2 CHICAGO READER | NOVEMBER 18, 2005 | SECTION ONE

CHICAGO READER | NOVEMBER 18, 2005 | SECTION ONE 3

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Keep ‘EmComingSo I’m reading your Letters inthe November 11 issue, and thefirst four make me think I’vemissed the train, entirely. Art ishappening, and no one’s writingin a straight line. Then I get to“Marina Politics”—finally some-thing linear that I can grab on to.Nope. The other letters were justthe warm-up acts.

When did your Letters sectionbecome art? I feel like I’vemissed something. I guess I haveto start paying closer attention.

Michael DarntonLakeview

I’m JostKeeeeding!With the exception of the timehe blew the surprise ending ofTwitch of the Death Nerve, Ienjoy J.R. Jones’s reviews almostas much as my own. That said,there is one element to hisreview of Sarah Silverman: JesusIs Magic [“So Funny You CouldCry,” November 11] that needs tobe clarified. In the review hemakes a reference that theChicago Film Critics Associationhas asked its members to “stopsnorting and laughing dismis-sively during press screenings.” Afew months earlier another localcritic—not a member of thegroup—had written a review inwhich he talked about seeing afilm at a public screening and hisrelief that he would not be forcedto endure the snorts, snickers,and dismissive laughter emittedfrom his lowly colleagues in thescreening room. While sendingout an e-mail to the group on anunrelated matter, I added aslightly sarcastic postscript inwhich I reminded our membersnot to do any of those things.Unfortunately, mild sarcasmdoesn’t really translate well in e-mail form, and since no oneseemed to have seen the originalarticle in the first place, the jokebasically died and was, I hadthought, long forgotten.

To be fair, Jones did contactme in order to clarify what theresponse to that original messagewas. However, thanks to a timecrunch and a nasty head cold, Ididn’t get around to seeing whathe was talking about andresponding until it was presum-

ably too late. I just want it to beknown that there are no suchofficial restrictions on any mem-bers of the CFCA and there neverhave been. Each person is free tolaugh as much as they wantabout whatever they want—aslong as it isn’t about myself, myimmediate family, or my MillaJovovich obsession.

Peter Sobczynski CFCA membership pooh-bah

For BestResultsThe one nit I would pick [reMaurice Possley’s contentionthat he was plagiarized by AmyFisher, Hot Type, November 11]:Granted, ’twould have been niceif the Trib guy had asked nicely,but it shouldn’t matter how heasked, especially since he wasdealing with other journalists. Ifshe plagiarized, they shouldcome clean. The best approach,however, might have been tohave Ann Marie Lipinski writethe note. That’s what Bob Rivardat the San Antonio Express-Newsdid when he ratted out JaysonBlair after his reporter called theplagiarism to his attention.

Jay GrelenMaumelle, Arkansas

ReadingBetween theLinesDear editor,

In regards to Tony Adler’srecent review of the ArtisticHome’s production of TheMadwoman of Chaillot [Section2, October 28]—as a theatergoer,I found it misleading and, as aJew, offensive. While Mr.Giraudoux may have held anti-Semitic beliefs, in no way arethey expressed within the text ofthis play. One of the many rea-sons that I have been a continuedsupporter of the Artistic HomeTheater is precisely because theychoose material that is socially

responsible and morally engag-ing. To imply that the ArtisticHome Theater’s production inany way condones or even toler-ates anti-Semitism is pure slan-der and misrepresentation.

The purpose of a review is toinform readers as to the merits(or lack thereof ) of a given pro-duction. If background infor-mation on the playwright orscript helps to support thisopinion, so be it. However, Mr.Adler’s reference to Giraudoux’shistory of anti-Semitism doesnothing to support his critiqueof this production, and there-fore is irrelevant.

Mr. Adler’s insipid inclusionof a gratuitous anti-Semiticquote by the playwright whichhas no bearing on TheMadwoman of Chaillot, let aloneon the Artistic Home’s produc-tion, is deceptive and irresponsi-ble. It is not only in bad taste, itis bad journalism.

It is no secret that, sadly,many of the most prolific andtalented artists have expressedanti-Semitic views in their per-sonal life. However, we havecome to judge these artists’works on their own merits, andnot by the views of their creators.By Mr. Adler’s reasoning, hewould pan the works ofTchaikovsky, T.S. Eliot,Dostoyevsky, Hemingway, EzraPound, Mark Twain, Roald Dahl,and Chaucer, to name a few.

One can find far too manyactual instances of anti-Semitism. To manufacture a falseinstance does disservice to every-one—especially to your reader-ship. As an active member of theJewish community, I am appalledthat you would let this poorexcuse for a review go to print.

