From Mr. Wolcott:
Wolcott writes so purdy about leave-taking that it tempts me......A blog post that begins "National vodka repository Peggy Noonan..." restoreth one's faith in comedy, and mankind. But it also wearying for a blogger such as TBogg to know that no matter how devastatingly a Nooner is zinged, there's no getting rid of her, just as there's no getting rid of David Brooks or Newt Gingrich or any other of the media pestilents that have been plaguing us since Ronald Reagan bronzed his hair. After awhile making fun loses some of its fun, and a blogger is danger of becoming bitter, and no one should become a bottler of Bitter Ironies, not when there's life to be led. After I hit "send" on this, I intend to walk barefoot into the backyard garden and inhale all that nature offers, assuming a gnat doesn't go up my nose, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.
8 comments:
Oh, God, you better *not*, Driftglass. I don't know what else to say, except, just, no. Don't.
Hell - we'd just hunt you down and throw a net over your ass.
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/08/on-this-day-ray-bradbury
Don't do it. DG.
Who else will Lumpy be able to call Doneglass with such comedit wit?
Wow. That is so perfectly said.
After hearing so many lies, I've turned off my TV forever. Then I started on podcasts. After hearing so many truths, I may have to put my phone away for good as well. There is life to be lived, kids to play with, and a shit load of shot loads that will just never change.
-aaronintw
Perhaps a break is in order.
My suggestion: Carefully read a book that you've always wanted to tackle but never really had the time or inclination to sit down and wrestle with.
You may already have a few books in mind. Alternately, you might rely on the judgement of an old and trusted friend to suggest a book to you.
Not surprisingly, a book from another century that you stubbornly insist on taking seriously (even the parts that seem outlandish and crazy) can eventually lead to profound insights about our current realities.
In my estimation, Rousseau is a truly poetic writer. "Emile", which (sadly) is rarely taken seriously, is the sort of book that would easily take a year to fully grapple with. I know of only one faithful translation of this book. It's was lovingly translated by the reactionary academic from the University of Chicago, Allen Bloom, It is widely accepted as the only translation worth reading.
Even if you simply enjoy the sound of a masterful wordsmith plying his craft you will fall in love with Rousseau and his well thought out sentence construction.
One last thought: A great book like Emile was not written to be agreed with; it was written as a challenge for future centuries. The challenge is to refine and expand your own thinking by doing battle with one of the truly great minds of human history.
I've been reading your excellent prose for some time. My sense is that a rut is becoming increasingly evident in your writing. Perhaps it's time to challenge yourself against one of history's truly great minds, of which there are many.
Take the jump.
Nuh-uh.
There's that damn veiled threat again DG. I thought i told you to stop that the last time.
Do NOT give in to that temptation. It's bad enough I have to do without Doghouse Reily, and Tbogg and the bassets, and Jesus' General quasi-retirement -- shit, I still miss Johnathon Swift and Steve Gilliard and Norbiz and all the other great bloggers who've close up shop or gone on to the happy hunting grounds. If you quit, it means we've left the progblogosphere to FDL's purity trolls, endless "rock on" threads and those who still gather round at the Great Orange Satan.
Don't leave us here without you.
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