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Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics). Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places: Thanks for stopping by!  |
 Prompt #39: What's your favorite kind of gift to receive? What kind of gifts do you think are overrated? My favorite kind of gift is one of two things: either something that's either very intentional or personalized... or cash/gift cards. The gifts that I think are overrated are the things that are given without much thought, even if the value of the gift is considerable. Since I tend to buy myself the things that I really want, cash and gift cards are always appreciated (as long as, in the case of a gift card, it's to somewhere general like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target, etc.). I know a lot of people think they're impersonal, but I actually appreciate the consideration of, "Hey, I didn't know what to actually get you but here's some money for a place that you like to shop and I hope you're able to buy something that you're really excited about." And I do very intentionally associate my gift cards with the person who gave them (I try very hard not to just toss them in a drawer and forget about them for months at a time). I'll also try to send them a note whenever possible. "Hey, just wanted to know that your Apple gift card is going to help pay for the new MacBook I'm saving up for. Thanks so much!" For all those reasons, I think gift cards are actually a great gift for someone like me, who doesn't exactly maintain a year-long wish list of things I'd love to buy but for whatever reason haven't yet. I also really love personalized or individualized gifts, where it's clear there's thought behind it. There was one year at work where it seemed like every time I was in a meeting, I was fixing someone else's screw up, predicting problems that people would ignore only to have that prediction come true, etc. And, like, YES, that's my job most of the time, but it was a particularly notable span of several months where it was happening so often that other people were noticing. And in my department that year, my coworkers got me all kinds of themed gifts: a "Fixer of Everything" name plaque for my desk, a work notebook that had "All the Things I was Right About" printed on the cover, a mousepad with a dumpster-fire on it that said, "Everything's Fine" ... I loved it because they were amusing gifts that said, "Hey, I see you." The same goes for people who put thought into where the gifts come from. "I know you're really into D&D right now, so I bought you this sourcebook that seemed cool." Or, "You always talk about how into Formula 1 racing, so I got you a gift certificate to a racing simulator." Even if it's something that isn't a perfect match to what I would want for myself, the fact that someone put thought into it makes it special. At the other end of the spectrum are gifts that don't have any thought put into them. My wife's family is famous for this, where their love language is gift-giving, but it's not so much what the gift is, as much as it is the fact that a gift was given. A few of the family members will literally go to the bargain shelves at a bookstore or order a bunch of stuff of the Amazon "lightning deals" page without any other family member particularly in mind, and then wrap everything up and you get what you get. For them, it's more important that you, say, have a gift to unwrap under the Christmas tree, than it is ensuring that the book they got you is an author you actually care to read. Those are the kinds of gifts that I really struggle with, because I don't like material things cluttering up my space, and if it's not something I specifically want, it will probably go unused and just collect dust on a shelf until I'm doing a decluttering one day and realize that I have a perfectly good decorative salad bowl that I've never even opened the box to, that will be going out in the next run to the Goodwill donation center. Overall, I've never really been big on gifts. It's probably my least important of the five love languages. I can certainly appreciate a good gift when it's given, but overall things just aren't a huge priority for me. |
Prompt #F6: Genre in Miniature. Capture an entire genre in 500 words or less (think “the world’s smallest epic” or “a haiku-length western”). (Genre) Intertwined bodies interact in interchangeable circumstances, authors pairing off perverts for the purpose of provocativeness. Sometimes, it's a naive young thing matched up with a billionaire; other times, it's a naive young thing matched up with a celebrity. Or a professional athlete. Or a successful businessperson who's had great success at business things, but whose true talent surfaces between the sheets. Regardless of the particulars, praise be to the genre that never fails to find new and inventive ways to depict two (or more!) people (or non-humans!) to bone. first comes the meet-cute, then a dollop of story, and then the fucking. |
 Day 3956: On this day in 1954, Late night talk show "The Tonight Show," hosted by Steve Allen, premieres on NBC-TV. Steve Allen, is credited with pioneering many elements of the modern late-night talk show format., The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2009 and 2010–2014), Conan O'Brien (2009–2010), and Jimmy Fallon (2014–present). Did you know The Tonight Show is the world's longest-running talk show and the longest-running regularly scheduled entertainment program in the United States? Are you a fan of late-night talk shows? Which of the six hosts did you watch from the Tonight Show? I grew up in the Jay Leno era of The Tonight Show (his first time around). I stuck around for Conan's short stint, and then stopped watching late night programs with any regularity after Leno took over again for the second time. I've watched quite a few episodes of Fallon's version of the show over the years, usually when there's a guest on that I particularly want to watch or, more likely, when there's an especially good monologue or bit that I'll watch on YouTube. I liked his "Slow Jam the News" sketch, and loved his "Classroom Instruments" sketch where they perform hit songs using grade-school instruments like the kazoo, recorder, etc., and "Lip Sync Battle" was amazing before it was spun off into its own show. Late night shows are something that I really respect as an art form, but I don't really pay that much attention to myself. I think it's a great place for comedy writers to get their start, somewhere that can really do a lot of social commentary on the stories of the day, and which is fun and entertaining to watch. That said, the sheer number of late night programs and the tendency to have the same format (monologue, interview, musical guest, a couple of special segments sprinkled in) kind of burned me out after watching so many episodes growing up, so it's not something that I go out of my way to watch regularly anymore. Ironically, the host that turned me off of late night shows was Jay Leno during his second time hosting The Tonight Show. Part of it was the perceptions around Conan getting kicked off the show (although I don't think Leno was ever definitively proved to be involved in those decisions; it just seemed like it since he was the direct beneficiary of those decisions). Also, when I first started watching late night shows, I got the sense that a little light roasting of people in the news (celebrities, politicians, etc.) was just the "format" that the shows used. And I'm certainly someone who can appreciate a risqué or off-color joke, but I just found Leno's brand of humor to be particularly sexist and mean-spirited toward certain people, often grasping at the lowest-hanging fruit in an effort to get a quick laugh. Even other comedians commented on it, like when Patton Oswalt was quoted as saying, "Comedians who don't like Jay Leno now, and I'm one of them, we're not like, 'Jay Leno sucks' ... it's that we're so hurt and disappointed that one of the best comedians of our generation willfully has shut the switch off." I do think that the late night space is fascinating, and there's a ton of history in it, especially in who's hosted over the years, which shows have competed for audiences against one another, etc. And the current HBO comedy Hacks does a great job of making stand-up comedy, and late night show-hosting a central element of its overall story, which has rekindled my affection for the format. |
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