/lit/ - Literature

I don't care, because he's still not aesthetically pleasing and his opinions about pop music are laughable

>http://www.scaruffi.com/fiction/best100.html
>14. Joyce, James: Ulysses

>>3986124
>because he's still not aesthetically pleasing
The shallow refugee of the defeated
>his opinions about pop music are laughable
Care to elaborate? Does he not appreciate Beatles and Radiohead as much as you'd life? Are Faust and Popol Vuh not worth the appreciation?

>>3986124
>his opinions about pop music are laughable
How so?

>>3986126

>edgy iconoclast who lashes out at things he can't comprehend

>>3986126
>best novel
>trial
dropped

>>3986129
my shallow refuge of defeat is yr mum's vagina
except it's not that shallow
nyway dude is ugly, shame rly because some Italians are aight-looking
Faust and Popol Vuh are uncreative hacks who tried to fashion a new musical idiom from 20th century art music's leftovers and ended up with warmed-up shit sandwiches, containing the hubris of rock and none of the soul, containing the pretense of experimental music with none of the substance. Popol Vuh are enjoyable in the kind of way that you might enjoy a pantomime, but Faust's debut is one of rock's most bland sacred cows.

>>3986126
>Woolf, Virginia: To the Lighthouse
Nice to see he's not all bad

>>3986139
>uncreative hacks
Popol Vuh pioneered ambient, and Faust were a krautrock icon. I won't dispute your other meaningless buzzwords such as "they had no soul" "they had no substance" "bland" and whatnot, but I ask you to name other more creative contemporary artists (60s, 70s).

>mfw Twilight is on his list of best English novels of all time

>>3986126
>Gombrowicz
He's legit.

A true polymath of our times

>>3986146
>krautrock icon
That's like being crowned the king of shitville tho, Krautrock is the most boring James Brown B-side ever recorded being played sans guitar in slow motion by autistic robots
Within rock? The Beatles (actually experimented harmonically instead of just playing drones), Pink Floyd (easily as structurally inventive as Popol Vuh), ELP (appropriated elements of contemporary classical that wasn't shite - see their cover of Ginastera's Toccata, a world away from the po-faced Stockhausenisms of Krautrock), the Grateful Dead (continued to cultivate a distinctive yet almost anachronistic style of improvisational rock in a post-psychedelic musical environment, never falling victim to noise like Faust did), the Velvet Underground (were capable of mixing sonically experimental elements with pop songs, something Faust never managed until their IV), Queen (far greater feeling for structure/form than Faust, albeit quite trite musically). dis shit's easy playa

>>3986140
sarcasm I hope

I read his list of "best books of all time" and I was thoroughly unimpressed. He put Suttree up by McCarthy but not Blood Meridian? Not All the Pretty Horses? And why does the list stop at 1993? Also, Paradise Lost is an epic poem, not a novel. And why no Hemingway, seriously? And Nabokov's Ada over Lolita confused me. I haven't read a bunch of stuff on his list so maybe there's a theme I'm not fully understanding, but there are some weird choices in there. I'm not saying "bad", just weird.

>>3986165
Do you seriously not like To The Lighthouse? :(
but yeah Blood Meridian is an unfortunate snub, definitely deserved a place

>>3986163
>Beatles
I like Beatles too, and I agree their experimentation was a success.
>Pink Floyd
One Pink Floyd album is in his top 10 or so
>ELP
ELP is the embodiment of purposeless experimentation other than showcasing technical skills (which Emerson had tons)
>Grateful Dead
Grateful Dead is one of his favorite bands too, and probably his #1 jam band
>Velvet Underground
VU is in his top 3-5

More than half of your post coincides with Scaruffi's opinions which you dismissed as laughable. Seems like your musical opinions are no more to be taken serious than his then

>>3986163
Oh boy, we have a plebeian here

>>3986171
What about Weather Report, Edgar Broughton Band, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band, Randy California and Ry Cooder?

He doesn't seem that well-read for someone his age. I will have overtaken him in about five years, probably.

>>3986167
I don't like any woman writers. It's not that I'm sexist, it's just a fact of my taste, I have never read anything by a female writer I would call a favourite. If I want to read some serious stream-of-consciousness writing or observe a family's more accurate fall from grace I would read Faulkner (or perhaps Suttree by McCarthy, honestly). Atwood and Woolf make me feel sick, Stein and Plath are the best female writers I've read but both fall way short of McCarthy, Faulkner, Hemingway, in my not-so-humble opinion. It's something about truth and simplicity that women writers don't seem to get.

