11/03/2005

heads up to a new review by kat

starting late tonight. the reason is i've been on the phone with kat. for 2 hours.

i'm not joking. she turned in a mammoth review of stevie wonder's a time to love and asked c.i. for editing help. c.i. had recommended some cuts and then kat wanted more. then more. she's still not sure enough has been cut. so she wanted to know if it was okay to read it to me over the phone and get my opinion.

a) i was flattered and b) i love her album reviews so of course the answer was 'hell yes!'

she read it and it blew me away. i love her writing.

she says that she feels like it could still be tighter.

she loves stevie wonder but this isn't a "great album, stevie!' review and that's probably why she's so on edge about it.

which isn't to say she's worried about any 1's reaction. kat could truly care less. 'it is what it is' is her motto. but she struggled over whether or not to turn in the review on carole king's the living room tour because she hated that album and she loves carole king. it's the same thing, my opinion, going on here.

after 90 minutes, i asked her if she'd read it to my ex who was over. she agreed and he was laughing out loud several times. he told her it was a great review but she's still got her doubts.

i marvel at people like kat and betty who work and work on 1 thing, debating each clause and word. i know ava and c.i. will put a lot of work, in very little time, into their tv reviews but i also know c.i.'s truly 'it is what it is' when it comes to something at the common ills. ironically, 'it is what it is' is a kat phrase.

jim will say 'why did you include that opening paragraph to the members, the thing would be so much better if you start with the second paragraph' and c.i. will respond, rightly, that the common ills is a resource/review and not some writing show case.

c.i. is a great editor with tremendous skills (much more so than a mutual friend who's an editor at a newspaper i won't name but if you're reading this, you have no editing skills at all). but the common ills takes a lot of time and if c.i. held out for perfection, nothing would go up there. but over at the third estate sunday review, dona, jim and c.i. will go over and over a piece when there's time for it. jim will tell you that c.i. has saved pieces that were crap by restructuring them. when c.i.'s really tired, it will be like barking out orders - 'take the fifth paragraph and make it the lead, drop the sentence in the final paragraph, use the last four words in the mid-section to develop a transition and get jimmy olsen in here on the double!'

but the common ills is a conversation and it's a private conversation between members taking place in a public space. jim hates that argument but gina & krista came up with it and they love it and so does c.i. i think it's the perfect description of the common ills.

kat is consumed with a review sounding right. she wants it to sound like a conversation but like a really good 1. i think it has a lot to do with being creative. i don't have that bent. i can market but i never considered public relations to be creative. i know right now betty is obsessing over a piece that if she posted it, people would laugh and think it's incredible but she's called about 1 phrase twice tonight. i've told her it's perfect but she wants something else in there and feels that the phrase is a betty phrase and not a betinna 1.

so tomorrow morning, unless kat pulls it to work on it some more, look for a review of stevie wonder's a time to love at the common ills. that's my heads up and really all i have time for tonight.






Posted by at