spent the last 10 years absorbing them, I hope that others can look at my Listmania list and at least get one opinion on where is a good place to start, but this is just one of many opinions that people can absorb on Amazon. What exactly is wrong with this? The whole thing seem fairly democratic to me, and I agree that Charle's is showing his totalitarian streak here.
it would probably help us try to understand CM if we knew what color Dr Harp's skin is...
just don't cry about it.
chaz is like a studio owner complaining that protools has taken away from his ability to dictate to the masses what is good, and what is bad.
I, for one, am Glad that Charles is here on the SLOG. I vehemently disagree with him, even though I respect his scholarship immensely.
Charles wants his hand held, wants to be told what to do, what to think, what to love, what to hate. Charles is afraid of himself, of his individuality, and of the individuality of all others.
But, Charles represents and faithfully posits feelings that many, many people in our world have, but who have no ability to articulate it as well as Charles. For that, really, Charles is exactly like this reviewer that he decries, because he gives us a viewpoint that isn't being paid for or represented nearly anywhere else in our world.
And, most importanly, he provides us progressives something to progress against.
"[...]I respect his scholarship immensely."
Scholarship. That is too rich.
OK - I'm generally a fan of Mr. Mudede and I've never been any sort of fan of Grady Harp or Amazon.com, but after receiving a stellar review from Grady two days ago, I am a convert:-)
I'm a parking lot attendant by day and I scrub toilets at night. But I also have a writing jones and that resulted in my novel Secluded Parking. It is a mystery/thriller about a stoner named Dylan who has retired from his gig as a writer for The Stranger. I was fortunate enough to be chosen as a semi-finalist in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award and as such, Grady reviewed Secluded Parking and called it "well crafted" among other things.
I know I have much to learn to improve in my craft, but Grady's review is great encouragement for a nobody like me, and as far as I can tell, he didn't gain a thing by giving it 5 stars.
So, keep up the good work Dr. Harp.
(my name above is a link to the excerpt so you all can judge for yourself. and although I appreciated Grady Harp's review, I also truly appreciate constructive criticism, so let me know how to improve. I don't want to clean toilets and sell parking permits forever.)
Wait everybody! I get it! Chuck is playing the role of the Slog reader and Dr.Harp is playing the role of the Chuck. See, like Chuck, Dr. Harp is just giving his personal opinions. Some people agree with him and some disagree, but he is free to make up his own mind about the products that he reviews. Anyone who tried to silence his opinions would be an asshole, because he really isn't hurting anything. If people dislike his opinions, they can refrain from reading them in the future.
Chuck is showing us that we are the assholes by axing "who lets you on the internets", and "how do you receive a paycheck for this bs", etc, and hoping that he gets fired. If we dislike his opinions, instead of wasting our time by telling him so, we should just move on with our day. Ah!
But i guess the big difference between the two is that Chuck gets paid for his bs.
i'm not in the opinion racket. opinions are for the weak. what i want, and what i search for at every moment, are truths. keep opinions to yourself.
Charles...what if Dr. Harp were appointed as the Minister of Culture?
Who gets to decide who is appointed as the Minister of Culture?
Finally...who gets to determine what "truth" is? How is that decided?
@16 Charles, that is exactly true except the opposite.
is charles really so unidimensional that he could be labeled "biggest hypocrite commie in seattle"?
People really use those Amazon reviews to decide if they should buy something or not??????? WoW! Color me shocked!
@16
Ironic sense of humor or complete lack of self awareness? You be the judge!
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