>>3986171
Yes, my opinions and his are both far from intelligent. The difference being that I haven't spent a significant portion of my life filling out an online eyesore with mine, leading to ppl praising me for my silly opinions
in a more general sense I feel like he looks for things in pop music that shouldn't necessarily be expected, the pop music that succeeds the most in its aims is generally going to be Sam Cooke rather than ECM and it'd be nice if he acknowledged that more

>>3986177
>Weather Report
In his top 100 jazz
>Bonzo Dog Doo Dah band
He thoroughly enjoys, and rated them high
>Randy California
Rated some Spirit (his old band) albums highly
>Ry Cooder
Among his favorite guitarists

Your uninformed opinions are laughable I'm afraid

>>3986181
So what are some intelligent opinions on pop music? Rolling Stone?

>>3986187
So Edgar Broughton's a winner?

This man hasn't done 99% of the things I have done. How does it make him feel? He doesn't give a fuck, neither do I.

>>3986193
Idk, I can't read italian
http://www.scaruffi.com/vol2/broughto.html

Fairly ordinary list. Not much different to something the average /lit/ browser would post. His taste in literature is not nearly as interesting as his taste in music.

>>3986179
To each his own
Personally I find Woolf to be like a less insufferably clever Joyce in a way that's really appealing, but I can understand disliking the style, and 9/10 times I'd rather read McCarthy or Hemingway

>>3986189
Robert Christgau

>>3986205
Why's that?

>>3986165
He has a habit of picking a popular author's lesser known work over their seminal work. Some kind of hipster thing, I guess.

>>3986207
Because he's pithy and casual enough to sell his opinions are being so, whereas whatever charm that Scaruffi has is lost in translation.
also because he's much further away from this faux-objectivity that I'm sure Scaruffi doesn't intend to get across but which is still insufferable

i've probably had way more sex than that guy.

>>3986212
So not because of his opinions, but because of how you interpret their intent. That doesn't sound like "intelligent" opinions, but rather "intelligently presented" opinions

>>3986201
Is no dad music safe from this man?

>>3986219
Rhetoric is everything. An opinion with no base (see: all pop music criticism) has nothing except its presentation going for it.

>>3986220
It's probably the largest music database after allmusic

>>3986221
I agree that his reviews are lacking in personality, entertainment value and prettiness, but they're usually informative and concise enough. Ultimately, his opinions expressed in ratings seem to be respectable and I appreciate him for showing me some interesting music.
I get that you were exaggerating quite a bit when you were saying his opinions are laughable, now that you admitted you have similar opinions, and your main problem is about the way he's presenting them

>>3986220

He likes Bruce Springsteen, the Doors, and Bob Dylan. And although he doesn't rate them as highly as everyone else, he still have good things to say about Led Zeppelin.

I'm from /mu/ and the fellas on /mu/ all know he doesn't read the books he ranks, just like he probably doesn't really listen to most of the music he rates. Scruffles is a mathematician and hack. Don't believe me? Read his essays, most of consists of no more than eight sentences. see: http://www.scaruffi.com/phi/syn136.html

shit's embarrassing

>>3986237
Hmm, how does he rate the Average White Band?

>>3986238
Have you ever seen Christgau's reviews? They're like 3 sentences. Dude has probably never even heard music outside of the radio station

>>3986163
>Queen (far greater feeling for structure/form than Faust,

>>3986232
Yh pr much. His site is useful for guiding the inexperienced towards the more interesting side of rock, and I can appreciate how thorough he's been, but as you said, his style of writing about music isn't great. I tend to not like ratings, but that's just a personal dispreference

>>3986238
Yeah, his book lists just seem to be aggregates of other 'Best Books of All-Time' lists. There are a smattering of somewhat interesting inclusions from Southern and Eastern Europe, but apart from that there is no evidence that he is widely read at all. I have encountered dozens of e/lit/ists with more impressive reading histories.

>>3986250
His jazz lists and classical lists are close to the canon too. His excuse is that pop music criticism is young and undeveloped. I don't think I've seen his movies list if he has one though.

>>3986254
Just checked

http://www.scaruffi.com/cinema/best100.html

Not all too tightly tied to the canon, but a lot less out there than his music lists

>>3986254

He does. It's also "close to the canon" with Citizen Kane at number one. Although there are some surprises: he really likes Zardoz (although it's not in his best of all time list) and he says Lost Highway is David Lynch's best film and that Limelight is Chaplin's best film

>http://scaruffi.com/cinema/best100.html

>>3986245
it's just pop music homeboy
still, if you haven't listened to any Queen albums in full don't throw rocks at the throne

>>3986244
>
guy knows a lot about African music
also capable of great essays now and again
http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/cube-91.php

>>3986250
if I had to guess I'd say that most of his lists are mostly influenced by the friends he meticulously documents

some of his poetry is pretty good http://www.scaruffi.com/poetry.html

>>3986264
Listened to A night at the Opera once. Shit was awful. So pampered, sweetened and bratty that it sounds like musical nausea. But that's just me

You do know that Scaruffi doesn't listen to everything he reviews, right?

