Comments on: 'I got your hidden track right here, pal!'

By: Knox

Knox — Fri, 06 May 2011 03:12:43 +0000

Books vs cinema – is that like trying to choose a favourite child, and then saying you don’t have a favourite, just love them each the same amount, but in different ways..? I don’t know that you can compare the two – some books are amazing, and the act of reading itself can totally detach you from the real world, but then, an amazing film can do that too. And there’s some real crap from both camps.

I agree about the Beatles thing – applies to so many musicians and artists I reckon. I went to the Joan Miro exhibition at the Tate the ohter day, and it got to the point where me and my sister were just openly laughing at ‘canvases’ that looked like something our niece knocked up when she was bored.

I don’t agree about the healthcare/education thing – there is inequality, but that doesn’t mean we need to perpetuate it. And the advantages of wealth mean that inequalities will keep growing. Boo to private education and health-care – make the public systems better! (not you personally, Mark – that would be impressive!).

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:29:57 +0000

Very late commenting here, catching up on this blog slowly. Have to disagree on the private health/education one. Yes society will never be equal, but surely there are some inalienable human rights to which everyone should have equal access, and I include healthcare and education within that group. We might not be able to stop the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer, but surely we can stop exacerbating it my making the rich get healthier and cleverer and the poor get iller and more ignorant?

By: Knox

Knox — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:36:53 +0000

aw – i didn’t see ben’s first comment before i made mine.

By: Knox

Knox — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:33:46 +0000

“ben folds is a freakin’ asshole!”

(actual comments on the blog later)

(by the way, if that actually *isn’t* where you got the name of this particular blog, this will seem like a highly random comment with unnecessary slagging of ben folds)

By: Steph

Steph — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:40:44 +0000

Hmm, not too controversial. But that’s probably because a lot of what you said was common sense.

Definitely agree that books are better than films. I love watching adaptations of books – it’s always interesting to see other ways a story can be told – but they never seem to suck you in compared to reading. Nothing better than to snuggle down under a mock-duck-down duvet and read for hours.

And yes to the Beatles thing.

By: Mark Watson

Mark Watson — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:23:58 +0000

Hmm yes. The two points were totally contradictory. You’re right. Hmm.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:16:21 +0000

I’m a bit curious, if proving a thing’s intrinsic value is nearly impossible how is it possible to lead with the idea that books are better than films, not because generally speaking there is one artistic voice throughout the creation, or any other arguable reason, but simply because the book medium is more important–has a higher intrinsic value–than cinema.

I say a bit curious because this was more a passing thought than a burning issue and because you’d already said you hadn’t put a whole lot of thought into it so why nit pick like some jackass complaining that the whole of wikipedia is a failure because they could change an article for a few days before the article got corrected.

By: Sam

Sam — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:21:32 +0000

Not all books are better than films. Although I suppose this sloppy kind of rebutle is exactly why people avoid comparing art forms.

By: Gareth

Gareth — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:12:36 +0000

I’m really pleased that someone has a good word to say about Wikipedia, and moreso that it comes from yourself Mark!
Without Wiki, I don’t think I’d know half the things I do, with recent questions answered such as the age old dilemma of Bill Bailey’s real age (although denied), “exactly who was Dionysus?”, and “where did Tim Key come from?” Don’t think I could survive without my browser’s Wiki search bar.

By: Rachael

Rachael — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:46:08 +0000

Totally agree about the Beatles, I wish more people would acknowledge that too. Also, the people that moan about the non-importance of sports also moan about unemployment, what about all the people that would be unemployed without sports?