Poking The Bear

I wasn’t going to address JoAnn’s whining any farther than I already had, but I’ve read a couple comments that could insinuate that I ranked her low just because I didn't want her in the final round. That is completely false. I ranked her low primarily because of what I said in my review (the song bored me). I’ll copy & paste the original review at the bottom of this post.

Now to address specific comments:

“Since it is apparent that composition, orchestration and lyrics do not matter in the face of a judges bias/prejudices,”

Just because I didn’t mention something, don’t assume I liked it. Let’s use lyrics as an example since I’ve ALWAYS ranked heavily based on lyrics. Sure Hamlet has always bored me, but that’s because the dialogue is hard for me to follow at times. When it comes to lyrics...just ask Governing Dynamics or Denise Hudson if I’ve ever ranked them low because their lyrics were hard for me to follow. Ranking you low based on that was not an inconsistency.

I didn’t really mention the music in the review, but the fact that you assume I would have found it entertaining is part of the problem here. I’m not saying it was bad, but it held my interest as much as the lyrics. It’s not a tune that makes me feel like dancing or singing...it’s just something I’d expect to hear in the background of a movie I was probably being forced to watch. It may be appropriate, but not something I’m going to pop into a mp3 player to listen to.

“One thing, I don't know why / It doesn't even matter how hard you try / I tried so hard and got so far / But in the end it doesn't even matter”

7 other people tried just as hard as you, so keep your Linkin Park to yourself.

“Since Spin doesn't like Hamlet though, it didn't matter if I met the terms of the competition. He didn't want me to go forward, and ensured we couldn't by putting us dead last.”

IF you’re saying I ranked you last just so you wouldn’t move onto the last round that’s BS. I didn’t even know my reviews/ranking were going to be used until after I wrote them. I wrote my reviews first thing in the morning on Saturday, and didn’t even hear from the last judge until 6PM. I even wrote to him around 11:30AM that day to see if he would be able to send them in late. And before your screaming & cursing fit that you directed toward me in G+, I e-mailed him again saying he could just send rankings if he didn’t have time to write full reviews.

I ranked you where I ranked you because the level of enjoyment that your song brought to me put you there. That’s it. I tried to avoid using my reviews, and even waited until the last possible minute to post the rankings in case I got a last minute e-mail with the last judges rankings.

“I hope Hamlet is there with a bloody daggar haunting you”

“Well folks, in spite of winning the popular vote, one of the judges said he has never liked Hamlet, and so he gave us the lowest possible score, neatly putting us into fifth place- we cannot go on in competition for Spintunes. We worked hard, but it just wasn't good enough. Read his review on http://?spintown79.blogspot.com/ and if you want to, let him know how you feel about his decision.”

“Write whatever you want to, Dave, it's a shadow after all. I started my song a hour ago, before this was posted”

Really? This is just an example of how childish you’re acting. In the previous contest you whined a bit when you were eliminated, and were a bit of a poor sport. But you’re taking it to a new level this time around. (at least I didn’t have anything to do with the last time) This is the first time you’ve made it past round 1. I would think that getting INTO round 3 would be something to celebrate.

“I am still really depressed at not getting to the final four in Spin tunes, aaaalllll because of Travis C. Langworthy who does not like one of the greatest plays if all time and made sure we would be dead last and couldnt move along.”

Yes...I was the only person to have any say in who moved on... If my review for round 1 had been used, would I have gotten full credit for you going to round 2?

“Most judges I have seen here in the past competitions go first for the question "Did it meet the challenge". No matter how much they may have liked it, if it was supposed to be a song about a puppy and all they got was a song about going to work, then it didn't meet the challenge and would be dropped. Spin said that I clearly met the challenge. The judge would next sort by other criteria, such as "Do I like this?"”

I was very lenient with the ‘meeting the challenge’ issue for 2 reasons. A few people expressed concern about the examples, and how they could have caused problems with the interpretation of the challenge. Also, I’m often more lenient when it comes to technical challenges since I’m not a musician and it’s hard for me to judge certain things. There were no DQ discussions this round, and so I felt that I shouldn’t knock someone much if (in my eyes) they didn’t hit the challenge squarely. Not that it matters much, if I felt like ignoring the challenge EVERY time I’m allowed to do so if the song isn’t DQed.

“Spin said that I clearly met the challenge. Had he judged my song like things usually are, I would have placed fifth on Spins list, tied for a position and my having the highest popular vote would have gotten me in. He knew that.”

I don’t think there’s a need for judges anymore. You seem to know where each judge SHOULD place you, so what’s the point? Once again I did NOT know where you would be placed in the overall standing when writing my reviews. IF you're saying that I did, it's just a flat out lie. I wrote my reviews before I heard from the last judge, and before I did the math with the 4 judges that I had heard from.

You could be the perfect poster child for SpinTunes. SpinTunes is meant to push you to do new things, and to help you improve along the way. You’ve done both over the past few years. Instead you’re on the verge of no longer being a part of SpinTunes because of your attitude and poor sportsmanship. I’ll leave it up to you, but keep in mind, that if someone is a pain in my side long enough, I don’t have to deal with them after SpinTunes 5.

I hope you decide to continue with SpinTunes,
Spin.

(If people have a problem with this message to JoAnn being public, when I could have easily e-mailed her, you shouldn’t. She decided to make this issue public, not me.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Menage a Tune - Poison, Or, All Of Hamlet In 4:04
I’ve never been able to read (or watch a film or stage version) of Hamlet all the way through. Puts me to sleep...every time. This really isn’t much different...although I made it to the end...multiple times. You hit the challenge right on. Unfortunately for you...this is about the worst topic you could have picked to hold my interest.