Many critics claim they avoid reading other reviews until they’ve filed theirs. The reasons: ‘I don’t want to be influenced’ or ‘I want to preserve the sanctity of my reaction’ or ‘I don’t have time,’ the last of which is really the only legitimate. Apart from being next to impossible in the post-Internet age, the insulation presumes that our reviews are original creations, untainted by any number of phenomena, from the quality of the download to the hangover we’re nursing.

Alfred Soto, “The importance of mediation” [please read the rest]