I confess myself fascinated by the referral statistics to my blog, tiny in number though they may be.
It is partly driven, of course, by a brazen need to find out whether I am being talked about, for good or ill. I even love my trolls. “Let them hate, so long as they talk about me.” (I think it was Seneca who said that. Or Madonna. I can’t remember now.*)
There is also, however, the pleasure of stumbling across a very good writer because both my post and his are linked to in the same thread.
A fine example is Paul Bibeau at Goblinbooks who I came across in a Cracked.com forum thread in which I got a plug. Paul is channeling Ayn Rand, and it is good:
Back in the early 1940s I was living in Tenafly, New Jersey with a guy named Ronnie Hubbard. He was hiding out in his brother’s basement so he could avoid the draft, and I was working at a rendering plant. Most nights we’d lie on this cot he’d found on a curb and drink, fuck like weasels, and smoke opium. I’ll be honest: We smoked a shit-ton of opium. Anyway over the course of a few weeks — it’s hard to piece it all together — we started talking about pranks.
I also get the chance to hook up with old friends, such as AsiangrrlMN who, along with her Angry Black Webmistress, is employing her anger quite effectively:
The second bill is the lovely, “Hey, we’re going to do a completely meaningless procedure before you’re allowed to have an abortion and stick something up your vagina at the same time” bill. It passed the House in VA, 63-36.
Susan of Texas gets Ross Douthat in a headlock and administers some well deserved noogies, while Anita at I Read Odd Books is dumping her 4am findings from the depths of the internet, including a delightfully deranged analysis of bestiality and pedophilia in The Simpson’s Movie.
Meanwhile, TBogg takes James Poulos out behind the woodshed and administers the statutory fifty whacks with the stupid stick (and makes straight vodka come out my nose (which, I can now tell you, is not at all pleasant)):
Yesterday James Poulos writing for Tucker Carlson’s Chronicle Of A Career Death Foretold penned an gaseous belch of a post called “What Are Women For?” which was, offensive title aside, what you might expect if you were to dump two scoops of over-educated rhetorical flatulence, a half-cup of undercooked thought experiments, a few overly-ripe bon mots, and a soupçon of undeserved self regard into a blender set at ‘blather’. The end result is what Empedocles fondly referred to in his Purifications as a “steaming pile of donkey poop.”
Best of all, though, I love the pleasure of stumbling across a blogger or artist who has shown the ineffable good taste to have inserted me into their blogroll. Not surprisingly, most of them turn out to also be talented, erudite and funny (and sometimes quite sweary and a little bit odd).
I adore, for example, The Perils of Palins, particularly when she is channeling her inner troll (with troll doll pictures and added cat):
You never know if you have one or two trolls being four or five people, three or four trolls being themselves, or perhaps just one dysfunctional person.
Also deserving of a look is the lovely and very talented (and neither sweary, nor odd) Jen Hill, who has a book coming out and who drew the delightful dog and cat doodles in this post and kindly allowed me to show them to you.
Now then, what delights have you found (or, indeed, created) on the internets, my dears?
ETA: Congratulations to commenter Dallas Taylor for his wonderful story, and to Dee Loralei who seeks feedback on some musical compositions by her son, Cooper Torode, who appears to have both talent and six-pack abs, the little bastard.
[Cross-posted in a slightly different form at Sarah, Proud and Tall.]* Attributed by Seneca to the playwright Lucius Accius, and said to be a favourite saying of Caligula. Apparently.
Dallas Taylor
I wrote this, and my friend Greg did the video.
Check it out. It’s only 45 seconds long. What have you got to lose? Besides 45 seconds. Obviously.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Dallas Taylor:
Very nice indeed.
Congratulations on the sale.
Larry Nabokov
This:
http://onthecommons.org/tangle-thorns
Omnes Omnibus
@Dallas Taylor: Cool. Seriously.
Karen in GA
Okay, I don’t have any cat pictures, but I have a short video of two of my cats. I was trying out my new video camera and learning how to use Window Movie Maker, because I’m a simp and have no idea what I’m doing with this stuff, and this was the result.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HirAJWsvm-A
Arundel
Wonderful stuff, Sarah P&T, you’re a treasure! Have a great weekend, everyone.
Karen in GA
@Dallas Taylor: What Sarah and Omnes said.
jhaygood
the quote is “the only thing worse than being talked about, is NOT being talked about.”
Sarah Proud and Tall
@jhaygood:
That is a good quote, but the one I was taking liberties with was this one.
Or so the googles tell me. So, not Seneca, apparently.
SqueakyRat
Jen Hill’s animals owe something to Thurber, I think.
Omnes Omnibus
@Sarah Proud and Tall: Look, if you are going to get all high brow, does that mean I should expect posts from Tom Levenson about the meth fueled orgies in the MIT basements? I just need to prepare myself.
Comrade Mary
@Omnes Omnibus: I want a Tom-Sarah mashup!
Omnes Omnibus
@Comrade Mary: Sure, we all do, but it also scares us. There are some lines that can’t be crossed without consequences.
ETA: There are things, that having been seen, cannot be unseen. Are you truly prepared?
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh, the stories he could tell…
Dee Loralei
Sarah, if you wish to be high-brow, my son has started writing orchestral music. He’s put two excerpts on SoundCloud. His name is Cooper Torode. The first that he put on the site he calls “Over World”. I told him it sounded like the music to a Western, that I could envision some cowboy type horse-riders riding across the plains to the music.
The second piece he put up, makes me think of a journey. Like Hobbits meeting the Rohirim and going in to battle together. That excerpt is called “Survival”.
I’d love some real feedback on this. I’m his mom and think he’s all that. My friends love me enough to lie to me and tell me he is that good. I need friends who have no loyalty to me or him, to tell me if he is actually talented.
And, does anyone know about the app called “LyricPress”? Should I buy it for him?
Comrade Mary
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes I said yes I will Yes.
Omnes Omnibus
@Comrade Mary: Be it on your head then. God help us all.
Comrade Mary
/sits and waits expectantly with glowing eyes
Omnes Omnibus
@Comrade Mary: Fuck, Joyce. It took me a few minutes. Stupid booze.
Sarah Proud and Tall
@Comrade Mary:
/shuffles feet nervously
Comrade Mary
@Sarah Proud and Tall: Aw, crap. Performance issues? I can leave for a few minutes while you get comfy. Give a whippoorwill call when all’s well.
Comrade Mary
@Omnes Omnibus: I’m a poseur. I can’t quote the whole thing, and I had to copy and paste to get the last bit right.
Omnes Omnibus
@Comrade Mary: It’s okay. I sat here thinking, “I know that is a quote. Be intellectual, you ass, come on, you read whatever the fuck she is quoting….” And then I realized.
asiangrrlMN
Thanks, STP for the shout-out! I am burstin’ my buttons proud.
And, yes, I, too, want a Tom-Sarah hook-up. Make it so!
Dallas Taylor
Sarah, Omnes, and Karen: Thank you very much. I’m glad you liked it.
Chuck Butcher
@Omnes Omnibus:
funny thing, despite being very well read a few snippets of Joyce convinced me I wasn’t interested and I never paid any more attention. I should rectify that some time.
Susan of Texas
Susan of Texas gets Ross Douthat in a headlock and administers some well deserved noogies
Oh how I wish I could. I bet I’m taller than he is.
Also, atomic wedgies would be deployed.