Michael Haz said:
Here's the thing (and it will sound familiar to someone who heard me explain it last week): Call it Haz's Corn Theory of Blogs.
I have come to view blogs as cans of corn on the shelf in a grocery store. No matter how clever the label, no matter how catchy and enticing the graphics, no matter how tempting the price, when you open the can, it's still the same corn it has always been.
Corn. Corn. Corn. Corn. Corn.
Now, I like farmers who grow the corn, most of them at least. And I like the people who pick and process and can the corn. And ditto the people who ship the corn, and who put it on the grocery store shelves.
I'm just tired of the corn, the same old corn every time I open the can, no matter how clever the label.
So I stopped buying corn; and most of the other things in the vegetable aisle. At least for a while, perhaps.
And I stopped growing and canning my own corn. My blog has gone dormant. No mo corn to process, and I'm out of seeds.
It's early February, and I'm starting the adventure season early this year. A man is given only so many years, and they best be used wisely. It's too cold to motorcycle, so Mrs. Haz and I are hitting the road tomorrow morning in the Hupmoble, headed to the land of palm trees and beaches.
I may be a geezer, but I still know how to do a killa good Spring break on the beaches. Watch for me on the Nat Geo Channel. I'll be wearing beads.
I tend to agree with Michael. I have been very busy lately. But then I am always busy. Lisa lost her uncle and aunt two weeks apart and the wakes and funerals have been devastating. We had someone quit on us so we are shorthanded. Lots of other problems but that is par for the course.
I don't have enough time to write up the posts I want to write like I used to last year. So sometimes I don't log on at all during the day. Plus I don't get as emotionally involved as I used to back in the day. Lem's blog has quieted down a lot so there is not much conflict there and the only other blog I am currently following is Turley on Nick's recomendation and that seems more of the same old, same old. I mean you have to be tired of jousting with Inga all the time. It is just not worth it. The people there seem very earnest but basically boring and pedantic in the extreme so it is not even worth breaking a sweat.
Maybe I should follow Michael's example and hit the road. He is born to be wild. Ride with the wind good buddy:
79 comments:
This place and Lem's have been lame and dead. Sorry for your troubles, really. But, you wanted an echo chamber, and well man, be careful WTF you wish for.
With all the corn metaphors, I was hoping for the "can o' corn" phrase from baseball to at least get a mention. It comes from can being on the top shelf of country stores, and the clerk catching the can o' corn as he poked it off the shelf w/ a pole.
Someone needs to do an intervention w/ Chip Ahoy for chrissake!! For all his horseshit, Titus is right about Chip Ahoy being more longwinded and lame than Orin Hatch. I mean DAAAAAMN!
Since Trooper has opened the complaint dept. w/ his complaints, I might as well list mine.
Father Fox is a smart guy. I try to inject some life into his blog but it's just a bunch of priest ass kissers commenting.
Trooper "hitting the road" is going to Long Island. There is NO reason not to go to the John Wayne Museum in Iowa and have a reunion. NONE!
I'll be your car service and it won't cost you a dime. And, I'm not a jihadist!
Yesterday I read in the NY Post sports section that both Sabathia and Texiera MUST have bounce-back seasons if the Yanks are to stand any chance at all. Uh, excuse me but Sabathia has NO KNEES! and Texiera, well, where doesn't he ache? Meanwhile, the Mets are loaded with strong young arms and HARVEY IS BACK! Crickets from Troop. Oh, I forgot...he's "busy."
It's true this whole blogosphere thing is a waste of time but then that's what time is for....or not, your call.
As far as I'm concerned both Chip Ahoy and LEM are from another universe. Aging does that to you...I mean me.
It is not that people want an echo chamber Nick. It is that over time people invest less in the value of a blog. Both as a commenter and as a blogger.
Lem has really let his blog slide as have I. I am just tired and busy and bet he can feel the same. If he posts some controversial topics he will get hits and comments. But most of his "lifestyle" posts don't call for many comments.
On Turley's blog you have the same dynamic as you used to have at TOP. The name calling and insults led by the likes of Inga and the Flowers people are the same as TOP just more pretentious and wordy. Plus Turley reigns in the really creative invective. Which I don't blame him because he is a national figure who could damage his professional status by having knuckleheads fling poo on his blog.
Chip Ahoy is a very interesting dude I have to say.
It is just when he gets on a hobbyhorse it is tough to engage because he comes at it from such an odd angle.
Most of the rest of the masthead seems to have flown the coop at Lem's for one reason or another. It seems that only Lem, Chip and Chickie are posting these days.
