I have covered a lot of ground on this blog lately, so I thought I would double back for a bit and follow up on some recent posts, just to makes sure they haven’t developed shin splits or been accosted by marauding Yiddish telemarketers.
Blogging Week
First up is a recent exercise in marathon posting that I descriptively described as Blogging Week. During this momentous event I subjected many unsuspecting netizens to a full five-day span of opinions, rants, and a petrifying overflow of memes.
Upon further reflection of things said during the excitement of the moment, I have decided that I would like to issue a bit of a retraction.
I see now that I came down rather hard on personal diarists, mommy-bloggers, and other scrapbookers of daily events, implying that those that engage in such shenanigans are somehow bad or inferior to highly-masculine, randomly associating tale-spinners like myself.
So let me just say this:
It’s a big internet out there and you can do whatever you want to on your blog. What is a blog anyway, if not an personal expression of who you are and what you are about. After all, if everyone wrote their blogs like the Ominous Comma, I would have to start a mommy-blog just to differentiate myself. And since I am not endowed by temperament or gender to actually be a mommy, that could be very labor intesnive.
So let’s just leave thing as they are.
Unread Books
I also recently posted about my waning powers of concentration and the growing list of books I was unable to finish. I am proud to announce that since that story originally hit the net, I have completed Walking on Water by Madeleine L’Engle as well as Antisocial Commentary by Diesel.
Allow me to demonstrate my recent burst in literacy with the following comparison of those two authors:
- Madeline writes from a lifetime of experience as a mother, grandmother, and award-winning published author.
- Diesel writes from a lifetime of being named after a petroleum product.
Despite this handicap of Diesel’s, I found Antisocial Commentary to contain many funny statements and a least one thought provoking one:
“…for me the kiss of death for a humor piece is to start off trying to convince someone of a particular point of view…I don’t mean that humor is an effective way of making a point; I mean that humor is the point.”
To be honest, I don’t know if I agree with the Fossil-Fueled One on this point. For as much as I enjoy entertaining people as a Basically Agenda-less Humorist, I have to wonder if I couldn’t be doing something more beneficial. If I couldn’t somehow improve the world, or make some small difference by bringing some of my personal causes more fully into this, my public platform.
Let the pondering begin.
Jarhead Festival
Most recently, I addressed the roles of alcohol and testosterone in the glorious origins of the Unites States Marine Corps. The tone of that story made me think of one of my Desert Storm buddies that I hadn’t heard from in fifteen years.
Once I finished the post, I googled him thinking we could reminisce over the Marine Corps Birthday weekend. That plan went out the window when I discover that, thanks to a brain tumor, my friend had recently joined Madeleine L’Engle in the prestigious Association of People Tired Of Waiting For Brent to Catch Up.
I never realized how much I had to say until conversing hours were over.
Life is short.
Just one more reason why I will never finish Moby Dick.
—-
Not to leave you on a down note, allow me to grace you with my latest DangerCouch adventure.
This post is resting on it’s laurels over at humor-blogs.com
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
“…make some small difference by bringing some of my personal causes more fully into this, my public platform.”
No. Put down the keyboard and slowly back away. You’re talking about seriously dangerous stuff there. Really. Do yourself a favor. I realize that looks aren’t everything, but just stay funny.
As long as you project the side of you that you want via this blog it makes the whole reading experience all the more worthwhile, for the rest of us. At the end of day, that is the true essence of a ‘personal blog’.
i’d have to say i agree with both jami and deadpoolite thus far! we know that there arent going to be frequent personal diarist outbursts in the Comma’s future.
but we do know that as you said, brent, we must be true to our own selves in what we present in our blogs. thats why some people have more than one–so we can represent our multiple personalities *hehe* er…multi-faceted-humano-emotional-perspectives, or something like that.
for someone, like myself, who LOVES the sarcastic, witty humor as much as the next, i also enjoy seeing the humanness peek out once in a while. that’s okay. i mean, you’re not a BOT are you??? ;)
kudos for you for steppin out of the norm of the Comma to address some non-cynicistic attachment to the blogosphere. :D and you even did it with the utmost Comma-istic diction. YAY.
and last (but not least) im sorry about your desert storm buddy.
