A week or so ago I discovered that a friend of mine had a blog -- a Blogger blog. With those damned word verification things at the bottom. I signed up and got a blogger account so that I could bypass the word verification because I hate those things with a passion (something about the way the letters are garbled always bothers me). It didn't work -- even Blogger members have to go through the verification process. Meh.
However, when you sign up, they walk you through the process of setting up a Blogger blog. So I had this blog just sitting there.....
It's like having a blank notebook, really. You can't just leave the damned thing blank, even if you only draw pictures of your history teacher with buck teeth and an arrow through his head on the first page you have to do *something* with it.
So I wrote. I wrote one personal post -- about why I write -- but I am not writing about my family, or day to day events. This is not a journal. This is a blog. Well, actually, it's a place for me to practice my writing.
Tonight I ended up writing something I really rather liked, and rather than simply repost the whole thing over here, I thought I'd link to it.
However, when you sign up, they walk you through the process of setting up a Blogger blog. So I had this blog just sitting there.....
It's like having a blank notebook, really. You can't just leave the damned thing blank, even if you only draw pictures of your history teacher with buck teeth and an arrow through his head on the first page you have to do *something* with it.
So I wrote. I wrote one personal post -- about why I write -- but I am not writing about my family, or day to day events. This is not a journal. This is a blog. Well, actually, it's a place for me to practice my writing.
Tonight I ended up writing something I really rather liked, and rather than simply repost the whole thing over here, I thought I'd link to it.
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I think it's a bit of a stretch to conflate a guy with a memoir lacking in truthiness and an administration with more blood on it's hands than I have songs in my head. But that's exactly the kind of jump in logic that the character would love. Which uh... seems ironic eh?
Some of my favorite autobiographies are chock full of lies, exaggerations and stories that are as old as vaudeville. Especially the autobiographies of old vaudvillians. I've heard the same story attributed to many a marx brother, george burns and jack benny so obviously someone was getting out of hand, so be it.
I found Frank Lloyd Wright's autobiography to be moving, philosophically engaging and gave me an interest in archetecture but is it terribly truthfull? Nope. but it doesn't detract from my enjoyment of archetecture.
Seems harmless to believe the exagerations of artists and entertainers because there's no body count and no one was hurt. The same cannot be said for believing the lies of politicians. Especially not this current crop.
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I hate those CAPTCHAs too. (And
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The blog entry: Good stuff. Speaking of the culture of lies, have you been following the saga of the unmasking of J.T. LeRoy (http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/)? Susie Bright has had some particulary trenchant (http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/people/features/14718/) and perceptive (http://susiebright.blogs.com/susie_brights_journal_/) things to say about thisdarling of the ever-so-hip literati, who apparently never actually existed.
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In the beginning of the novel, or at the end, I can't recall which, there is a note that states outright that sections of the story are dubious or outright fabrication and that while it may be based on his life, the reader should treat it as a story rather than as historical fact. (Unfortunately, I can't find that note using the Amazon "Look Inside," function, so I can't quote it now.) That's the way to handle those sorts of distortions honestly. To not mention them and then later claim that it's commonplace is not.
That said, I think you may come down a little hard on the things that people wish to believe, at least insofar as that implies that those beliefs are false. While there is a great deal of work involved in most creative processes, many great creations are accidental and spontaneous. Usually you don't wind up with the Great Thing directly from the Spontaneous Glitch -- there's typically refinement in between -- a large number of creative and scientific people have cited such incidents as having been a part of their process. I know that when I'm exercising my creativity, I purposefully introduce chance and randomness. This is something that's being supported directly now by many of the tools that I use and is explicitly taught in the composition training software I'm using.
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:)
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