It is time for a second-generation blog
I guess I liked irony better before people worried if they were post-ironic or post-post-ironic. I guess I liked comedy better when it was based on what you thought of, rather than making fun of what other people thought of. Before blogs, there was Mystery Science Theater, which wasn’t funny, and before that was What’s Up, Tiger Lily? which had maybe one or two funny parts. Shooting fish in barrels designed for their shooting is not clever. It is, however, highly accessible, because anyone can do it.
Since it’s now a medical fact that I’m funnier than Woody Allen, it’s not much of a stretch to say I’m funnier than, say, blog artisans who perform the diaristic equivalent of adding “in bed” to the end of fortune cookie fortunes.
If I were Joe Blogger, I’d glance at The New York Times, or more likely the Post. I’d find a headline, ignore the article, dash off something such as “More Teenagers Say No to Sex with Me,” and call it a day. This is the routine of the cultural elite: mocking a society by being even less interesting than it.
In other words, if Tina Brown = x, making fun of Tina Brown = 0.00001x. This means you, Ms. Spiers.
“But your blog,” you ask, “What makes you so damn superior, and gives me such a headache?” It is different because I write about what happens to me. Not about what I think a funny name for a Telemundo sitcom would be. Whether or not you actually like this is up to you, but let me know how often Henry James talked about shoe fashions. I’m trying for something other than just Page Six for the Simpsons generation.
Now that all persons under 35 have a blog, just as all American women over 50 make hand-crafted jewelry, the blog alone does not designate you as a member of the cognoscenti. It may even do the opposite. My hope is that, now that the technology of the blog has been well-established, the content can expand from Gen X navel-gazing-via-televised-navels-of-celebrities. In our post-interesting culture, the mocked and the mocker are fighting over crumbs. Pathetic. Iconoclastic by nature, I am willing to be the pioneer into a new blog era, with its roots firmly planted in the pre-blog era. Also, you suck.
Have a happy holiday season.
by Jack, December 23, 2003 1:57 PM | More from Foundational Issues
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It's so bitter, but so true.
Ooooh Jack...
To each his own blog. Peace be with you.
...heh
that would be really great if everybody would get his own blog!! peace also to you