Recalibrating My Purpose for Writing

I began this blog with an eye on film evaluation and criticism, but -- like my previous gig as a music critic -- something about the concept bugged me. While engaged in a debate about the merits of criticism on Ann's blog, I found myself naturally taking the side of the anti-critic and denouncing the role of criticism in modern art. Whether it's all criticism I disagree with or the current brand of reductive self-aggrandizing that passes for profound observation, I can't in good conscience continue writing film reviews (or any reviews) from a serious point of view without admitting my own hypocrisy.

There's a fine line between absorbing an influence and neutering it by way of analysis. Thus, I'll be gravitating away from that aim while I allow my disparity between Artist and Evaluator to settle itself out. Perhaps I can use the two in conjunction, but more likely I'll be using this space for something other than dry academic observations about someone else's work, especially when I have so much of my own I ought to be producing.