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

[strawberryfrog.livejournal.com]

I avoid reading the detail of the reviews before I've seen the film.

[stringgeek.livejournal.com]

Heh, I thought I was the only one who was simultaneously dismayed and fascinated by post-age or lack of post-age to my entries. :-)

I am disappointed by the lack of an "other" or "clicky" choice in your poll. :-P

As far as your movie and book reviews are concerned, you are much more enlightened than I...I never analyze them mentally as well as you do. So, you'll spit out this amazing and detailed review, and I'll think...duh...I liked it (or didn't like it, as the case may be). I like to hope I'm not excessively shallow as far as my book and movie experiences are concerned, but I certainly don't articulate my experiences anywhere NEAR as well as you do.

I have YET to find a single one of your posts to be boring, so there. There are occasions where I've felt a little awkward posting in that we haven't seen each other in 8349702 years. If more comments make you happier, though, more comments you shall have. We aim to please! :-)

[bumpycat.livejournal.com]

I voted "boring", "pseudo-academic" and "cussedness", all from a surfeit of cussedness. :D

On the whole I don't read reviews of films or books. I just don't. I'll read the book/watch the film, but I'm generally not that interested in what other people think of it.

[egadfly.livejournal.com]

I have long since given up trying to guess at the interests and motivations of my blog's readers/commenters. No doubt there are many factors involved, only some of which relate to what I write about. I'm mildly curious as to how many people visit occasionally and how many see whatever I write; likewise, which posts people read in full and which get skimmed/skipped. Though I think I'd be unlikely to post differently if I knew.

Wrt your film reviews, it rarely happens that I've seen the film that you're reviewing. Posts labelled "neurotic" tend to be about you, a subject most of your readers are inevitably going to care about.

[grumpyolddog.livejournal.com]

I usually comment on reviews.

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.

[kadekraan.livejournal.com]

In general (not only your LJ), I wonder to what extent comments beget other comments. I can remember a few occasions where I wasn't going to comment on the original post, but then enough people commented on it that I found something in there that I wanted to discuss, and I commented. I wonder if there is a critical mass (ideal number of comments) that generates a maximum number of additional comments.

[wolverine-nun.livejournal.com]

I chose "I never watch that kind of movie" as the closest option to a more accurate "I rarely watch movies". When I watch a movie on dvd approximately 37 months after you've reviewed it, I sometimes get this feeling that you might have said something about it. Once. Long ago. It was probably interesting. Even interestingly academically pretentious. I can no longer recall.

My reading of your reviews is distant and detached. Perhaps I'll see the film, later, when I'm old, but right now it's not connected to my life.

Review With A View

[(Anonymous)]

For what it's worth, I like reading reviews of films (and plays). I'll often decide whether to see a film based on reviews. I also like your reviews, even though they can be quite intimidating. :-)

Obviously, the way to attract comments is to ask for comments... ;)

pK.

[khoi-boi.livejournal.com]

Generally, if I've seen the movie and I agree with everything you said, I don't comment (other than leering drivebys) because I usually prefer hashing that kind of thing out tête-à-tête. But sometimes (like recent HP review) it's because I said all I had to say in the immediately previous thread...

[(Anonymous)]

I read your blog, first and foremost, to hear how you're doing, so I most enjoy the posts about your life.

I suppose I don't comment on your reviews because you approach them very differently from the way I do. As a writer, I'm looking at story, plot, dialogue, characterization, etc. Although I enjoy reading your reviews, from my perspective (as a writer) I personally don't care whether a movie (or book) has some deeper academic relevancy. (I write to entertain, so I read books and watch movies for entertainment.)

Does that make sense?

Hugs, Dayle