Lem might need to shake it up with some new blood. Just sayn'
ric I have been ruminating about my baseball picks and will post something soon.
Believe it or not I intend to go to a Nets game in the next couple of weeks.
My brother and I are talking about getting a food stand at the Barclays center.
More on that to follow.
I always have a bunch of projects in the hopper.
Better out than in, ND!
I'm wondering if it's time for the Latin sailor to get out the sextant, take a light and levity reading, and chart a new course? Some crew refurb also appears to be in order, as two faithful deck hands are not enough to keep the ship moving forward, even if one of them has an overabundance of wind for the sails. Where's the rest of the crew? Either round up those who've gone AWOL and see if they're willing to recommit, or take them off the work roster, list them as honorary guests, and send out a request for more hands on deck. It might also help if the Captain would attend to matters on board by posting his levity under the Levity masthead first before rowing over to Althouse to raise Tweet flags and share a brew with the crew of that caravel. Pulling up whatever anchor has been dropped in the form of loss, limited resources/energy, or life changes, needs to start happening soon if the ship is to remain functional and seaworthy enough to handle whatever rough waters and challenges lie ahead
Yes, there are ebbs and flows to blog life. I continue to maintain that in the long run, it's authenticity that matters most. Even more so in today's environment where deceit, lies and dishonest communication rule the roost. While amusing each other can be fun and entertaining, and the off loading of anger can be energizing and clarifying, what's most necessary and valuable is the presence and power of levity and authenticity, functioning in combination, like spirit and body, wine and bread.
From my POV, blogs are the cans that hold the corn. And it's the kernels of corn, corn, corn, corn, corn, inside those cans that individually function as forms of consumable energy, life giving for some, extra calories for others, and distasteful and/or sickening to those with corn issues/allergies.
Because it takes me a while to write, this comment started forming before TY posted his, but in the odd way that corn kernels fall individually into the can to be used as energy before turning back to compost, it follows.
Amaizing incite, MamaM. As always.
It seems to me that people are less and less interested in actually communicating, which means that posting is more about honing one's own thought processes and arguments. Which get pretty well honed after a while.
I dunno. I go to movies.
I dunno. I go to movies.
I looked for a review of "American Sniper" at your place (the only movie I went to see lately) -- but I didn't find one.
Corn:
Locally understood to denote the leading crop of a district. Restricted to the indigenous "maize" in America (c.1600, originally Indian corn, but the adjective was dropped), usually wheat in England, oats in Scotland and Ireland, while Korn means "rye" in parts of Germany. Maize was introduced to China by 1550, it thrived where rice did not grow well and was a significant factor in the 18th century population boom there. Cornflakes first recorded 1907. Corned beef so called for the "corns" or grains of salt with which it is preserved; from verb corn "to salt" (1560s). link
The word corn is cognate with kernel which means the central part of something. In German, Kern means nucleus as found in an atom. Kernwaffen doesn't mean "corn weapons" but rather nuclear weapons. Also, nucleic acids are found in the kernel of cells.
We call it Maize.
Just not with Frankie Beverly.
Blogfodder!
Chissake, Mama. If all it took was to give you a shout out to get you to write one of your great comments, then Hell! I'll be shouting out more often. I have missed you, and it's great to have you back. Trooper has too much of that emotional retard Irish in him. He's stunted, and unable to give it up and express his love for commenters. You are perceptive enough to know he loves us, he just is unable to express it. Fucking Irish cripples.
And blake, thanks for stopping by, you are a gem. I went to see Inherent Vice and liked it, as did my bride. We went to a theater in La Jolla and it had incredible reclining seats. We got invited to a focus group flick, but didn't go. It's Learning to Drive starring Patricia Clarkson and Ben Kingsley. Shot in NYC. Looks like a goods story. But the viewing was too late for us! We're old fuckers.
Since Trooper has opened the complaint dept. w/ his complaints, I might as well list mine.
Has anyone ever seen Nick and Titus together?
Yes, in Provincetown.
If I ever met "Titus" or the person who plays "Titus" I'd break its nose. I haven't done something like that since I was a kid, but I've done it. That motherfucker is dead to me.
And I still think it lurks here, somehow.
This is the reason I will never feel completely comfortable at TY. This is the reason I will never completely open up at TY.
I don't think he lurks here. But, I could be wrong.
Q: How do you know a blog has jumped the shark?
A: When Weird Al videos are highlighted.
I think we could do a pay per view cage match w/ chick and Titus. Vegas has chick favored 4-1.
So there is no misunderstanding, my corn comments were not aimed at Trooper.
