ow to Please a Critic
As a songwriter, Loren Jan Wilson admits to an "unhealthy obsession" with music reviews. At his new site, pitchformula.com, he tries to turn that obsession into an advantage.
Mr. Wilson, 25, has created a computer-assisted songwriting method based on a statistical analysis of more than 5,500 record reviews he downloaded from the music site Pitchfork (www.pitchforkmedia.com), with which he is not affiliated.
His idea was to look for "the words and phrases that the reviews have in common with each other" and to use the results "to try and make some 'critic-friendly' music." Based on the analysis, he wrote two songs available as MP3's on the site.
The site is a Derrida-worthy deconstruction of music criticism, although its creator insists he is more interested in making music than in criticizing critics.
For instance, Mr. Wilson, a data network engineer at the University of Chicago, has established that when reviewers hate a record, they are more likely to use words referring to consumerism and business or insulting the intelligence of the musicians or listeners.
How did the analysis affect his songwriting process? He noted that the "sadness" word group was by far the highest-scoring mood. So, contrary to his own preferences, he made his songs as sad as possible (one deals with a heroin addict, the other with a particularly bad relationship).
One of Mr. Wilson's goals was to establish whether critics "display a particular, consistent and demonstrable set of aesthetics through the use of a specific language." Since the site serves as his final project for a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies at the university, I'll leave it up to his professor to decide if he succeeded.
As for the songs? "I guess his formula works,'' said Keith Harris, a music critic who has written for Rolling Stone and Slate. "This sort of wan indie rock over layered electronic beats is pretty trendy right now in certain circles.''
He added, "Most good music critics don't equate 'sad' and 'profound' quite so readily.''
A Summer Book Tour
It's sandy-paperback time again.
Last summer I suggested trawling for beach reading ideas at automated recommendation sites (like
www.whichbook.net) and online book lists (like Weblog Bookwatch, at www.onfocus.com/bookwatch).
This year I have a theme: location, location, location.
At allreaders.com, you can select a novel based on setting. For instance, you can find a good yarn set in Italy to read on your grand tour.
Field-Tested Reading (www.coudal.com/reading.php), on the other hand, highlights more than 40 books its reviewers read while actually on vacation. The site is organized by vacation spot, not by author or title. "Location can influence not just the choice of book but whether or not you liked it," said Dave Reidy, a writer for Coudal Partners, the design studio that sponsors the site.
In his own entry on Playacar in Yucatán, where he read Jonathan Franzen's novel "The Corrections," Mr. Reidy readily admits that given the opportunity again, "I might not spend my vacation drinking deeply of dementia, sexual confusion and animate feces." He regained his equanimity with Steve Martin's "Shopgirl."
Another site, the One Book project (www.loc.gov/loc/cfbook/one-book.html), tracks community-wide reading programs (that is, when a public library chooses a book that everyone in town is supposed to read at the same time). I use it to peer over shoulders to see what others are reading across the nation.
It seems only fitting that Bay Minette, Ala., was assigned "To Kill a Mockingbird," and Long Island residents, "The Great Gatsby." But what drew Pasadena, Calif., to "The Soloist,'' by Mark Salzman, and Ithaca, N.Y., to "Antigone" and "Frankenstein''? We'll have to read to find out.
Count the Clouds
So you think you know a lot about the weather? Spend a few hours at "online weather school" and be humbled.
JetStream (www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream), run by the National Weather Service, may not offer degrees in meteorology, but if you ace the review questions you'll at least be able to decipher your newspaper's weather map.
The site was primarily designed for educators and emergency officials, yet it has attracted "a wide variety of individuals who simply want to know about the weather," said Steven Cooper, deputy regional director of the service's southern region.
JetStream's topic matrix leads you through subject areas with maps and other graphical aids. For instance, everyone learned in school that there are four basic types of clouds. But JetStream reveals that there are actually 27 classifications, each with a hieroglyphic-type symbol (one looks like a handbag).
Tornadoes are the most popular topic, Mr. Cooper said. I, for one, was glad to learn the difference between "positive" and "negative" lightning, though it's wise to avoid both.
On the Radar
The Modern Language Association Language Map (www.mla.org/census_main) uses census data to create interactive maps showing the distribution of foreign-language speakers in the United States (warning: It may be a long download). The Letters game (hannu.daug.net/letters/index.php) starts slowly, but don't be fooled. Soon you'll be typing madly. The ungainly address www.lewisandclarkandwhatelse.com leads to a site offering a daily look at what was going on elsewhere while the explorers roamed the West.
E-mail: online@nytimes.com