An Artistic Home PatronLakeview

Tony Adler replies:Funny thing is, I honestly

didn’t know Giraudoux hatedJews when I went to see theArtistic Home production of TheMadwoman of Chaillot. Two ele-ments of the play made me sus-pect it, however. (1) His charac-terization of the villains asunproductive, string-pulling,

“When didyour Letterssectionbecome art?”

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NOVEMBER 18, 2005VOL 35 | NO 8 Letters

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22 CHICAGO READER | NOVEMBER 18, 2005 | SECTION ONE

Rubbing shoulders with iZ on allthree lists is Hasbro’s revampedFurby, which now has facialexpressions and, in addition toits own garbled language,“Furbish,” the ability to acquirebasic English skills from itsowner. It’s still too early, howev-er, to judge whether sales of iZor any of the other hot-listerswill live up to expectations;some reports suggest it’s goingto be a tough season.

As for the non-character-basedtoy that helped inspire iZ, theguys from BMT won’t say wordone, because it’s different enoughthat it might yet find its way intoproduction. Neither will they sayanything about the other toys

they’ve already sold to Zizzle(there are four or five) or any-thing else they’re presently work-ing on.

“You can’t talk about anythingwith anybody until it’s public,”Kurtzer says.

“We’re secretive because wewant it to get made and get pro-duced and we don’t want to jeop-ardize it by talking about it,”Crisanti says. Not even to theirfriends and spouses, apparently.

“They don’t even know wherewe work,” Kurtzer says,straight-faced. “Our names arealiases, actually.”

Paulson adds, “We drive toO’Hare and then fly intoMidway, and then take a trainto work.” v

moneygrubbing outsiders withneither pedigree nor apprecia-tion for Parisian values. Thisechoes the classic attack on Jewsas stateless “cosmopolitans.” (2)The Madwoman’s nostalgia forthe Romanovs, who instigatedpogroms and blood libelsagainst Jews and were toppled—in the anti-Semitic view—by“Jewish” bolshevism.

Anti-Semitism is often com-municated in code, and this stuff,taken together, struck me as amessage. So I did a little researchand turned up the informationthat went into my review. I can’tagree then that Giraudoux’s big-otry is “in no way. . . expressedwithin the text of this play.” It

was the text that brought his big-otry to my attention.

A PartisanDiffersHello,

I wanted an opportunity toshare my opinion of JessicaHopper’s review of BellOrchestre [“Nu Age,” November11]. While it is her right not toenjoy or appreciate the album, Ifind her comments and attackvicious. Often, most feedbackreveals a lot about the persongiving it. To quote her, the review“drops like a wet turd from the

sky.” After having attended two oftheir concerts recently, at whichmany other artists were presentas well, their excellent skill andtalent shone through. I find itreally unfortunate that they wereblinded by hype and did not dis-cern Ms. Hopper’s insight thatthey witnessed “the push-buttondynamics and overwrought ges-ticulation of a Billboard-chartingemo band with the edginess of aWindham Hill sampler.”

A critique “doesn’t get muchworse than that, rest assured:you are correct.” Being witty andmean does not ensure a goodreview. By the way, BellOrchestre are not a side projectof Arcade Fire. They are “someSuzuki-method yo-yos from

Big Monster Toys

continued from page 21 continued from page 3

Letters

Montreal.” Maybe you shouldlearn more about them beforemaking such proclamations.

Raphael Amato Ottawa, Canada

Jessica Hopper replies:Bell Orchestre shares three

members with Arcade Fire:Richard Reed Parry, SarahNeufeld, and a man the letterwriter shares a last name with,Pietro Amato. Parry and Neufeldare full-time members of ArcadeFire. Amato is just a touringmember.

Rock CriticCritiqueDon’t go bashing trendy bandsjust for the sake of bashing trendybands [“Nu Age,” November 11].You [Jessica Hopper] write forthe Reader, not the Wire. If youhad read just the slightest bit ofmaterial from [AnimalCollective]’s own mouths youwould realize that they don’t evenstand for the new “freak-folk” tagthat they’ve been pushed into.And you writing a full page accus-ing them of exactly that only per-petuates this ignorance and putsyou in the same wagon as every-one else. I’m not saying you haveto like a 42-tracked, layered songwith delay, but at least don’t go forthe easy cop-out by comparing itto your first bad acid trip. Andhow about a band’s fifth or soalbum progressing from theirlast one? Ever think of that?Again, you whining about howthey didn’t regurgitate SungTongs just further categorizesyourself as a close-minded review-er. And isn’t it f-ing, not effing?

Alee PeoplesChicago

CHICAGO READER | NOVEMBER 18, 2005 | SECTION ONE 23