He's said that a lot of the time he gives ratings based on other reviewers he trusts (ie why he gives everything a 6/10).

>>3986277
[citation needed]

>>3986282
I read it years ago when I discovered him.

He said he tries his best to get around to listen to everything but if he can't he relies on other critics and does an aggregate.

He probably does listen to a lot but don't assume that because he gave an album a 6/10 that he's listened to it.

And his list of literature and film are pretty laughable.

>>3986294
Allow me not to believe what you remember/interpreted from a text that you can't cite

>check out his rock music reviews
>all of them are rated either 4,5,6 or 7 out of 10 (majority being 5 and 6)
>maybe 1 out of 100 albums will get an 8
>he won't fully commit to admitting something is good or bad
>he has no place in reviews

>>3986320
>(majority being 5 and 6)
>WHY IS THE AVERAGE AT THE AVERAGE BETWEEN 1-10??

>>3986320
>>maybe 1 out of 100 albums will get an 8
1 of 100 albums gets 3 as well

>>3986117
guess what?
I don't give a shit

>>3986163
go to bed Dad

>>3986163
screencapped for /mu/ pleb thread

>>3986117
Makes me feel amused because my ataraxia is 2deep4 his frantic ass.

>>3986163
>liking Queen

are you positive? hhehehe

scaruffi is everything i wish i could be

>>3986117
Who is he?

>>3986596
lonely and autistic?

>>3986117
Back to >>>/mu/ with your degenerate guido 'scholar'

awww scarscar :3

>>3986666
>lonely

>>3986117
So...?

>>3986666

He actually has plenty of friends and hosts great parties: http://www.scaruffi.com/friends/

>>3987695
Everytime I see that page I cringe

Who the fuck methodically charts their "friends?" This guy seriously has a list-obsessed autism of some sort

Like look at this shit:

http://scaruffi.com/travel/best.html#cities
What a weirdo

>so much knowledge and he couldn't get a wife, and now he's slowly fading away all alone
such is life

>>3987758
I don't see what you mean

>>3987809
He's really just studying occult magick in the shadows so he can emerge as a time-wizard to go travel through human history and destroy everything he considers good so nobody in the future will be able to experience it.

>>3987832
He makes lists for everything, and can only communicate in lists and ratings for mostly everything he 'reviews'

he's really into consuming culture.

really not impressive in the least.

>>3987758
>Not stalking Pierro's female friends

>>3986117
dubi dubi dam dam

>>3988317
why not. seems like an enjoyable life

>>3988408
am I supposed to be impressed when I see someone enjoying life? Stupid people do it all the time.

>>3986129

>pretending being good-looking isn't the most important thing in this world

He's also a bigger pleb than I was at 12

“Reading is merely a surrogate for thinking for yourself; it means letting someone else direct your thoughts. Many books, moreover, serve merely to show how many ways there are of being wrong, and how far astray you yourself would go if you followed their guidance. You should read only when your own thoughts dry up, which will of course happen frequently enough even to the best heads; but to banish your own thoughts so as to take up a book is a sin against the holy ghost; it is like deserting untrammeled nature to look at a herbarium or engravings of landscapes.”

>>3986163
OH GOD I AM DYING

Liz is a much better pop music critic.

>>3988417
okay? you seem mad

>>3988487

based Schoppy.

>>3986163
HAHAHAHA

Why do you people even care about analyzing popular music? Shit pales in comparison to classical. Scaruffi is a hack when it comes to anything but writing 5th grade level essays (with a euphoric teen thesaurus in hand) about obscure european pop acts.

P.S. He has Josquon listed as a medieval composer: tippy toppest lel

>>3988564
Josquin* before some lone faggot jumps on my iphone keypad typo

>>3988564
You obviously have no idea of what you are saying.

You will never be as based as Sir Alec Hendrix

http://www.last.fm/user/siralechendrix

>>3988567
You can apply that to literaly anything anyone says, thereby making the comment ineffective unless you provide more.

>>3987695
>There is a physical "Wall of Fame" in piero's house since 1992

I kind of want to get on that wall.

>>3988606
you have no idea what you're saying with that reply.

>>3987687
Man has he gotten better at photoshop.

>>3986117
But he'll never browse 4chan more than I do!

>>3988637
Okay, let me then spell it out for you

W H Y DO YOU SAY THAT?