I met DCP this evening

[_Daniel Peterson]

The following is a standard response: Master Scartch has devoted himself since at least 2006 to publicly defaming me while maintaining his anonymity. I flatly deny virtually every allegation Master Scartch has ever made against me, and this one is no exception. I regard Master Scartch as an obsessive and malevolent loon, and have decided to refrain from further gratifying his weird fixation on me and those connected with me. Attempting conversation with him over the past many months has accomplished precisely nothing, and is, plainly, a complete waste of my time, especially given the fact that it's his self-described "mission" and "amusement" to be "perceived" by "Mopologists" as "full of hate." (Scartch, MDB, 1 October 2008)

[_Mister Scratch]

Yes: for their "Book Reviews" section.

The FARMS Review, formerly known as the Review of Books on the Book of Mormon and then as the FARMS Review of Books, is, in its entirety, a collection of book reviews -- and, very often, of book review essays.

We, um, tried to make that clear via our title. Sorry it didn't work for you.

Did you not state elsewhere that "groundbreaking" work and the like was taking place in FARMS Review?

This is yet another instance of your sophistry: you try to tell everyone that, in fact, the Review is totally typical, in an academic sense, because it receives peer review, and because academic journals include book reviews. But what is it that you leave out? I will hold you to explain to TBM readers what you're withholding.

What you are not telling people out there in the "audience" is that the "Book Reviews" section is usually a lesser addendum to the more hardcore, scholarly material. The "real" research and meat of the journal, as it were.

Anybody who's ever looked at a typical scholarly journal knows that the book reviews are generally only a portion of an academic journal's content.

You imagine that I'm somehow hiding this?

What you are "hiding" is the fact that very few (if any) legit academic journals commission nearly 100% of their supposedly "scholarly" content.

However, I wouldn't agree that the book reviews in a typical academic journal are necessarily less scholarly than the rest of the journal's content. That simply isn't the case, in my experience.

Well, I'm going to have to disagree with you, then. If you think that "book reviews", in the typical academic sense, are somehow more scholarly than the typical double-blind peer-reviewed research articles which usually appear in academic journals, then, well, I am going to have to disagree with you. Feel free to prove me wrong by citing a single journal that features the kind of stuff that is de rigueur in FARMS Review.

Are you thus admitting that such material is entirely absent from FARMS Review---i.e., that the journal is, how shall I say... sui generis?

It's a bit atypical, but it's not entirely without precedent. The New York Review of Books, London's Times Literary Supplement, the New York Times Book Review, the Religious Studies Review, the Review of Biblical Literature, the Theologische Literaturzeitung -- there are many quite reputable periodicals devoted entirely to book reviews.

LOL!!! Oh, man---I can practically hear the hot air leaking out of you. Please, my dear DCP, can you pretty please tell me--with a cherry on top!---how and why the New York Review of Books is considered to be a scholarly, peer-reviewed, academic journal?

And I'm just *dying* to know this. You have long portrayed yourself as something of an authority on peer review and scholarly journals. So, given the fact that you are now citing the New York [Times?] Review of Books, I would assume that you're prepared to explain how, in fact, it is a peer-reviewed, scholarly, academic publication.

If you can't do this, and can't properly explain how it fully correlates with FARMS Review, then it is going to seem like you have been tossing out false evidence all along. It is going to seem like you have not been entirely honest about what FARMS Review is up to.

No, really? And how many peer-reviewed scholarly pieces have you written that were commissioned?

Twelve to fifteen, I would guess without looking.

Name them.

Apart from my book reviews.

Book reviews usually are commissioned.

All of you guys are willing to stand behind and support, say, "That Old Black Magic"?

I certainly am.

Does it represent the views of FARMS?

[_Daniel Peterson]

You're an obsessive loon, Scartch.

Get a life.

[_Sethbag]

Incidentally, Sethbag, many thanks for your kind gift of the book. It looks interesting, and I'll try to get to it soon. (Maybe if I can wean myself from my odd fascination with acute congenital Scartcholepsy just a bit -- it's a bottomless well, a dark tunnel without an end, a hopeless tar baby -- I'll have more time to read worthwhile things.)

Yes, I just don't know what kinds of things you read, and how much time you have for reading for pleasure, so I hope you'll get a chance to read it, and I hope you like it as much as I liked it. I've just started reading it again, and I'm liking it just as much, again.

ps: by the way, in case anyone's curious, it was "Anathem", by Neal Stephenson.

[_cinepro]

Sounds like a fun evening. I've heard DCP speak at a few different firesides and never regretted having made the effort to attend.

[_Daniel Peterson]

Cinepro and I have even shaken hands and spoken one-to-one, if I'm not mistaken.

I haven't heard: Cinepro may have had to use disinfectant liberally for the next several months after that encounter, but, for my part, I thought it was fairly pleasant and was happy to meet him.

[_Daniel Peterson]

For the record, it's probably pretty clear.. I like Daniel. He is a nice person and has always been extremely kind to me. We don't always agree on issues, but we have been able to amicably disagree, which I think is key. Thanks for the update, Seth! :)

Daniel, if you ever find yourself in NC, shoot me an email. I know you enjoy cultural events. You would be more than welcome to attend one if my studio Master Classes. No speaking by you required. Just an evening of good music provided by my students and myself, along with good food. :)

I'd enjoy that, and, if I ever get out there again and have some time, I'll contact you and try to arrange it.

I think I've only been to North Carolina a couple of times. Once I lectured a few times in Raleigh-Durham, and the next time I gave both firesides and interfaith lectures in Charlotte and Asheville.

I enjoy music and literature and the arts very much, and always go out of my way to concerts and art museums and plays, although the Scartchmeister informs me that I actually only care for very safe First-Presidency-approved materials from the 1950s. What kind of music do you do?

[_Ray A]

Be careful, Dan, if you associate too much with liberals and apostates, you'll end up being froggy-boiled at 0.019°C. per second.

[_Yoda]

LOL! Thanks, Daniel!

The main focus of my studio is Musical Theater. Our event that we are having on November 6th will include sketches and selections from "Spring Awakening", "Sweeney Todd", "West Side Story", and "The Last Five Years".

For anyone who is in the Greensboro area, I'll post a note in the Events Forum. Anyone from here would be more than welcome to attend.

[_Yoda]

Be careful, Dan, if you associate too much with liberals and apostates, you'll end up being froggy-boiled at 0.019°C. per second.

Ah, yes! Everyone knows how dangerous I am. LOL