Pluribo is a way-cool Firefox extension that automagically summarises Amazon product reviews.
posted on Jul 1, 2008 - View this thread

Amazon-ian Warrior. An unassuming Canadian chap has been quietly submitting ludicrous reviews of products sold on Amazon.com for nearly 5 years. For example, his detailed commentary on George P Joyce's A Comparative Analysis of Two Alternatives to Chemical Aircraft Paint Stripping:

Joyce is an alchemist, taking the leaden medium of technical report writing, and transmuting it with his warm spirit, pouring his pen over the obscured voices of the chemical aircraft paint strippers like a mellifluous caramel gold; redeeming them in a universal chorus of aircraft paint strippers, their individual spirits vibrating like strings in a cosmic harp.

Part of the fun is seeing how many people rated each review as helpful; for example, he gets 100% approval for his comments on Flautist Angel Statuette (This 'flautist angel' is crude, eschewing classical representation to debase itself in the distortions of folk art. A freak frisson of masochism prompted me to order an item that believes human anatomy is modelled upon slurry running from a faucet. Look at it.) while virtually no-one was impressed by his analysis of How Conservatives Won The Heart Of America (Thought-provoking. I did not know that the "heart of America" is an actual item the Conservatives won in a game of squash in 1972; I assumed it was a metaphor.) Since Amazon started adding RSS feeds and enabling comments on reviews, he finally appears to be starting to reach an audience; those wishing to keep updated with his sporadic but fantastic work may appreciate this handy Feedburner URL.
posted on Jan 22, 2007 - View this thread

"I yearn for that kind of a backpacking trip minus the bears." "I was much the happy to know this man was tremendously eaten ferociously by the grizzly bear." "Not bad but not enough black chicks."

The work of these online reviewers may not merit their own special edition, but they're special in their own way. Doc Savage reviews 200+ items on Amazon, most of which he hates, unless they involve black women and/or Carly Simon. At Netflix, HV from Duvall is not nearly as prolific, but gets 5 stars for sublimely anfractuous English. And DJAkin over at IMDB has written nearly 500 reviews, although most of them read like Jackie Harvey's Mad Libs. He (or she) may not be the next A. O. Scott, but if you can find me a critic with a more sincere and unsnarked love of cinema, I'll eat my britches.
posted on Jan 8, 2007 - View this thread

Effective Against Elton John. Amazon starts selling groceries online. People start reviewing their products. Hilarity ensues.
posted on Aug 6, 2006 - View this thread

"This book isn't as good as Harry Potter in MY opinion, and no one can refute me. Tastes are relative!" A review of Orwell's 1984 on Amazon, from a list compiled by Matthew Baldwin at The Morning News with a selection of the funniest one-star reviews of books from Time's list of the 100 best novels.
posted on Oct 23, 2005 - View this thread

MusicalGenius: What does a comedic genius stuck in lonely ol' Minneapolis do for fun? He becomes an ice cream eating, elephant fanatic who opens a Mashed Potato bar, of course. (Amazon.com)
posted on Mar 17, 2005 - View this thread

"First, look up the most popular and critically-acclaimed books, movies, and music on Amazon. Click on 'Customer Reviews,' and sort them by 'Lowest Rating First'..." The Amazon.com Knee-Jerk Contrarian Game.
posted on Jul 2, 2004 - View this thread

Would you call Googlebombing on Amazon Amazabombing? Ask Bill Frist, since whatever you call it, it just happened to him.
posted on Mar 28, 2004 - View this thread

A concerned reader in St. Louis just might be Dave Eggers. A weekend glitch on Amazon Canada allowed people to see the true secret identities behind reviews on the site. [NYT Link]
posted on Feb 17, 2004 - View this thread

Henry Raddick's Amazon Reviews are among the most insidiously hilarious works I've seen in some time. From his review of "McDonald Happy Meal Toys From The Nineties: With Price Guide": "An essential guide for the fast food promotional toy collector, this fine book lists each and every one of the toys given away with Happy meals in the 90s. If you choked on it, it's in here. It even had listings and recent auction prices for some of that weird "McCrying Game" merchandising. A must. " Indeed.
posted on Dec 12, 2002 - View this thread

Amazon.com restaurants. Reminds me of Google Catalogs. Is this a win-win for all parties, or is Amazon just angling to try and grab yet another slice of the pie? (Via Yahoo! News.)
posted on May 29, 2002 - View this thread

Obligatory FadeToBlack Unintentionally Funny Site Post #3 Collect them all while there's still flesh on the bones of this decomposing Equine!

Really though, Amazon can be so precious--check out the customer reviews: One day it just happened... I realized I was at a dead end. My job, my finances, my relationships - DEAD END. Surfing the net one evening, I was strangely drawn to this book on Amazon's site. Though the anal constriction theme was a bit odd, I thought, "Hey that goodbye depression thing is for me!" It suddenly came to me - what better way to pull myself out of a "dead end" than to liven my "end" up through this boot camp for the bootie? Whew! Almost as good as the ones for The Ultimate Guide To Anal Sex For Women, for example. No, I'm not linking that one!
posted on Apr 23, 2002 - View this thread

Read what Newt does. Or not. Newt Gingrich offers his book reviews on Amazon. Who knows, maybe he is saving up his associates fees for a barbecue grill.
posted on Aug 29, 2001 - View this thread

Update on Bezos' recent clash of interests (shock, horror..) book review.. [More..]
posted on Jun 23, 2001 - View this thread

Five five-star reviews on Amazon for G. Bruce Knecht’s The Proving Ground, about the tragic 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race. Of coarse it helps if you're a personal friend of Jeff Bezos. Does anyone seriously believe Jeff Bezos's review was honestly rated "18 out of 18 - helpful" by customers?
posted on Jun 20, 2001 - View this thread

Another great amazon review hack is up, arguing about the character of "Indiana" in its state law books. It's not the first time (the story of ping and reviews of a CD rack come to mind), but for me, writing like this never gets old.
posted on Mar 15, 2001 - View this thread

How important are Amazon's customer reviews? They may be fluff at best, but here's what I found when I dug a little deeper. I shudder to think that anyone is being positively influenced by this guy.
posted on Oct 11, 2000 - View this thread

David Eggers is encouraging McSweeney's readers to write fake reviews at Amazon. Some are more amusing than others, and most are variations on the same theme.
posted on Feb 19, 2000 - View this thread

As I was reading about this product at Amazon, I noticed they now let people 'score' the reviews. Will highly regarded reviews float to the top? That would make the products with 40+ reviews a lot more useful. Since Amazon patented one-click ordering and even sued Barnes and Noble over it, does this mean Slashdot should come after Amazon for adopting their moderation ideas?
posted on Nov 21, 1999 - View this thread

A friend gave me a promo CD of a band called Len. It's the weirdest mix of hip-hop, rock, old-school rap, and bubble-gum pop. It's strange, yet also the most satisfying thing I've heard in a while. If you read the reviews at Amazon, you can see that some people can accept multi-genre bands, and others can't.
posted on Sep 14, 1999 - View this thread