Bad Reviews

This is going to be a general critique of critics. Some journalists just should not do criticism. A good review should give you an overview of that which is being reviewed, let the reader know whether the reviewer thought the piece was good or bad, and give reasons. A good review may also employ wordplay. The online music magazine Pitchfork is very good at this. When the word play in the review is obvious or excessive, it lessens the effectiveness of the review. I read a review of a reunion performance of the rock supergroup Cream and as might be expected by this review, the reviewer employed way too many puns about cream, the dairy product, while referring to the performance. While the idea that the performance was decidedly mediocre was expressed, reading the numerous puns was positively painful.