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Right.... but do you mean lower east side Mission Chinese kind of sucking? Because no matter how many breathlessly worshipful comments I saw, it was still an atrocious, uncomfortable, terrible service boasting, salt lick of inedible food and fetid swamp water described as cocktails.....I don't remember reviews saying that. The reviews sucked. 

Edited by backyardchef
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38 minutes ago, backyardchef said:

Right.... but do you mean lower east side Mission Chinese kind of sucking? Because no matter how many breathlessly worshipful comments I saw, it was still an atrocious, uncomfortable, terrible service boasting, salt lick of inedible food and fetid swamp water described as cocktails.....I don't remember reviews saying that. The reviews sucked. 

If a music writer likes Rachmaninoff or the Eagles, that doesn't mean I think they can't be a good critic.  It just means I disagree with them.

But if a music writer says that, say, music that attains mainstream popularity among whatever audience it's directed at is inherently bad, and that the reason for that is that music only becomes popular as a result of payola, I'd say they're a bad critic because (a) they think categorically and (b) the support they give for their view is factually incorrect and also illogical.

A good critic doesn't have to be "right":  there is no right.  A good critic has to be able to reach a judgment (a lot of people aren't) and to support it in ways that are logically and factually accurate.  The reader can then agree or disagree with the judgment.  It doesn't matter.

That's why Rosner's takedown of Bazaar is valuable criticism and Sietsema's takedown of Foxface Natural isn't.  And I've never been to Bazaar, so I have no idea if I agree with Rosner.

(Before you say it, let me make clear that I agree with you that by my standard -- which I think is pretty generally accepted as the standard for good criticism -- most restaurant reviewing isn't good.  I've even argued that I don't think you can be a good restaurant critic if you don't cook.  Not necessarily professionally, but seriously.)

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Inedibly salty on multiple occasions for multiple different groups is not just a difference of opinion between us and  the people who raved about kung pao pastrami. It makes me think that a critic is so eager to be in the club that their judgment is untrustworthy. OR that their palate does not deserve the job.  I would love if all reviewers were transparent on the criteria, but they just aren't because the majority of what they do is subjective including about the music or the server's choice of words, or value of the food.

 

Edited by backyardchef
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I agree with you until the last part.  Because the subjective judgment is the LEAST important part of good criticism.  It's what the good part takes off from.

If ALL there is a subjective judgment, it isn't even criticism.  It's just bloviating.  But Pete Wells and Helen Rosner and Ryan Sutton (the last of whom I rarely even agree with) don't do that.

Edited by Sneakeater
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6 minutes ago, Sneakeater said:

 

If ALL there is a subjective judgment, it isn't even criticism.  It's just bloviating.  But Pete Wells and Helen Rosner and Ryan Sutton (the last of whom  I rarely even agree with) don't do that.

My only reply is that I love Rosner's writing. She is never more in love with her own voice than the job at hand. Period. 

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36 minutes ago, Wilfrid said:

Well, I agree with the last two posts anyway.

(I am currently trying to decide if Jackson Arn is going to be tolerable as the NYer's art critic.)

I'm thinking no?  "There’s something dodgy about portrait artists, and that’s part of their allure. One way or another, they need faces. Often, they steal them and hope nobody complains."

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3 hours ago, Simon said:

I'm thinking no?  "There’s something dodgy about portrait artists, and that’s part of their allure. One way or another, they need faces. Often, they steal them and hope nobody complains."

Yes, horrible opening sentence.

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And below that:

Quote

In most of the Spanish-speaking world the fried pig skin, chicharrones, are popular, but in the Philippines the dish is given a unique spin. Chunks of skin and fat are cut into bite-size pieces and fried in lard, creating the perfect crunch-to-squish ratio and a deep porky flavor.

That's how everyone does it.

Can I stop reading now?

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