They were my explanation regarding why I no longer read or comment at places like Turley or Althouse, and why I no longer blog, whether at my own blog or at Lem's blog.
That was the way I read it.
Bruce--
American Sniper is the only recent film I've seen I haven't reviewed yet. It's always a problem for me when a movie is really popular and controversial because I feel like I have to address the controversies as well as the movie, but that's way too easy to let get out of hand.
And, heh, my response is almost always the same "What the hell movie did you guys watch?"
Nick--
I'm glad you liked it. I've kind of cooled on Paul Thomas Anderson and his 2 1/2 hour movies. It started around There Will Be Blood. I think, like a lot of our great directors, he's gotten self-indulgent.
My poor mom, who sees maybe 4 movies a year (and prefers straight-up action flicks) got dragged to this.
Haz's Corn Theory of All Blogs but Trooper's??
Corn, Corn, Corn, Corn, Not Corn?
When it comes to corn, this blog qualifies as corny with a capitol C. Maybe (or almost) a silent H as well. Chorny!
Ride the Ear!
If all it took was to give you a shout out...
Truthfully ND, it was the fertile soil of TY's imagination and MHaz's canned corn that got me started, with the honest poke about death, lameness, and echo chamber from you priming the pump. I received your encouraging shout out was a nice extra, like bloom booster on an already growing shoot.
Mama, I'm like a shot of B-12.
blake, I agree about Anderson's self indulgence. But, I still like his work. Boogie Nights is still my favorite. I did not see There Will be Blood. The Master was good because of the acting, and in spite of the directing.
Oh, I still like him, too, I just don't rush out to see his stuff.
I think "Magnolia" is my favorite.
I must admit I don't catch many movies because I don't want to invest the time in it. The only exception is the Marvel series since they are making movies about the classic characters that I grew up with and they generally are of a very high quality.
I hear that Sony just made a deal to put Spiderman in the Marvel Universe since they own the movie rights so he can interact with the other comic book heros.
The word is he will be in the "Captain America-Civil War" movie which would be very interesting if they follow the comic.
Capt America gets assassinated.
Trooper, I don't know where the fuck your taste in TV and movies come from? To each their own!
I just can't waste the time in watching the drivel that Hollywood produces these days unless it is a big action movie.
I would rather catch episodic TV shows on Netflicks.
I haven't seen any of the films nominated for an Oscar for the last five years.
I don't think I missed anything.
On the other hand I have seen the following:
Fort Apache six times.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon seven times.
Gunfight at OK Corrall nine times.
Magnificent Seven eight times.
Streets of Fire four times.
The Long Riders three times.
The Quiet Man eleven times.
That is in the last six months.
Mama, I'm like a shot of B-12.
What am I, chopped liver?
Ronald Reagan was the buffoon prez of SAG that made these big action films the horsehsit shoved up out asses by the studios. The Jewish Mafia put Reagan in place. They had him sign off on the basic agreement being actors got no residuals from foreign releases. Now, the big actors get cuts from the foreign releases, but the vast majority get zilch. So, studios started producing action flicks that knuckle draggers in the US loved, and that the Chinks, Euro trash, etc. also ate up like it was candy. You see, studios learned action flicks were like magic acts are in Vegas. The reason magic acts are big in Vegas is that words mean nothing, it's all visual. Same w/ action flicks. You have to dub some dialogue, but it's minimum.
What am I, chopped liver?
Hybrid corn?
Ronald Reagan was the buffoon prez of SAG that made these big action films the horsehsit shoved up out asses by the studios. The Jewish Mafia put...
That's pretty rich coming from an Obama voter.
All true. The truth is a mofo. Both Reagan and Nixon took it in the ass from the Jewish Mafia in Hollywood to get elected. Only a rube Republican from Wi. would not think that is how it all works.
What does this make the TY crowd?
I never thought of googling "corn" before, but some amazing stuff turns up.
Versatile word.
Why aren't there any chicks named Mitzi these days?
Shit, wrong link. I saw the name Mitzi, but clicked on some other '50s babe's video.
Better than Mitzi anyway, but there are still plenty of chicks named Jane, so it was a good mistake IMO.
Which blogger is this? I say TOP, but YMMV. Def not Chip A., tho.
And yes, I'm drunk.
I figured you were wondering.
What does this make the TY crowd?
Corn stars?
Wherever there are corn stars, there are these.
Except in lesiban porn, of course.
Have you noticed that most blogs seem to be run by people in their 40s, 50s, or 60s? Perhaps I haven't searched well enough, but it seems that there are few interesting blogs run by young people. Maybe they are the post-blog generation.
