The reader known as Undiscovered got us a good one, to wit:
The real register of the Art Life reviews is in the quality of the writing. If the writing is really good, then the show is suitably good/bad. You can apply this to most things; microwave cookery etc […] The trick to assessing your Art Life review, that is, if you’ve tempted them with the good stuff, is to note the literary worth of the review and to mark yourself accordingly. Bad can be good – good also, or bad. If you can make other people be more poetic, you may have something. Do you have private health insurance?
Like most people we have been driven out of public health insurance into uncaring private enterprise. Although we yearn for the days of free health insurance, free education, half price drinks between 5 and 7pm and all the other things that made life great, we have come to the conclusion that you have to pay to get what you want. Or at the very least, a nominal charge. We’d like to thank then the very special readers who have donated money to the Art Life. Recently a reader in Melbourne who we don’t even know made a donation. Just like that. Incredible. We’d also like to acknowledge another reader in Perth who, despite now being unemployed, also gave us a very generous donation [before going on to appear on Radio National to sing our praises!]. Our promise to these readers – and to you too – is as Dirk Diggler put it in Boogie Nights – “we’ll keep trying if you guys keep trying – we’re gonna keep rockin’ and rollin’ yeah!” For those of you rightly appalled at this shocking attempt to extort money from readers, you can support the Art Life by purchasing your copies of Making Planets, DVDs from the ultra expensive Criterion Collection or whatever else takes your fancy by clicking through to Amazon from our links and making your purchase. We earn a whopping [undisclosed amount] ‘store credit’ for your patronage and thank readers for purchasing their artist monographs through what must be the only US company not indirectly involved with the Iraq War. Yay capitalism.
