Letters to the Editor
hungryhobbit
Published Letters: 3
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A Terrible Review
[Read the article: Overcooked]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not exactly a fan of Dane Cook, but I have enjoyed several of choice bits of his previous routines. Regardless, whether you love him, hate him, or feel completely ambivilant about him, this review won't tell you anything you didn't already know. In fact, you can sum up the entire thing up as "I don't think Dane Cook is funny."
Well gee, thanks, now I know that you don't like him, but that doesn't tell me whether I'm going to like his show or not. The author makes no effort to even understand what Cook's appeal is, and instead simply offers what any idiot on an internet message board could have given me: her opinion.
Now obviously every review has an author's opinion at its base, but a good review goes beyond just that. How about some sort of analysis of his appeal? The author goes to great pains to point out Cook's popularity, but only so far as to complain the tastes of today's youth. She quotes several lines of Cook's routine (out of context), to tell us how terrible Cook is, but then says that the audience is laughing along with Cook.
If Cook is so popular, surely this must be a reason? Don't look for it in this article, because all it has is writing like, "Cook aims at appealing to those vast numbers of kids who haven't really developed any interests yet." Yes, that's a brilliant analysis: insult anyone who enjoys something you don't by saying that they have no interests, and then claim that "millions of young people nationwide" all watch Cook because they can't tell the difference between what's funny and what isn't.
By and large Salon is a wonderfully intelligent publication, and Heather's TV column is usually pretty good, but this review is by far the weakest peice of writing I've seen on Salon in the several years I've been reading it. Next time try giving us something better than "This guy isn't funny ... damn kids ..."
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Very Disappointing Salon
[Read the article: John Edwards turns on his fellow Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read Salon primarily for the intelligent, independently-minded political news/analysis. This article contains none of the above.
How about, instead of bashing Edwards for "turning on his fellow Democrats" (as if Clinton and Obama spend their days merrily skipping through fields of daffodils holding each other's hands), you give us some coverage of Kunich? Or Ron Paul? Or of the critical issues at stake in our country, like say ... the campaign finance reform Edwards is championing?
Then again, maybe it's just easier to produce hack garbage like this.