Archive for the ‘Polemics’ Category

Blogging is Shit

July 7th, 2008 1 Comment

Hello! Blogging is shit.

Seriously. But you all knew that. It’s an indulgence, which I like to dabble in every now and then, but it is largely inconsequential and pointless.

Oh, but it’s writing, it’s great to be writing, you say. Yes, well, no. It’s an excuse not to write anything worth writing. I find that prolific blogging periods correspond with zero proper-writing periods, and vice versa. Q E fucking D.

But there’s nothing wrong with the odd indulgence. A rogue cigarette, a glass of A Winter’s Tale, an episode of Emmerdale (Farm), a game of Wii Tennis. Actually, there’s an analogue - blogging is to writing, as Wii is to exercise. Sure, it’s doing you no harm, but you’re deluded if you think it’s genuinely a form of exercise. But what about Wii Fit, you say? Well, all I can say is that it’s marketing genius - the  Jap who said “lets sell people a weighing scales that can count your push-ups for €100″ is truly a clever Jap.

Is saying ‘Jap’ offensive? Doesn’t seem offensive to me, it’s merely an abbreviation. Hello Japs.

Oh, but it’s a gateway to the world of critical media. It’s only a matter of time until I’m invited to write a column for the Sunday Independent, or guest as an expert on a radio show. Or maybe I’ll get a book deal, and become the Loo Read of 2009, you say.  

Oh, but it’s an outlet for my feelings. Woe is me, you say. Yes, woe is you. Woe betide, I’m leaking feelings.

Oh, but it’s a fine soap box for my poorly-formed polemics and amusing rants, you say. Aye, ’tis. 

Have you ever tried standing on a soap box? Your average box of Daz won’t support your average man. I’d suggest one of those foldable footstools available from “The Book People” - those folks who leave ‘books’ in your office once a month - the latest selection of TV tie-in cookbooks, some children’s books, a sportsperson’s autobiography (for the men) and some other gimmicky gimcrackery. Never a novel. God forbid.

So, yeah, what’s my point. Blogging is like Wii? The Book People are cucksockers? Your blog is even shitter than mine? I’ve got Blog-bulimia? I hate books like “Overheard in Dublin“? I’m looking for attention? I am high-i-i-i-igh on emotion? I frown upon enjoyable and vaguely rewarding pastimes? I’m ok with mild xenophobia? I like sherry? No, no that’s not it at all.

And for god’s sake, if you have read this, please don’t feel the need to justify your blog, or, heaven forbid, mine. Or do, it might amuse me. I might kill you though. Ooh, I’ve just threatened the world. Does that make me a terrorist? Relax, Americans, it’s going to be Ohkay.

 

 

 

 

The first in a series of polemics inspired by Controversial Pub-Arguments

Lauded Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington is exactly the same in every film. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a good guy, a bad guy, a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, or a bad guy pretending to be a good guy. He’s always the same. He should take on some more challenging roles. I want to see him play a computer nerd, or an idiot, or a frenchman, or a woman, or a white man - only then can he realistically be considered a good actor.

 

I just don’t get it. Maybe I have missed some of his key performances. Here are the ones I can recall (voice-overs don’t count):
  • Crimson Tide - Stern, determined black guy
  • Training day - Dodgy, stern, determined black guy
  • He Got Game - Stern, determined black guy
  • Remember The Titans - Stern, determined black guy
  • American Gangster - Dodgy, stern, determined black guy
  • The Manchurian Candidate - Stern, determined black guy
  • Malcolm X - Stern, determined black guy
Pattern? Now don’t get me wrong, he does it well, but in my eyes, it’s all he can do. He’s a one trick pony. Nobody agrees with me on this, but nobody has come up with a credible counter-argument either.

 

Also, is that the opposite of situational irony in the picture up there? I think it is.