Great writers remain; belief in humanity's goodness lingers (lifted from my Profile page)
Written: Feb 23 '01 (Updated Feb 25 '01)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Sloucho, scmrak, NFP, mshawpyle, pluckyduck, hadassahchana and dozens of others still write.
Cons: ZentropaJK, Janesbit1, chrisbickel, kiljoi and dozens of others apparently don't.
The Bottom Line: I left "Sense of Community" blank because "diminished" isn't one of the choices.
|
|
|
| eplovejoy's Full Review: Archived Web Services Reviews |
When Epinions was redesigned in January, many of the site's most interesting writers left.
But many more didn't.
It would take the added defections of dozens to make the site worthless. The following are among the legions of writers whose continued involvement in Epinions has frustrated efforts to diminish the site's vitality. This piece is nothing more than a criminally cursory introduction, and you would do yourself a favor if you pursued acquaintances with the works of these and many others.
mshawpyle writes like no one else. Everyone else can be forgiven for feeling envy. I can't provide any proof for his many reviews of what "Jeopardy!" calls "potent potables," but the American history major that I was in college appreciates the powerful perception in his critiques of works by our most important historians. A good one with which to start is "Refiner's Fire: Anderson's Crucible of War."
NFP is a gifted writer and all of his pieces are worth reading. You might want to start by enjoying "Meriwether Lewis as Renaissance Man" about Stephen Ambrose's Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West.
"The Active Lava Flow: Approach with Reverence...," Urbanist's piece about Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park is evocative and wonderful. The gracefulness of his prose is matched by his graciousness in sharing more of it on a Web site linked to his Epinions profile.
scmrak expresses his solid judgments persuasively. His review of the science-fiction novel Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny is brilliant, and his advice on how to write on Epinions ("Life isn't fair -- but you should be" and "Keep your politics to yourself") should be mandatory reading, if imposing reading lists were fair.
Sloucho is the kind of writer for whom glowing superlatives were created. His "The Very Best Worst Movie Ever" about The Day the World Ended is funny and has as its only flaw the manner in which it can inspire in readers the desire to claim it as their own work. Sloucho's piece on the unsatisfying trip he and his wife took to the City of Light, "Paris, Mais Oui Exit?", will be a classic after enough time has passed for it to have the distinction it deserves.
"120 minutes of brimstone, 120 minutes of treacle," the review of Cast Away by mangiotto is an entertaining read and could be a textbook example of how to write movie reviews. Among his other brilliant pieces are his review of Patch Adams, which he dismisses as "uber-insulting flotsam," and his critique of Son of Rosemary, in which he wonders how Ira Levin could have written something so meritless.
And I realize it is seems lemming-like to proclaim oneself a fan of Grouch's writing. If so, that's only because lemmings are possessed of superior judgment (although admittedly not always in matters of self-preservation). Grouch's review of Holiday Inn, titled "Fred and Bing Dance and Sing Their Way Through the Calendar" is as much a joy to read as the classic movie musical is to see. Also exceptional are his reviews of Norman Mailer's Executioner's Song and a piece he wrote about himself and about Epinions, "Freeing the Inner Ebert."
There are more citations of worthwhile reading on my Profile page.
Some of these writers have attracted devoted readerships that are, by Epinions standards, quite large. Others haven't. But none of them has the large and loving audience their works deserve.
It might be foolish to think I can help these exceptional writers attract those audiences, just as it might be foolish to believe in the Loch Ness Monster, menehunes (Hawaiian leprechauns) and generous Republicans. But I do.
Many people have directed me to pieces on Epinions that have made me laugh, think, cry and thank my parents for making sure I could read. This is my attempt to pay it forward.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
eplovejoy
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Peter William Warn
Location: Buffalo, New York
Reviews written: 351
Trusted by: 304 members
About Me:
Help us compile the definitive list of groundbreaking movies: http://www99.epinions.com/content_5192196228
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.