Hah, no comment by Diesel on his own book review? Same thing happened to me when I compared his book with Harry Potter 7 last month. Well, I thought it was funny…
Regular visitors to your site (like myself) keep coming back for more not so much to laugh as to connect with a shared perspective or writing style that we find appealing or intriguing. I have detected a common socioeconomic and/or political perspective in many of your posts (and I’ve read them ALL) confirmed by participating in your comments section.
I would be very receptive in learning more about what motivates you personally on a more visionary level. You would not necessarily be trying to convince us that your perspective is correct, more than just conveying that your perspective is important.
Your perspective on personal issues would be very informative and inviting, in my opinion, in that you are very humble and selfless as opposed to being more ego driven like some other writers.
You are a great writer in general, not just a great humor writer; I think you would benefit as much as your readers if you injected some more personal vision. No matter what you decide (just do it), I’m sure your presentation will still be entertaining and/or thought provoking.
Having said that, I must admit I do enjoy the crazy phenomenon that is DangerCouch. The latest episode, in all its quirkiness, is just hilarious. I can tell you guys enjoy working together.
Whatever direction you take, we will all be along for the ride. You may get a little criticism from some but sometimes that is not such a bad thing and can even create more dedication to what fuels your particular passion or cause.
Ominous Brent, I’ve missed seeing ya! I am finally back online and was able to make a posting today on my blog. I also included pictures my husband sent me from Morocco.
I’m going to be reading everything I’ve missed so far…and about this post…your blog is great. You don’t have to be funny for us. This blog is about you and for you. It’s wonderful to see your human side. Josey is right…you aren’t a bot!!
Just be you…that is why we keep coming back for more. :)
We are all in love with you so just do whatever you want…jeezzz…
Thank you for your support, although I’m not sure how I feel about being on the receiving end of a love that dare not name itself.
I guess that’s the question, can you really just a project one side of yourself? And if so, which one?
Thanks, who knew you were so philosophical under that mask.
No, I’m not a bot, just a guy with more questions than answers.
They say every cynic is merely a frustrated idealist, so I guess every once in a while a delicate bloom of fresh idealism will sprout in even the most crusted soul.
The trick is to snip it, smash it in a large book, and preserve its flattened beauty for all of time.
I have another blog, but it’s even more point-deprived than this one. I have thought of starting a more serious one, but I really need to dedicate any additional writing time Ito something I can sell, or at least fill out a portfolio with.
Thanks for your comment and your concern for my friend.
I think he’s been a bit busy lately, but I’m sure he’ll be by.
He’s like a commet that way.
“…for me the kiss of death for a humor piece is to start off trying to convince someone of a particular point of view…I don’t mean that humor is an effective way of making a point; I mean that humor is the point.”
Is it OK if you try to convince someone of a point of view if wait until the middle or the end to get around to it?
I’m going to disagree with Diesel on this one. Everything makes a point, even if it’s just seemingly pointless musing about baseball or something. There’s still an opinion that forms the basis of the words and tone used.
Thank you Debbie, that kind of wide-reaching support is difficult to find.
I can’t imagine turning the Comma into a full-fledged political soapbox, but the site has evolved so far in ways that have often surprised me, and I’m sure it will continue to subtly grow and change as hopefully I do as well.
As for being selfless, it was simply a matter of my ego being unable to take on Normal Mailer’s.
Now that he’s out of the way, there is nothing to keep my ego in check.
I’m having full length mirrors and self-bestowed awards installed even as we speak.
You’ll have to excuse me, I’m being fitted for my crown.
Catherine, glad to have you back.
Although when I join the screen writers in a funniness strike next week, I will let everyone know that you gave me permission.
(They are still on strike aren’t they? They better get this worked out soon, the last time they quit, we were all punished with reality shows.)
I think you are right that every piece, humor or not, must have a point.
I find that sometimes I even have to make up a point (like outrage at being denied nude mountain climbing rights) just to give the story something to cling to.
