Part of the appeal of this site is that people react to bluntness--want honesty. Maybe too much honesty. It's like the ultimate driving on the freeway and stopping to view the blood from the accident and bodies. I'm generalizing but you get the gist. We complain that the only news is bad news yet we're not interested in good news --in fact, years ago, some TV channel promoted the first "We only report good news"--no murder stories, no funerals, no armed robbery surveillance video, etc. and guess what? Nobody watched. The channel went dead. So good news is really bad business apparently. The National Enquirer's picture of Elvis's dead body was its most popular cover ever. Millions bought it. A cute and cuddly cat appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. It too sold well but nowhere near the figure of Elvis's corpse.
Which brings me back to my buddy saying that I've pulled back and become too mellow. I really haven't but maybe some of you think I have. It's hard, frankly, to go poke at others when you yourself have been in a personal funk like me for the past month or so. There are those journalists out there who have an amazing ability to compartmentalize and perform their work even under the most dire of circumstances. That's why I'm a blogger, I guess.
Even those of you that have been the recipient of my scorn know (most of you at least) that my rants are based, mostly, on my opinion of your work. I seriously try not to make it personal but any criticism, any rip, verbal snipe, el-snarky supreme, is always personal. Some of you get it and know how to play the game- others simply don't get it. It's just my opinion. Nevertheless my current pretzel state instead of the spicy meatloaf has transformed me which is great for the mind but delivers lousy Google checks. So help me, what should I do?
When you're dealing with life issues everything else becomes uber-secondary. I know a lot of you guys love pictures of black Bentleys parked in handicapped zones and ripping the morning talk host who does mattress ads but I'm not in the mood. Not now at least. They'll be a day when things go back to normal but right now is not the time. Or is it? Never mind.
When you're dealing with life issues everything else becomes uber-secondary. I know a lot of you guys love pictures of black Bentleys parked in handicapped zones and ripping the morning talk host who does mattress ads but I'm not in the mood. Not now at least. They'll be a day when things go back to normal but right now is not the time. Or is it? Never mind.
This may sound trite but one thing I've really discovered is that no matter how much we think something is important; some job, some ex-wife; a girlfriend/boyfriend issue, ego, weight, the 'who pays the bar tab', me taking a shot at Ronn; it's really not that important. Surprise. Sure, I can still think that Ronn sold out but I don't wish Ronn any ill health or bad vibe; never have, but going through what I've been through the past six weeks makes it seem, in retrospect, utterly trivial and in reality it is. All of it. I'm beginning to sound like Dr. Phil and that's annoying but I think you get the point.
In due time, God willing and if I'm in a better mood and not worrying about what other people think about me, I'll get back to throwing out some darts and extra cheese on the burgers. Until then, please excuse my detour from Glenn Beck into Mother Teresa.
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Do the math. A half Lieberman > a quadruple Owens when it comes to authenticity and cutting off a piece of yourself for your art. I respect that. We, the who's in Whoville, are there for you, man. The cycles of life, we are in it together, combatting the evil, stupid and amoral 1% and their enablers. Truth-to-power Lieberman style, awesome legacy.
ReplyDeleteYou could start to write about cats.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why you sound guilty about the Radnich car in the handicapped zone post. If you hadn't,he would have got away with it. Some shaming was called for no doubt about that.
I think you should just be Honest, If you're in a funk....you're in a funk
ReplyDeleteIf you're Busy you're Busy....Just say what you have to say. So what, what we think.
That's what I hate about politics, they are always re-branding according to what they Think we want instead of being honest..
If the truth is good be nice, if not tell like it is.
My Best wishes to your Mom.
Rich, you've been infected by the disease of common decency.
ReplyDeleteLife and death dilemma's tend to do that.
Not a bad way to live.
God bless your mother who must have instilled
a great measure of goodness in you.
Rich, despite your sometimes zany and angry postings, you are a creative, thoughtful and generally good person. Anyone who knows you and knows your history and reads your blog regularly understands this.
ReplyDeleteYou have a passion for the media and you care, which is more than can be said for most of the folks out there who don't seem to give a whit that the quality of our traditional media has gone to the dogs so that mega-companies can maximize their profits by downsizing, consolidating, and putting under qualified youngsters on the air to save more money.
So please, keep ripping them when they do that, and know that there are many of us out here who appreciate it. And also know that each one of us goes through the trials and tribulations that you are currently experiencing with the difficult health issues faced by your mom.
Hang in there Rich, and don't worry about 'losing your edge,' for a few weeks. You'll get it back soon and your blog will be full of vitriol and lots of responses vedry soon.
Acting nice and not posting anything nasty for a few weeks is a small price to pay for behaving like a 'mensch' once in awhile.
Most of us never thought ( I arrived pretty late to this shindig) that you were simply being acerbic for acerbicity's own sake (is that really a word? If not -- it is now). There's gotta be standards, and somebody might as well set them, and hold people up against them. You have to be interested in something to criticize it.
ReplyDelete