low standards

A few years ago I had a blog called Nothing Productive. One day, sick of it, I just deleted the whole thing. At the time, I hated it. I was reading all these minor DIY blogs that circle-jerked around the Gawker Media empire (I used to read those blogs, too). It made me hate both reading and writing. So, I quit writing my blog and quit reading blogs, and just read what I wanted to and wrote things I felt compelled to write, instead of getting up ass early to read the Sun and Page Six and try to be the first to write the obvious joke about whatever celebrity bullshit I didn’t even care about.

Now, I read blogs again, thanks to finding Brendan Donnelly’s blog, which seemed fresh, funny, and most of all uncalculated. It lead me to a lot of other great daily reads, and here I am with my bullshit, again, but in a form I find okay.

I still have a lot of problems with blogs. First of all, too many blogs all link to and write about the same shit and the whole thing gets pretty boring, although I understand and accept that it’s part of the nature of the beast.

It’s no surprise that some of the worst content anyone can read anywhere can be found in the comments section of a lot of blogs. There’s weird stupid shit like the comments section of Fail Blog, which has developed into its own sort of retarded thing with its own jargon, rituals, inside shit, etc. On a lot of other blogs that get a lot of comments, things generally skew two ways, either very negative or overly positive. I don’t think I need to explain the negative thing. As for the overly positive, it just comes down to my opinions on some things. I’m not a big fan of community, which sounds like a stupid thing to say. The point is I don’t think individuals need to brand themselves with something like a blog or web site or individual author. The idea of describing one’s self in terms of what one reads is a little too simplistic for me.

Now, let’s talk standards. Everyday on too many blog comments sections, I read things like, “this is the funniest thing I’ve ever read,” “Best post ever,” etc. Again, I won’t go into the pointless negative comments. Really, though? Have people just quit reading or are people just not that funny? Well, most people aren’t funny. Still, I think what people are really saying is, “You’ve articulately and/or wittily written something with which I personally identify,” which is quite a bit different form being the best in its class. It’s still an admirable thing.

These quality blogs find literary equivalents in Chuck Klosterman’s nonfiction and Douglas Coupland’s fiction (just two, of many, examples), decent stuff that seems to resonate more on a personal level, instead of resting on deserved critical acclaim, granted the writing is polished and professional.

This is getting way to longwinded for my mostly unread blog. I’ll end with this: if you’re going to comment on a blog, maybe you should think about whether you’re adding anything valid. And, if you’re trying to be funny, whether you’re making a valid funny point, or think you have an awesome burn directed at either the blog or some other commenter, you should think extra hard.

Since this was retarded, check out some good comedy instead. Here’s Ira Proctor doing a set at the Just for Laughs Festival. Shit’s funny. See, I can appreciate it, and don't have to say, "Holy shit, that's the funniest thing EVER." It's good, though.

Ira Proctor - New Faces 2008



Check out this Hal Sparks set. He has long hair now. He does a bit about how people freak out about his long hair. Hey, Hal, there’s nothing wrong with long hair, per se, it’s more about the fact that you look like Janeane Garofalo used to.

Hal Sparks - Masters 2008