I have updated my profile on the blog despite the fact I have no idea how I can effectively write for it. How do I describe my interests in 20 words? It seems so limiting and reductive. I could go from Space to Spaced, but I doubt it would give anyone reading much idea about me. Would it convey I have an abiding passion for the concept of exploring the universe or used to love a TV comedy I now doubt I will ever enjoy in the same way again post the trauma of Anne-Marie?
Given only one other person* on blogger.com lists anti-nostalgia as an interest, is it likely that anyone is going understand exactly what the concept means to me or its appeal? The same with ‘landscape’. I would feel somewhat dishonest if I did not list both long-term or current research topics such as parapolitics, Bill Hicks, Philip K Dick or voodoo, but I am not simply what I research. Nor am I merely what I enjoy such as red wine and cooking. Mentioning such fundamental parts of my life as writing and reading seems redundant despite the fact they are obviously core interests.
Given that there is nowhere else on the profile to list favourite television programmes – surely as equally valid an ideaspace medium as books, films and music – I have given up some of the twenty slots to tip the hat to such big influences on my imagination and life as Doctor Who and Edge of Darkness. Is BBC Radio 4 an interest or an integral part of my cultural identity?
I will keep tinkering with my profile because I am far from happy about it. Of course, it actually does not matter at all in any sensible scale of things. It is just when you attempt to capture your life in words, it tends to feels like a magical act of definition you need to get to right.
*Dale Carrico who writes an interesting blog (despite the fact that he never seems to point out that libertarianism is a filthily broad church not composed solely of property right obsessives dreaming lopsided sci-fi) and whose interests range from ‘queer politics and cultures’ to ‘peer-to-peer digital and bioremedial networks’.
12 comments:
Spaced is a damn good tv show. The bit where they have the invisible gunfights makes me giggle like a little girl.
Spaced is awesome - possibly England's greatest ever sit-com. As something of a comic book/sci-fi geek, my love for it is exceptionally deep. I just wish it was something I could watch post the trauma of Anne-Marie.
Someone should make a dictionary one day, where people define themselves. Good luck writing your definition.
Bilbo Bagshot: I used to know this guy, Minty. He had a dog who he'd train to attack rich people. He was into the whole class-war thing. He called the dog Gramsci after an Italian Marxist. Rumor has it, it could smell wealth from up to 20 feet. The thing is, it all backfired. Minty won 100 grand on a scratchcard and Gramsci bit his knees off.
Tim: That's terrible.
Bilbo Bagshot: Not really. He used the money to buy new knees.
Oh and I like this one:
Tim: It's like when you have an orgasm on your own. Lyin there watching some porn movie you bought on a drunken, lonly night in SoHo. And you're lyin there, everything is really great. You're getting totally turned on by these absurdly graphic images. Everything seems so right, then Ppett. Bingo! You wake up. You're lyin there sweatin, despreatly lookin for the tissue, which you just know is still in your pocket. And the remote control which is somewhere on the floor. It's like walkin in on yourself. You know, 'What you doing?' That's how I felt tonight. Sitting here, feeling my heart miss a beat everytime the door opened. What the fuck are you doing.
Hey David!!
Thanks for the comment yesterday, good to see you in the blog-world!
And as for the puking, I had a touch of that myself yesterday after a bad burger, so I laughed out loud to get your comment!! How synchronous. Life is weird. We we know that, hey.
:-)
Having wrestled with profiles in all sorts of deeply psychoGermanic ways I've, um, had to give up.
I don't even really know how many different 'I' strands there are fighting for identity and summary, let alone how to turn any one of them into a pithy entry.
So I generally use the damn things as fishing lures now, really. Basically, that means trying to work out what sort of person it would be cool to know, and then what sort of profile might interest them...
Reverse cyber-stalking, if you like :)
A profile, by definition, is just a sideview anyway.
I'm too o;d to wrestle with anything let alone profiles. Let people figure out what your really like by reading your blog. Then have a great time hinting.
Anyone puzzling over Chandira’s comment over puking should do as my friend Josh suggested to me and type ‘David Southwell’ and ‘barfed’ into Google.
Nice to be remembered for your Vomitionary prowess, strangly I followed Josh's advice and there you go not many people can type their name with vomit on google and get that result! personally profiles are proclamations of coolness (measured by out own personal yardstick) but how can anti nostalgia be one or the other we all indulge in it... Im confused Im going off for a joint to think about that and the porn the THWP wrote about earlier
It was a spectacular piece of vomiting. I hit several people. I still carry guilt over it. I am not sure anti-nostalgia can be cool and what is the coolness when you are the only person who lists Edge of Darkness as an interest?
It was spectacular. No doubt about that. You get points for it. No guilt though.. as Buddhists no doubt would say, 'barf happens'.
As for the nostalgia, depends why you remember it. Some things are worth it. (Not talking about your barfing here, just in general).
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