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July 21, 2006
Snarky, Snarky!
One thing I have resisted in writing the PSG blog is making fun of other people.
I guess I don’t do it much because I was raised with the stern injunction “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Now in the music business, and in show business in general, there are a lot of “not nice” things said and written all the time.
Of course, there are those whose job it is to criticize. They write the reviews of the movies and music we consume.
I greatly enjoy reading a well-written review. My favorite movie reviewer is Roger Ebert. I’ve been reading his movie reviews since the 70’s, and he’s someone I would love to sit down with some day and converse with about movies.
But there are many folks today who offer their opinions of what is current in pop culture without reaching the erudite level of an Ebert. If they don’t like a particular movie, book or song, instead of trying to analyze the perceived faults of the work, they simply make fun of the actor, author or musician. The prime example of this kind of criticism is the VH1 series “I Love the ‘60’s….’70’s….’80’s…’90’s”…etc.
Instead of offering well-thought out scrutiny of the trends, products and entertainments covered, the various celebrities and “funny people” brought in to comment merely make fun of it all in a rather condescending way.
The term used today for this type of criticism is “Snark.”
Here’s the definition of “Snark” from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Snark refers to a belittling style of speech or writing. It could loosely be described as irritable or 'snidely derisive'; hence, 'snarkish', 'snarky', 'to snark at somebody'. (The Urban Dictionary refers to it as a contraction of "snide remark".)
"This word has Germanic origins and is etymologically unrelated to the imaginary creature in Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.
"Snark is also often used in fandom to describe a character's/writer's comment, action, way of acting/ writing style.
Example:
Jane: That comment made by Sydney Bristow was snarky!
Jimmy: Thank god for J.J. Abram's writing genius.
"The adjective 'snarky' derived from snark was used often on the short-lived 2004 Fox series, Wonderfalls".
I’ve never seen “Wonderfalls” and have no intention to. (Since it was short-lived, its not on any more!)
Granted, in the music business there is a lot to “snark” at. I mean, Paris Hilton is now a “recording artist!”
And lo and behold, according to Jody Rosen of Slate Magazine, her debut single, "Stars Are Blind," is not all that bad.
Quoting Ms. Rosen:
"Stars Are Blind" is a sweet, sun-kissed love song with a snappy ska beat, and Hilton (with the aid, undoubtedly, of the Antares Auto-Tune 4 Pitch Correcting Plug-In)puts it over well, cooing lyrics about her "heart and soul" in a reasonable impersonation of a human being with feelings. All in all, it's a surprisingly good start to Hilton's campaign to break into the pop diva game.
OK, I’ve listened to the song. You can hear it too by going to Paris’ site. It will start playing the moment you get there.
So in keeping with my upbringing, here is what I have to say about the new Paris Hilton single:
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Hope that wasn’t too snarky.
Posted by leon at July 21, 2006 02:04 PM
Comments
Okay, okay.....I just couldn't resist a little snarkism!!! Isn't it funny how the ones who shouldn't be recording artists are and the ones who should.....can't even get listened to????
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Posted by: Spike at July 21, 2006 09:06 PM
Well...you know we wouldn't be able to appreciate what is good unless we had something like Paris Hilton's song to compare it too, in other words, you need the bad to really know what good is! I guess that's why Mary Poppins always added a little sugar to help the medicine go down! Snark...Snark!
Posted by: Sandy at July 21, 2006 10:31 PM