Dang it, I'm rather late to this thread. I've one thing to say about Trooper York's blog...it is a place where you can say something in good faith and get responses in good faith, frequently with humor, and usually with some insight however briefly stated. It is also a place where bomb throwers are not accepted and I find that refreshing. So, yep, I'm a fan.
If I manage to get to NYC again (nothing in business takes me there anymore...retired and all that, I am going to find his place...and ask to be lead to, and accompanied, where to eat old school Italian food I remember form my days long ago in NYC. Frequently when I am asked what is best about NYC I usually mention food first.
Late to the party and really off topic to the post.
American Sniper was interesting, made you think and actually pretty good. Not Oscar quality good. The acting was cheesy but the presentation of the idea of how war affects people and who are the people who chose to fight was something you don't see in the cartoonish and propaganda laded films coming from the leftist hollywood grist mill.
Speaking of gritty.....I highly recommend watching Peaky Blinders on Netflix. I have a hard time understanding what they are saying at times due to the very thick accents. Awesome show. I especially like the juxtaposition of the modern Soprano like music against the period setting.
lol...Nick voted for Obama?
I did NOT see that coming.
OK, not to get all hipster-y here, but while I saw over 120 films in the theater last year, I only saw about half of the top 40.
I agree with Troop that the Marvel films are well-made. I also think they're played out. You can see my reviews of Big Hero Six and Guardians of the Galaxy for a taste of why.
They are utterly predictable and completely devoid of any suspense. Because nothing that happens matters—these are essentially cartoons, a la Wile E Coyote—they have to constantly up the ante for the pretend stakes.
As someone said about "Man of Steel", after Superman saved Earth from being terraformed by renegade Kyrptonians, "Boy, it's sure gonna be a let down next movie when he thwarts Lex Luthor's jewel heist."
Very few great movies have been made about saving the world. I don't think Star Wars is a great movie, but I'd allow it into this category. Metropolis arguably. War of the Worlds and When Worlds Collide would count.
Great movies, even when epic in scope, still tend to get their greatness from intimacy, like Lawrence of Arabia.
As long as I'm rambling I haven't done an official top 5 for 2014 yet, but it's shaking out like:
Calvary
Whiplash
Mommy
Birdman
Grand Budapest Hotel
I'd probably put Sniper in as #6. But that's my idiosyncratic take. Of those films, I would only recommend "Calvary" to Troop (or actually any John Michael Donagh film, for that matter).
If I were picking films for Troop from 2014, I'd go with "Blue Ruin", "Joe", "13 Sins", "Cold In July", "Life of Crime", "Fury" and...maybe "A Walk Among The Tombstones". "Fury" and "Walk" are the only ones in the top 40. Hell, they're the only ones in the top 200!
There were some kickass documentaries this year, too. In fact, the early year was dominated by "Tim's Vermeer" (technically a 2013 release), "The Last of the Unjust", "Galapagos: Satan Came To Eden", "Finding Vivian Maier" and "Jodorowsky's Dune". Oh, and "Divorce Corp" for a view of how effed up Family Court is.
But documentaries are a different beast. Some people just don't like 'em. And sometimes you're just not in the mood.
I don't know what it's like in the hinterlands, but out here, there's just a plethora of options catering to a variety of tastes.
It's really kind of a golden age. Much like with music.
I actually saws Walk Among the Tombstone as I have corresponded with Lawrence Block (the author of the book)
He has commented here.
The movie was terrible
Liam Neeson was a horrible Matt Scudder and they lost the esscense of the character
Well, that's why I said "maybe". One thing about recommending movies to you, Troop, is whether you've read the book. I generally would say skip it, if I know you have.
I'm also iffy on recommending "Life of Crime" because that's an Elmore Leonard book.
But I'm pretty sure you haven't read "Cold in July" and that even if you have, this is a pretty faithful rendition.
The wife wants to see "Gone Girl" because she read that book.
What I love about the Marvel Movies is that I read the book.
The comic book.
I just can't believe when they screw with the origin story. I mean they made the Human Torch a black guy?
WTF?
Maybe they are the post-blog generation.
Niblets type with their thumbs. They're also not as experienced at running things as those in their 40's, 50's and 60's.
Blogs are one form of communication. They invite different levels of participation depending on the topic, leadership, and the maturity of those commenting.
This one covers a broad range.
I love how inside baseball gets all the comments. Hee.
