Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Tuesday - The Other White Meat

I don't even know what that means..

Never write when bored. Just don't. That boredom will just come out in your writing, boring others. And then, like some sort of plague, you spread your boredom across the land.

Well, not entirely true I guess. We Americans are very determined that if something isn't entertaining the shit out of us, we move on. So when you write, it had better have a purpose other than easing your own boredom.

1) Catharsis. Yep, a little bit of self healin' never hurt anyone.
2) Entertainment. Give the gift that keeps giving.. And no, not "D" cell batteries, you sick little monkey.
3) Education. Pass down your proud heritage through the written word.

Yay.

So then, O faithful reader, why do I insist on taking up my pen when I have so much time on my hands with nothing to do? Because there is a fourth reason to lift the quill....

4) PUNISHMENT. That just sounds hard-core. But here it is; truth and proof already. I am punishing you with my boredom.

*up on a balcony overlooking this Blog*

STATLER: Boo!
WALDORF: Boooo!
STATLER: That was the worst thing I’ve ever heard!
WALDORF: It was terrible!
STATLER: Horrendous!
WALDORF: Well it wasn’t that bad.
STATLER: Oh, yeah?
WALDORF: Well, there were parts of it I liked!
STATLER: Well, I liked alot of it.
WALDORF: Yeah, it was GOOD actually.
STATLER: It was great!
WALDORF: It was wonderful!
STATLER: Yeah, bravo!
WALDORF: More!
STATLER: More!
WALDORF: More!
STATLER: More!

(recklessly stolen from two of the finest gentle-puppets in history..)

But no, seriously folks, to the point. If a person writes entirely for themselves, I feel that what's written is usually ..... unavailable to the average reader. It's too private, too personal. I'm sure there are exceptions to this case, I'm positive in fact. But I know in many cases it's true.

It's the ultimate inside joke.

Here's an example.. a few years ago some friends and I decided to create a Podcast. We called it "Starting Now" and it's really a gaming / gamer Podcast designed to let our inner geeks roar.

Anyhow, when it was set up, I initially pictured myself as being the "rebel without a cause", I made my opinions known loud and proud. I was disdainful of other's thoughts and comments. I was obnoxious and .... well, downright awesome (see Statler and Waldorf comments above).

However, as time went on, I started to realize how 'fake' it was. I liked people and I cared what people thought of me, so why was I playing the jerk? And quite frankly, I hate being "That Guy". You know, the irritating one? So, as time went on, my "character" changed altogether to something that I felt I, as a listener, would have enjoyed more.

I don't know if it was successful or not, but I do know that here I am writing about it.

Go freedom of speech.

3 comments:

Michael Denniston said...

Glad you mentioned Starting Now, I've been listening through the run of the show yet again on drives and got curious to find out what happened to the show. And so I found your blog.

I realize that this come perhaps years after the show ended (?) but I just wanted to let you know that it was really enjoyed by my gaming group, and I'm grateful that I have the episodes saved on my hard drive.

As for your persona on the show, I never found you to be obnoxious or hateful towards others opinions. If anything I would have pegged you as just really enthusiastic about gaming conversation. Nothing jerk-like about that, being on a gaming podcast and all.

Anyways, I wish you and the rest of the Starting Now crew well, and look forward to reading some of your thoughts here on the blog, be them gaming related or not.

The Raging Swede(tm) said...

Hehe, thank you for the message, Miked! Oddly enough, we're actually thinking about getting the whole gang together again for Eberron 4e.

I'm sure I'll post about it here, because I can't seem to stop posting about whatever pops out of my mind!

I'll gladly pass on your hullo to the gang! I'm always amazed when I (e)bump into someone that used to listen to us. I still talk to the King of Danerland all the time!!

Meanwhile, I hope you don't mind if I check out your blog? =)

Thank you, sir, and here's hoping my blog doesn't suck pond-water!!

Michael Denniston said...

Check out my blog? Sure. Though we of The Bacon Bros. don't really thing of it is such, though.

We just title it that way.

It's more of a link dump, place to post campaign recaps, and bitch about comics/movies/each other. A lot of in-jokes and as such is probably of no interest to the public. In fact I think the most recent batch of posts is some really crappy videos captured by cell phone as two of our players got into an argument about David Mamet films. Keep in mind this heated matter of importance took place right as we were trying to get started on our Eberron game for the week. I don't know if this makes us seem cultured, or just incompetent.

But if you want to take a look, it would be cool to have The Shark take a look at our nonsense!