Some blog comments are nothing short of inspirational. The recent suggestion that creative lassitude might be what I'm after inspired a sequence of investigations that fell to earth nowhere near their original launch site, but produced an unexpected shower of inspiration-sparks in the related—yet unrelated—arena of blog comments.
To wit, the Robertson Davies quote to which Gary refers is probably this . . .
Many a promising career has been wrecked by marrying the wrong sort of woman. The right sort of woman can distinguish between Creative Lassitude and plain shiftlessness.
. . . which led me to another Davies quote, which happens to refer to tinsel, which is poignant in light of this season of shiny tree ornaments.
Well, allow me to introduce myself to you as an advocate of Ornamental Knowledge. You like the mind to be a neat machine, equipped to work efficiently, if narrowly, and with no extra bits or useless parts. I like the mind to be a dustbin of scraps of brilliant fabric, odd gems, worthless but fascinating curiosities, tinsel, quaint bits of carving, and a reasonable amount of healthy dirt. Shake the machine and it goes out of order; shake the dustbin and it adjusts itself beautifully to its new position.
Somewhere along the line it occurred to me that "lassitude" rhymes with "tattooed," sort of, which brings me back to the point I was going to make before, which is that blog comments ought to contain healthy dirt.
Some of the sparks that landed on me during the course of my investigation persuaded me that standard letter-templates are insufficient when it comes to blog comments. For this reason, I took the liberty of modifying one of the free templates one finds here and there on the Web, and include it here as a holiday gift for those who remain uncertain about the proper format for blog comments.
I have just finished reading the ______ you wrote on ______ published in the ______ post of ______. I want to tell you how much I appreciated your clearly written and thought-provoking ______.
While much has been written on this topic, your ______ expresses both the positive and negative aspects of this important topic, without taking an emotional stance on either side of the issue.
Thank you for your thorough research and clear writing.
Although it probably goes without saying, the template's blank spaces are intended for your editor's comments, or those of the blogger to whom your comments are addressed.
Great blog comment template! I actually like it with the blanks intact (which will come as no surprise to those minimalist artists familiar with my coloring book that requires no crayons, nor to those psychics who have foreseen my upcoming workbook of math puzzles that require no pencil).
ReplyDelete...at first your latest post caused in me a significant amount of indifference , but at the mention of dirt i became quite animated ... and your template to me seemed like a mad-lib , and that's always a good time , so i ran yours past my 19 year old and got the following to fill in your blanks : clown, fingers, nano second, the hats, eyeball, and lumberjack. I'm sure i don't know what any of this means , and once again i am weary of the effort ...
ReplyDeleteThanks, Craig. There's something to be said for comment-minimalism, just not very much. As it should be, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteAnd runmotman, if your 19-year-old is anything like my 19-year-old, it may be best to just take a nap instead of thinking about the whole thing anymore.
And here, at NO CHARGE, is my blog response template:
ReplyDeleteIt is all blanks and the respondent must fill in the rest.
_________
__________
_________
__________
__________
_________
________
or alternatively:
Antares, Bratwurst, follicle, emphatically, crayon-centric fistula, gastroenteritishful, hat, eyeballish venting of ancient humours, triumphanticide, periodontist, harrumph, psst, flailing moribund vesicle, glisten,
allowing the respondent to fill in the surrounding sentences.
and here are some line breaks for you to fill in the rest of the poem:
It's ok. You're welcome!
Jeepers! Thanks, Mr. Barwin! This sure will be a swell way to pass the time during the ambulance ride this Thursday!
ReplyDeleteAnd:
ReplyDeleteJeff,
I have just finished reading the __gnomic diatribes____ you wrote on __diazepam____ published in the ___recent__fence_ post of __Noncommital bi, semi- or sequi-weekly____. I want to tell you how much I appreciated your clearly written and thought-provoking underlining.______.
While much has been written on this topic, your underlining______ expresses both the positive and negative aspects of this important topic, without taking an emotional stance on either side of the issue.
Thank you for your thorough research and clear writing.
Gary
Actually, I did want to say thanks for the additional Robertson Davies quotes and the context for creative lassitude which I'd forgotten. He's a marvellous aphorist, and was once called rather pointedly, in the Globe and Mail (the main National newspaper in Canada) as "Canadian preeminent contemporary 19th century novelist.
No problem. Underlining is everything to me.
ReplyDeleteI was glad to have stumbled into Mr. Davies' writing, which I wouldn't have done if not for you.