Critics

1).  http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/6195632-421/family-fare-movie-reviews-for-parents.html

     This is the first critic I found that I enjoyed, his name is Nell Minow.  I like the way he reviews his movies and the style in which he does it in.  He starts off by explaining why the movie is rated what it is by pointing out key examples of topics like: Language, Sexual Content, and Violence.  Next, he gives a recommendation of who he thinks should be allowed to see the movie, based on age.  Then, he talks about what a discussion of the movie could be like based on what happens in it, and finally, he lists other movies that are similar to the one that he is reviewing.  I like how he does this, because he is showing his opinions on the movie and then showing what the movie industry's opinion on the movie is.  Also, he doesn't give away to much information when talking about different parts of the movie.

2).  http://www.metacritic.com/feature/6-picks-for-week-of-june-20-2011

     The second critic that I found to be interesting is Nick Hyman.  I like the way that he writes because he gets straight to the point about what he's reviewing while still being able to add some humor to the writing.  For example, when he was reviewing Cars 2 in the above article, all he talked about was the actors who are playing in it, the plot, and then the release date.  I also like how he puts a link to a Youtube video that is related to whatever he is reviewing for that article.  Another thing I like about his writing is that he puts in little interesting facts about whatever tv show or movie he is reviewing.  For example, when he was reviewing Cars 2 in the above article, he says that Pixar put in some characters in the movie that will probably be in the next movie made by them.

3).  http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/a-treasure-20110609

     The third critic that I chose is Andy Greene.  I like a lot of the reviewing that he does because he writes for one of my favorite magazines, which is Rolling Stone.  The way in which he reviews is that he first gives a brief bio on the artist or movie before he starts talking about it.  I love the way he talks about different songs, he seems to either know exactly what the song is about, or have his own way of describing how it sounds.  I think one of the reasons that I like him, is because he seems like he really enjoys the music that he is critiquing and puts a lot of thought into what he thinks about the album or movie before he knows what he wants to write down, which I think makes his reviews better than a lot of the other critics out there.

Slate Article Response

     After reading the two slate articles, I learned that there are different ways that critics work that makes each one different.  For example, Alan Sepinwall reviews between 10 to 15 shows a week and writes about each episode of each show.  I think that this is pretty impressive and didn't realize how much time these people put into their line of work.  I also had no idea that there were so many different ways of approaching their job.  I thought that the way that critics and television shows have evolved is pretty interesting.  In the article it says that critics used to just review a few episodes to get an idea and write about it, nowadays, critics are reviewing every episode of a television series.
     There were some interesting hyperlinks throughout these two articles and two of them that caught my eye were one about how soda could be bad, and the other was about how Shakespeare could have used Marijuana as an influence to writing his sonnets.  I found the article about soda to be interesting because soda is something that millions of people in our country drink and if it's harmful, then it could be a serious problem.  What I found from clicking on this hyperlink is that soda use has increased obesity and diabetes in the past 20 years.  Also, researchers have found that there could be a link between soda and high blood pressure, liver disease, gout, and some kinds of cancer as well.  This is a bit unsettling.  However, what I found from the other hyperlink about Shakespeare, is that a South African Anthropologist has found traces of marijuana, cocaine, and myristic acid on pipe fragments found in Shakespeare's garden.  Upon seeing this, I had to click on it as it seemed entertaining and something you don't normally see on a news website.

Different Kinds of Shows

1). Shows I've been watching since schools been out:  I've started watching Californication so I can have a new show to watch for summer.  I've also been watching a lot of the Storytellers shows on Palladia.  Another show that i've started watching again is Props.  I started getting back into skateboarding and biking again, which has sparked my interest in action sports tv.

2). Peripheral Shows:  My sister likes watching House and NCIS, and I've started watching both of these shows just from being in the same room as her while she's watching them.  Also, my mom started watching a show called Falling Skies and I'm gonna watch that show sometime soon.

3). Guilty No-Gos:  A lot of people that I know watch House and I don't.  I used to watch it a lot but slowly lost interest in it.  I feel like I should start watching it again to see if I would be interested in it again but haven't had the chance.  Also, I stopped watching CSI and Criminal minds because I was at school, but a lot of people I know watch these shows.

4). Guilty Pleasures:  I sometimes watch Rock of Love and Daisy of Love, but these are the only guilty pleasures that I have watched and felt guilty of.

5). All Time Favorites-  My all time favorite shows that I never get tired of watching, are The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Lost, Sons of Anarchy, Criminal Minds, CSI, Dexter, and Weeds.

6). Shows I used to like, but not so much anymore:  I used to watch House and NCIS a lot but have stopped since coming to college, however I would like to start watching these shows again.

7). Shows that I resisted for a while but am now a fan:  I used to not like NCIS but eventually started to like it after seeing it a lot on tv from my family.  Also, I used to not want to see House, but caved in to it after all my friends and family started watching it.

8). I would rather eat charcoal than watch these shows:  I don't like shows like The Hills or Keeping up with the Kardashians.  Also, I don't like reality shows about certain people's wives, I find it boring and uninteresting because I don't need to know about their lives.

9). Shows that involve personal interests:  Some shows that I like that are about things i'm interested in are shows like Props on Fuel Tv, storytellers and other shows on Palladia, and Jackass and Wildboys on MTV.