they're immune to your consultations

[freckles_and_doubt]

So, you lot are odd. More specifically, I lament my complete and utter inability to map your responses, i.e. to predict which of my posts will garner millyuns of comments, and which will languish with no more adornment than a grammar nit-pick and an unrelated link. On the whole I'm in this blogging lark for the dialogue and wish to provoke same, tending to feel confused and unfulfilled if I don't succeed. This is provoking introspection. (Possibly exacerbated by an uneasy night after an emergency visit to my dad, who seems to have picked up a 'flu bug which is not interacting at all well with his motor neurone symptoms).

I am interested to notice that, while posts tagged, for example, "narcissism" on the whole attract a reasonable number of comments despite my expectation exactly to the contrary, posts in which I offer a detailed review of a film or book generally don't pick up on the comment action. In fact, most of them are not commented on at all. I am fascinated by this, and somewhat at a loss to account for it. Inevitably, pollage results.

[Poll #1442936]
Or, as always, leave some other pithy rejoinder in the comments. (See what I did there? self-conscious self-fulfilling recursive reference ftw!)

Comments

Agree

[first-fallen.livejournal.com]

I agree with bumpycat in that I rarely care what other ppl think about books/films, if I like it I like it and if I don't then I don't. It's not often that it makes me wonder what someone else thought about it (and then it's your opinion that I wonder about, simply because you're the most learned opinion to which I have access easily). In these cases I'll see if you've reviewed it and either agree or disagree and maybe comment if I feel I can add something. I usually don't feel I can add anything, your reviews are quite detailed and even though I often just skim them if it's a movie I haven't seen I respect that lots of critical thought went into them. I often feel similarly to you but lack the words to express it correctly.

I also agree with egadfly in that I'm more inclined to comment on the personal posts, perhaps because I feel on a more able footing than with the academic stuff. I don't know if I'd feel inclined to comment if I didn't know you.

Sometimes I'm just too lazy or busy to comment and think "must come back later" but never seem to to do that :P.

Re: Agree

[grumpyolddog.livejournal.com]

I like reviews, because 1) they can useful and 2) if I disagree, it's useful to analyse what I disagree about. Most books/films/music can be re-examined without prejudice and it's quite possible to notice something somebody else has pointed out and actually begin to appreciate the stuff in question.

Re: Agree

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Yes, exactly! For me reviews interact with a film or book to add a whole new level of pleasure and discovery. And disagreement can be intensely stimulating.

Re: Agree

[extemporanea.livejournal.com]

Hey! You cannot possibly think that an HP review which speculates whether the next film will get Dan Radcliff nekkid is in any way academic! Unless you have a particularly odd idea of academia, which I have to admit, if I'm your extant example of it, you probably do...