"Madame, bear in mind That princes govern all things--save the wind." -Victor Hugo, The Infanta's Rose
Credits: Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman © King Features Syndicate
posted by Mr. Toast @ 4/21/2006 08:34:00 PM
Sarcastic, occasionally witty ex-radio DJ/engineer and sardonic observer of life. Though mostly a practical realist, I sometimes see myself as a sensitive romantic dreamer. Other traits: easily amused; fond of tinkering with electronic objects, good food and small furry animals (not necessarily in that order); unable to leap tall buildings, in a single bound or otherwise; always a traveler, never a tourist; housebent, but not broken.
Blogs I've been reading lately
5 Comments:
At 4/23/2006 08:58:00 PM,
April said…
So true, so very true :)
At 4/23/2006 11:13:00 PM,
Schnozz said…
I admit that I have occasionally removed a good little nugget from an e-mail so I could use it on my blog. You know, that zippy little sentence that just WORKS ... that zippy little sentence that I was apparently unwilling to "waste" on just one friend. Oh shame.
Now I just leave it in and copy and paste it. I used to care about making everyone feel special, with their own special little communication from me. Now I'm like, "Here's your homogenized helping of me. EVERYONE gets this me. This me is not unique to you! Total strangers get this version! This ain't no intimate arthouse me! This is wide-release, summer blockbuster me!"
I think I might be going to hell, actually.
While I'm just sitting here in Honolulu rambling in your comments section, I will say that I think it's interesting that many find it distasteful for everyone to know you the same way. Is that inherently impersonal and offensive? Or was it naughty of us to become such individualized chameleons in the first place, giving Grandma this version and Little Sister this other version? Is the summer blockbuster version of you actually more honest than all of those little intimate arthouse versions? Discuss!
At 4/24/2006 07:43:00 AM,
Mr. Toast said…
Schnozz-
Nothing wrong with it, really. It's just your "public personae". It used to be you only had an alter-ego if you were a performer of some kind (like a disk jockey or a stage actor). Now with blogs, everyone can have their own little "Me" show. And like I learned when I really was a DJ years ago, to be any good at it you have to do research. We called it "show prep" then, and it meant looking for little tidbits in the news, thinking up funny bits, using "that zippy little sentence that just works" (as you so aptly put it) or whatever else you thought might entertain your audience.
It's the same with the blog world now. We're constantly looking for material to use, especially from our own experiences and those of the people around us. If we consider our blogs to be a form of entertainment, then they don't always have to be "honest" (creative license, etc.). But I believe most bloggers, not being professional writers per se, generally tend to write better when they draw on their own honest emotions. The relative anonymity of blogging can be liberating for the mind as well; it becomes more of a community where everyone can freely participate. And there's always the option, if you do happen to make contact with someone through the blog whose ideas interest you, of getting to know that person better "offline" and perhaps gaining a real-life friend. This may not be a common occurrence, but I suspect it happens more often than we may realize.
Oh, and one last thing: having said all this, I'm still totally pissed that you're in Hawaii and I'm not.
:^)
At 4/25/2006 07:43:00 AM,
Anonymous said…
The only danger to sharing your "public personae" on your blog is if you stop communicating individually with your real life friends, they may feel that they are no more important to you than your anonymous blog readers.
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Very true, Casey. I agree, it's important to find a balance between the two, and I think most people are able to do this. Hopefully I won't ever become a hermit, huddled in a dark room in front of a glowing screen, living a virtual online life at the expense of the real world!
At 4/28/2006 06:15:00 PM,
Schnozz said…
Mr. Toast, your emoticon had a Schnozz!!!
In retrospect it's so obvious. Yet I never thought of it. There are no words.
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Aw, shucks. :^) And yes, my emoticon does have a schnozz. Mine may not be world-class like yours, but it is a pretty good honker in it's own right. Let me also say that I greatly admire your ability to not only have fun with your imperfections, but be proud enough of them to make them an integral part of your own "personae". It would be great if everyone were able to do that, but then it would also probably put a lot of plastic surgeons out of business -- which might not be such a bad thing, actually.
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