Reader's Notes - Doug Ramsey on Those End-of-the-Year Lists

     From the always interesting Doug Ramsey and his blog Rifftides comes a rumination on the process that critics across the arts go through in compiling the best-of-the-year lists -- an artificial and futile exercise, to be sure, but one that we all feel compelled to do.  Here's mine. My approach to these lists is usually the following sequence:
     1) "These lists are silly and I'm not going to do one."
     2) "I just looked at the list from Critic X and I can't believe Artist Z made the cut.  Artist Y is much better!"
     3) "For the sake of Artist Y, I must compile my own list."
     4) "I hated having to compromise my principles, so I won't be doing this next year."
     Ramsey stretches it out a little bit more than I have, so I provide the link to his blog entry.  Have a happy new year, all!

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