Sumo Fan Mag latest edition

[Sasanishiki 57]

Just a pointer to the latest issue of SFM. There is a picture show of Harumafuji, a look at Jesse/Takamiyama/Azumazeki's career, A look back at yokozuna Hidenoyama, a preview of the Nagoya basho, a look at Isegahama-beya, swine flu and the cancellation of the Sumo World Champs, and a whole lot more. use the central link at the botom of the page, or go to sumofanmag.com for your reading pleasure.

[Treblemaker 254]

This issue of SFM has some good articles, and is reasonably well-written (especially Chris Gould's piece on Azumazeki) but there are wild inconsistencies, and sometimes I'm not sure if what's written has ever been proof-read.

I'm not sure if any of the contributors have taken any constructive writing courses. Several of the entries are proof-reader's nightmares. Throughout, there are more commas (,) per square centimetre than you will find bars in St. Johns, Newfoundland. (Or restaurants in New Orleans.)

The column by "Eric Blair", however,

http://www.sumofanmag.com/content/Issue_25...c_Evaluates.pdf

is the biggest pile of crap I have ever read. Not just from a content angle, but this thing tries desperately to be funny and hip, tries to follow some sort of logical thread, tries to be written in an op-ed style, and fails miserably on all counts. As a piece of writing, it's brutal. In its content, it's worse.

Here's the first paragraph:

"Asa had his botty whooped and the

corner no-one is apparently

allowed to put him in was filled

with his flapping arms and

backpedalling figure on Day 3. Yet

not a soul commented on it online

for hours!"

And this gets worse. (Yeah, I had to read it several times before I could figure it out, too. Now go read the whole thing, but be prepared for nausea.) This is writing that belongs in a grade 5 school book, not some "self-esteemed International Publication" that is self-labled as the authority on Sumo for the english-speaking world.

A prominant chef once told me that a meal is only as good as the last thing you eat. You can have the finest steak, prefectly cooked veggies, wonderful deserts, but if the coffee tastes like mud, the whole thing is ruined. "Blair"s piece was the last thing I read, and it destroyed the whole feeling I got from the rest of the magazine.

Mark, a magazine is only as good as it's weakest link. This, in addition to the bizarre "cartoons" by Stephen Thompson, aren't just the weakest links, they're the missing links.

Yes, it's free, and I suppose you get what you pay for, but a little consistent quality control now and again is in order. Maybe it's time to go out and hire an editor who actually has experience in dealing with the written word?

Edited June 29, 2009 by Treblemaker

[Fay 1,676]

what, what, what???

Mark, sorry Eric has won several literary prices, well maybe already in the 5th grade (Showing respect...)

[Asashosakari 16,827]

... and the corner no-one is apparently allowed to put him in ...

Ah, congrats to the SML's Sumocypher for becoming the latest person to get a column sort-of dedicated to after a run-in with "Eric Blair". Took a few months in this case, but here it is.

[Sasanishiki 57]

Just a thought, volunteer to contribute if you want it to be better.

[Treblemaker 254]

Just a thought, volunteer to contribute if you want it to be better.

If I lived in Japan and had access to facts, people and spoke Japanese, I'd be happy to contribute. However, I live half a globe away, and too far from the battle grounds.

The reality is that, for a publication that touts itself as the gift to the english-speaking sumo world, the writing is highly inconsistent. The intentions of the magazine are good. The coverage is very good. The presentation is also very good. Some of the writing, however, stinks. And it stinks bad.

The article in discussion was written poorly, with facts that could only have come from [a] someone who has monitored the two Forums on a daily (if not hourly) basis for the duration of the 15-day basho, keeping tabs on contributors, posts, etc... or being all made up, and pulling details out of one's sphincter. The purpose of the article? Who knows? Vindictiveness? Pot-stirring? An attempt at humour and possibly provocative?

If I were "Buckton", I'd fire "Blair".

See post above for the rest of my comments.

[Sasanishiki 57]

Your contribution would not have to be written. I don't know much about what goes on at the back end, but it could involve proofreading, layout, web stuff or any other of what I am sure are a hundred or so jobs that are done on behalf of the writers.

Of course, given your description of EB's article, that sounds like anyone could do it, even those not in Japan or watching the basho live.

[Chiyozakura 127]

The column by "Eric Blair", however,

Do it like the rest of us and ignore him, whoever he may be. There seems to be a war going on between some guys about who is the English speaking authority on the internet on sumo. If it makes them feel better leave them be, you do not have to read it and I doubt that many people do and take it seriously.

There are also good bits in SFM. I always read the articles by Joe Kuroda. They are very interesting stuff with content you usually do not find elsewhere in English.

[Gusoyama 57]

It might just be me misreading the numbers

Thats it exactly. Comparing the number of posters online 45 minutes after a bout on a single weekday to all of May 2006 is just silly, at best.

[Asashosakari 16,827]

The column by "Eric Blair", however,

Do it like the rest of us and ignore him, whoever he may be.