I also suspect that with all this quoting and re-quoting, we may be taking him out of context, and since I failed to link him, he probably doesn’t know we’re talking about him.
Perhaps he will have something to add.
you’re welcome.
and i completely agree with debbie (a few comments down).
and im glad you have more questions than answers, for if that weren’t so, humankind’s delicate balance of curiosity vs ominousness would be shattered!
OH and i forgot to say that the DangerCouch clip brought back oh-so-fond memories of my college days when my friends and i made some dang goofy (but NOT talented, heh) videos of us improv-ing…LOL… you guys made me bust a gut!!
I don’t know, you seem pretty outspoken on your blog about the things that concern you.
What if I did an expose piece on the horrors of naval taunting of jarheads?
Aside from the fact that nobody would care, that is.
Thanks, we definitely had fun.
In an up-all-night, semi-craby, Starbuck’s gulping way.
So you are a bit of a pompous turd bucket after all eh?
Hmmmmmm….I believe this is becoming an alarming pattern for you Brent. First James Brown (yes, I watched the DangerCouch DVD commentary until the credits rolled and Ruckus threw down like James Brown) and now Norm.
Oh you can’t fool me, you would be just has happy go lucky if you were being fitted for a dunce cap.
You mean to say you dont have ovaries….
Yeah. I like to make up stupid causes too.
Wow, quite a discussion you’re having here. Sorry, I’ve been crazy busy lately, and on top of everything else I just got back from the emergency room with my son, who sprained his foot. Oy.
Here’s the point I was trying to make when I wrote that: To me, if something is funny, it’s “true,” in some sense. That is, by making someone laugh, you’re helping them to make a cognitive connection that they hadn’t made before. You’re allowing them to see some element of reality in a new way — and you’re making them laugh on top of it. To me, that’s at least as worthwhile as convincing someone that Social Security should be privatized.
Sometimes I’ll start with a serious point, but then the challenge is to bury it in enough nonsense and conflicting points of view that the reader has almost no hope of figuring out what I’m trying to say. And yet… the joke will stick with them, and maybe some time, years from now, they’ll think, “Damn, Diesel was totally right about whatever-it-is!”
Or not. But it’s even less likely that they’ll think that if I come at them with an agenda.
To put it another way: Making people laugh is hard enough. If you can do that, you’ve got a gift. Don’t waste it trying to do “more.”
Debbie rocks!
Jinkies! Love as in luv, as in luv ya lots, as in luv to laugh.
If I tried to not make a point, that would be doing more.
Yeah, I’m a blogging loudmouth about stuff but you’ll also notice that my blog isn’t listed at humor-blogs.com, either. I started doing standup to take care of the humor. Seriously, should you do serious posts about stuff that concerns you? Hell, yes - you writes good! But don’t try to mix it in here; buzz-kill and all. Crank up another blog to do the not-so-funny-all-the-time posts.
Oh, and about the time-honored traditions of mutual hatred between swabbies and jarheads? You’re right that no one cares about that shit except swabbies and jarheads, and finding a bunch of either group that can actually read AND drive a computer is a fairly remote possibility. (Yes, the marines go ashore to do the fighting, but that’s because the sailors go ashore to do the loving.)
That’s why I love (and I mean really LOVE) Stephen Colbert — he is making a point, but he is saying the exact opposite of the point he is making, and he is funny while he is doing it. He has to be really smart to pull it off. Sometimes he is just plain silly (like his rants about bears) but when he’s going after GWB, it is hilarious, but if you are not listening closely you might just miss the joke.
Brent — go for it! We all love you, like Debbie said, or else we would find some other blogger to read while we are supposed to be working. We love your humor, we want to hear your opinions, and we are not going to run away if you start to get serious or preachy.
Go for it!
Your blog rocks Brent. I love reading what you write, and I enjoy it no matter what your agenda might be. When did everyone start having agendas anyway? I don’t think I have one, but I’m not sure what they look like either. Plus I took the ‘How Smart Do You Have To Be To Read This Blog’ test and I got…. Elementary School. Since ma own blog is so simpill, I dunno wat yall r sayin anyways. Luv ya hon.
