Esquire Magazine on The Role of a Critic & American Idol Judge Simon Cowell
"The hard man is the only one whose opinion matters anyway - all around the world the singers listen politely to the compliments or criticisms of the softie and the pro, but their faces light up when the hard man tells them they have talent. Often he's just saying what everyone else is too polite to say, and for the viewers at home who just want to hear some good music, Cowell's message is entirely a force for good: Art is more important than society, truth more important than politics, songs more important than people's feelings."
posted by Justin Giampaoli @ 9:20 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
You lose me on that argument, Justin! The core of the idea is sound, but Cowell has been behind some utterly wretched music in his time, and just because he's a hard critic, doesn't make him right! (But yeah, I get where you're coming from, just don't think Cowell is the best example to use!)
HAHA! Hey Matt, a well reasoned point. I'm not in love with Cowell or his professional output or anything, the core of that message for me was the italicized part. I love that. When I apply it to us, it's like, our job as critics is to tell the truth as we see it. I'm not going to play nice just for the sake of playing nice or sparing people's feelings. If a book is great, I'll say so. If it's not, well, I'll say that too!
Yeah, I do see where you're coming from with that, and I agree with you - just the mention of Cowell's name in that context got me going a bit! :)
On a different subject, finally picked up Punisher: Butterfly on your recommendation. Very personal story, and not exactly a Punisher tale per se, but very good indeed. Cheers!
COOL! I'm glad you picked it up and enjoyed it. You're about the fourth person to tell me they picked it up on my recommendation and dug it, so that makes me smile!
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