I disagree, somewhat involuntarily. I'd love to ignore him, but observing the devolution of a man's mind is just so morbidly entertaining in a car crash sort of way, especially once he stopped infesting this place.

It might just be me misreading the numbers

Thats it exactly. Comparing the number of posters online 45 minutes after a bout on a single weekday to all of May 2006 is just silly, at best.

No, it's not all of May 2006, but the comparison is dumb in the extreme anyway. (Yes, I know, dog bites man.) That day with 227 users was Day 13 of a heated yusho race between rising star Hakuho - in his ozeki debut and on the way to his first yusho - and Miyabiyama (wait, who?), and was probably also inflated by a weird influx of guest users, possibly a search engine run amok. IIRC no other day in that week (or any other time, actually) even recorded more than some 150 concurrent users. Shockingly, a Day 3 didn't quite reach those lofty heights, yokozuna loss notwithstanding. I'm also loving the notion that an Asashoryu loss should provoke storms of interest...haven't they become a bit too common in recent times? And to top it all off that strange argument is coming from a guy who has spent years both criticizing Asashoryu and the public for paying too much attention to him. (In jonokuchi...)

My favourite part of the column:

Over on the (proper Sumo) forum which ST has so long sought to compete with, (through acceptance of its superiority in terms of both fans with relevant sumo awareness and posts before, after or during a basho), the numbers were slipping and likely will keep heading south.

What does that parenthetical remark even mean? Sumotalk is seeking to compete with SF by accepting our superiority? Sumoforum's readership numbers are slipping because we've accepted our own superiority? We've reached the point where "Eric Blair" is indecipherable even when he's not peppering his statements with weird slang. Over on the baseball forum I mainly frequent, a certain member with similar tendencies (totally convinced that only he understands the world, etc.) recently completed his own mental devolution with the soon-to-be-immortal words "oh not your fucking snarky ass kid bullshit asshole" - I halfway expect something similar to show up in an EB column soon. That'll be an entertaining day when it happens.

Then again, perhaps it is only yours, Le Grand Erique, who fails to find a place in his WWW life for The Wall Part IV, Chiyotaikai Watch: more static, cushiondenting images of bottoms and pre-bout rituals than might be deemed healthy, and of course, lower division reports in which the

adjective

Edited June 30, 2009 by Asashosakari

[Treblemaker 254]

Asasho, your post exactly sums up the reason I took issue with this article. Nothing makes any sense, unless you happen to be on prescriptive, non-prescriptive drugs, and the cheap ones at that. If the heading of the piece was "Humor by Eric", then I could probably accept it. Perhaps the heading should be "Eric's Devaluations". Or maybe even "Eric's Hallucinations".

Sasani, I'm not in any way belittling the SFM. There are good writers producing good articles and there's lots of good insight with a lot of effort put into the production of that publication.

Which is why I question the judgement and editorial ability of one "Mark Buckton" to allow one "Eric Blair" to submit the kind of written piece that is not only very poorly written from an english structure point of view (especially when compared with the other contributions by all the other writers) and is hopelessly "Fail" from a content prespective.

And the inclusion of that kind of crap in an otherwise fairly good product makes the rest of the contributors no better than the worst contributor.

As I said above, If I were "Mark", I would certainly fire "Eric". Or at least throw it back on the "desk" and have "him" rework it so that it doesn't make the rest of the SFM look Mickey Mouse. Or at the very least, Goofy.

EDIT: I re-read the article (must be my masochistic tendencies) and it still made absolutely no sense. "Le Grand Erique.." Give me a break. More like "Le Grand Idiote." From start to finish, that piece of work resembles, in the written word, what comes out of both ends after a few too many shots of tequila.

Edited July 1, 2009 by Treblemaker

[Naganoyama 5,366]

Your contribution would not have to be written. I don't know much about what goes on at the back end, but it could involve proofreading, layout, web stuff or any other of what I am sure are a hundred or so jobs that are done on behalf of the writers.

Of course, given your description of EB's article, that sounds like anyone could do it, even those not in Japan or watching the basho live.

Perhaps you could volunteer to translate the magazine into Turkish. :-P

[Treblemaker 254]

Your contribution would not have to be written. I don't know much about what goes on at the back end, but it could involve proofreading, layout, web stuff or any other of what I am sure are a hundred or so jobs that are done on behalf of the writers.

Of course, given your description of EB's article, that sounds like anyone could do it, even those not in Japan or watching the basho live.

Perhaps you could volunteer to translate the magazine into Turkish. :-P

Unfortunately, my Turkish is almost as good as my Mandarin, my Hindi, my Russian and my Esperanto, i.e., non-existent. I have enough trouble with English as it is... On the other hand, I speak $#@*&?!! perfectly. (Especially after I've hit my thumb with a hammer.)

[Jakusotsu 4,883]

On the other hand, I speak $#@*&?!! perfectly. (Especially after I've hit my thumb with a hammer.)

That would be the perfect language for translating EB's babbles.