Well, I have to agree with Diesel on the making someone laugh is hard enough and that is a good think in itself. Did you say that? Okay, you meant that? And, I also know how there are times when you just don’t feel like laughing or making others laugh. And there are times when you don’t know what the hell you are trying to say like right now.
oh and another thing. Having different places to express all the sides of yourself is very helpful. A place for your backside, leftside…
“…sailors goes ashore to do the loving.”
(snort)
I wasn’t really considering teaching, preaching, or impeaching, but I have been impressed with the way that Cobert, P.J. O’Rourke, and even Micheal Moore have a focus and an angle from which they approach issues while still being very entertaining.
(Moore, however approaches them from Pluto.)
Which harkens back to other comments on this post about how everyone has “an angle” but not everyone lets it become an agenda.
(Actually, with Pluto being demoted, and Moore inflating like a really angry dirigible, he may soon be qualified to be a replacement planet.)
What we have here is a Gary Lason-worthy irony: I sit here wishing I could save the world and somewhere else Superman is desperately wishing he was funny.
That’s why I stay away from politics, what imagination can compete with sheer volume and quality of industrial-grade stupidity of generated by professional statesmen?
I heard she polkas and sometimes she even salsas.
Yes, but what if I bore myself?
I can just imagine it:
…And furthermore, in concluding my third and final conclusion, allow me to say that everyone who disagrees with me is a big fat doody-head.
(Of course anyone who disagrees with me is a fat doody-head, but to actually point that out is simply being too preachy.)
If only I had a brain like Brent and a heart like Lynn!
Thank you Karen,
The sad part is that operating out of Memphis, I actually understood what you where typing there at the end.
(sigh)
P.S. If I see an agenda I will point it out to you.
So far, this entire site is based on the concept that not knowing what to say should never be an impediment to writing.
That and brownies.
You are right, sometimes I just don’t feel like being funny. I guess that’s what people call work.
I guess I’m just one of those never-enough kind of people.
Too true. I often get some of my best ideas while expressing my backside in “the loo.”
I may have to start a secondary site: How To Be In Complete And Total Agreement With Brent’s Every Opinion.
I’d subscribe.
I’m with Roan on Stephen Colbert. I think Stephen Colbert is actually a pretty conservative guy (like myself), but he does such a great job portraying an over-the-top conservative guy that it’s virtually impossible to tell which side he’s making fun of. Often it’s both. To me, that’s just genius. But he starts with being funny, and whatever “point” he’s trying to make is secondary.
I agree, it is difficult to make any presentation firmly-held dogma entertaining, except as something to mock. Humor comes from being able to hold ideas loosely enough that you can look at them from the “wrong” direction.
I also think you were right in your earlier comment, humor is about connecting ideas in unexpected ways.
But if those connections inspire people to think differently, or to think at all, then wouldn’t that be a plus?
I just enjoy being around your musk, Mr. Brent.
Oh ok, Brent rocks too.
I enjoy The Colbert Report myself. I tend to plug my ears when the screams of “no spin zone” and “fair and balanced” propaganda headline my television. Colbert’s fake pundit persona kind of makes all that more tolerable…the dripping irony just soothes the heartache. His satire is an unstable mix if idealism and cynicism. It upholds a missing or degraded social or political value by brutally mocking its absence. To me his little smirk is a mask for deep social concern.
Most of his career has catered to the liberal more left leaning crowd but I think he is trying to blur the lines a little at this point letting everyone in on the joke.
Now your Lordship we had an agreement, you could spray the English Leather all you want, but the musk had to remain on the shelf.
I’m afraid you have contaminated the entire area, I will have to put it through the blog-wash.
This might take some time, I’ll see you Friday.
I’ll say.
Wow! You have a pretty good discussion going on over here. I have to admit I’ve come over here before, but haven’t made any comments. Yes, I confess I sometimes like to lurk before jumping in with an opinion. I think humor in itself is a pretty beneficial thing in this crazy world, even when it’s not trying to achieve anything more than “just” making people laugh. And, no, Diesel is not paying me to say this. ;)