Happy 18th birthday to the Voice.  Being 18 years old used to be the adult demarcation–the draft, marriage, legal alcohol purchases and the like.  With the juvenilization of society you could argue that 21 is now the demarcation, but let's go with 18 for now.  As I was thinking about what to highlight that is different from last year's 17th anniversary, I was stumped.  Then I read today's SF Comicle Pink section article about some lame Netflix show that has been in their top-watched list for a week or more.  People are apparently "hate-watching" it.  According to the Pink

“Hate-watching could be seen as an act of active critical viewing — viewers want to actively participate and have a say, rather than simply absorbing,” said Jeffrey Skoller, associate professor at the film and media department at UC Berkeley.  “I think viewers these days are more sophisticated than the media that’s been given to them,” Skoller said. “They understand that certain narrative elements are cliché, and there’s a pleasure in picking up on that.” Camacho adds that while media professionals like herself can give a detailed explanation about why a show doesn’t work, everyday viewers, too, have become adept in finding narratives that “don’t make sense” or spotting directorial decisions that are lazy and annoying.  Unlike the genre of camp, which assumes a degree of irony and self-awareness, hate-watched shows normally take themselves seriously, which only adds to the fun.

That pretty much sums up why I still pay the SF Comicle money to land in my driveway every morning.  It's "hate-reading".  It's fodder for the Voice.  I use critical reading skills rather than simply absorbing their drivel.  More sophisticated than the lightweights writing the drivel?  Check.  Narratives that are cliché?  Check.  Take pleasure in picking up on that (i.e. picking it apart)?  Check.  Finding "narratives that don't make sense"?  Check.  Spotting "directorial decisions" — meaning editorial decisions — that don't make sense?  Check.  Lazy and annoying?  Check.  Does the SF Comicle take itself seriously?  Oh my, double check.

There is a lesser amount of that in our local press.  I give the Daily Post a lot of credit in this regard, I just wish they would actually put the paper in the empty blue boxes that have been all over town for years.  The Daily Journal is good too–not as critical when it could be, but good.  In the meantime, visit here for free.  Enjoy it, hate it, laugh at it, think about it.  What evah.