Speaking of inside baseball, I hope you don't mind me cutting and pasting a little back of the hand I delivered on Facebook today in response to Andrew Sullivan's swan song:
"Yet another sign of the decline of the general-interest blog. 'The Dish' was about Andrew Sullivan, which of course isn't surprising. It's always been the case with with this kind of writing. But the economics of internet authorship are different from those of paper. I.F. Stone, for example, was in essence a blogger, writing a magazine of ideas—his own first and foremost—but physically printed on paper.
"It's often said--when it is said at all--that I.F. Stone-esque18th century keepers of "newspapers of ideas"—Addison and Steele, Swift, Johnson, and a multitude of others—were the first bloggers. There is very true, and Sullivan, in his way, fits neatly in this tradition. And 18th century authors, like their modern counterparts, often used personal periodicals as a "platform" to sell their other works. The big difference is economics. The old authors could sell a thousand copies or two and make money, like any print publication, by receipts and advertising. To make blogging worthwhile now is much more ill-defined.
"It may not be worth the bother as a literary platform, and the pay is terrible at best. I'm afraid blogging—especially general-interest blogging—now equates more than ever to vanity in every sense of the word."
Inside baseball. Tim doesn't come around often, but when he does he brings the heat, like Nuke LaLouche.
I'm going to watch "Peaky Blinders" this week-end per DBQ's recommend. She recommended "Foyle's War" in these very blog Blätter a couple years ago and she was right!
Sullivan somehow wants blogs to begin and end with him is my take.
Me? I spent an hour and a half declining German adjectives tonight and got paid for it.
Hominy Homily! (In the field of corn, there's actually an inactive blog out there by that very name) Hee indeed!
That's what happens when the corn wags the tale. In the end, though, it's still all about transfer of energy. And beyond that, a place to bring part or all of one's self to the table. Which leads to connection.
Which takes things back to the old time story about the Pool of Bethesda, where a crowd would lay around the edges waiting for an angel to stir (or trouble) the waters, as the first person to enter the pool afterwards would be healed of whatever ailed them.
As the corn homily goes, at this watering hole, it was the old Trooper himself who fired up the Taser to activate the pond scum with a few well placed pokes of focused creative energy, effectively zapping perverted salons, Latin sailors , poor souls and the pope in the process. Soon after that discharge, corn corn corn corn corn started miraculously popping up along with conch fritters, pontifications about stalled ships, movie reviews, book mentions, music, and Mitzi memories, as those who'd apparently been quietly waiting on the sidelines for weeks for something to stir their stumps about, slid into the water to join the pool party.
So what was that about and what made it happen? A fondness for insider baseball? Corn? Vanity? For thousands of years humans have been responding to the energy of something/someone other than themselves in order to realize connection. While poking up anger and provoking controversy is one way to make that happen, shared stories, humor, music, poetry and art also fire up the neurotransmitters. As do considerations of Whose that girl? and a host of other thoughts, opinions and expressions which stir and/or trouble the waters.
While general interest blogging may involve vanity and yield little in the way of monetary gain, I don't believe it's possible to measure the length of another's reach into cyberspace or determine the full value of the corn being delivered. What I can attest to is the dynamic power of levity and authenticity to engender connection, affirm life and foster growth and change. The row of corn that led to this many comments also stands as testimony.
Cornholiooooo!!!!!
Mama, The best comment I have read anywhere yet this year. Happy Valentines to you, and the absent women.
The general take on "Gone Girl" from those who have read the book is mildly positive.
The first two thirds of GG is classic Fincher: Excellent thriller/mystery. Broody, dark, suspenseful.
The last third is arty Fincher: A message so awful that only a misanthropist could love it.
Tim, I would have bet big bucks you would not be a fan of Beavis and Butthead. We all have a dark side.
@ Chick
You won't regret it!!!....watching Peaky Blinders. I did have to stop and go back a few times because their accents are quite thick and they use slang. After a few episodes, though, I'm getting the hang of it.
ND, your good words and Valentine's greeting are much appreciated. Thank you! I'd send you a box of chocolates in return, but knowing your preference runs toward something more golden, I decided on this for you and the rest of pool players at TY: Happy Valentine's Day!
Mama, LOL and Awww. San Diego is a big dog town. We always had dogs but when the last one died, we decided to not have one, although my wife whines. It is just so much easier to travel sans pup. But, those chocolate labs.
Taking the bride out to dinner tonight. We are smart and secure enough to skip the big night. Hope you and all the women here have a nice Valentines Day. It has taken on a life of its own. But, February is a tough month for restaurants and I come from a restaurant fam.
We got otha things on oua minds up heah in New England than fuckin' Valentine's Day: Wicked stoam comin'
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