beth

barbara

bubs has recently been infected.

And now the virus has struck me.

Old avatar:

New avatar:

Your or You’re?
Its or It’s?
There or Their or They’re?

Better double-check the usage.
Hate making those easy-to-make mistakes.
Triple-check?

Okay, I haven’t been blogging for really all that long.

Still, in this short amount of time, through various things I have written, I believe I have appeared to have taken offense to a couple things various people have said.

In these cases, I was completely *not* offended.

So, despite how much you may infer that I am offended by something you wrote, if I have not included the word “arugula” in my response, comments, etc., hey, I’m not really offended.

I realize that using arugula as my safe word makes discussing salads a little more difficult, but I am okay with this.

IMAGINARY INTERVIEWER: First, thank you for taking the time to talk with me.

SPLOTCHY: Oh, my pleasure.

II: Why the self-referential post?

S: Well, I had just thought of it on the train ride into work this morning. I like the occasional non-sequitur post once in a while. For example, my all caps post went over well, I thought.

II: As of this interview, 14 comments.

S: Yeah. Better than all my arcade sound quizzes and answer posts combined.

II: Yes. Not very popular, were they?

S: No. Do you think you can provide links to the quizzes?

II: Sorry, I can’t. Let’s get back to the self-referential post. Were there any fears you had with regards to it? That you would alienate readers?

S: Yeah, I did have some fears, but not really related to alienating anyone. In all seriousness, I thought putting a link in a post that referred to the post itself might cause some sort of problem with the software that Blogger runs on.

II: Really?

S: Yeah, for a fleeting instant. But I guess we’re okay. The sky has not fallen.

II: Anything else you’d care to add?

S: Oh yeah, I forgot. There is actually another reason for my self-referential post. I’m all excited about my “Who’s In Charge Here?” posts, where I analyze the power dynamics of a band via one of their publicity photos.

II: Yes, I have seen it. It’s probably been done before, and better.

S: I don’t know anything about that. Anyway, I already have some choice photos of Styx and the Smashing Pumpkins lined up, but I don’t want to inundate my blog with-

II: One second… Yes? Yeah. I’ll pick him up at school today. No, I’m done. I’m done with the interview. No, it’s done. He’s just going on about something. Okay, bye. Sorry, please go on with whatever you were talking about.

S: Okay. So, I don’t want to overload my readers with my “Who’s In Charge Here?” posts that I am itching to get to, so I need to provide some posts in between them.

II: Filler, as it were?

S: Well, sort of. I’d like to think of the self-referential post as not being just filler, but also entertaining.

II: Is that what this interview is? Filler?

S: Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaayybe…….

II: THIS POST IS OVER!

This post is self-referential.

As I write this, there have been 2,996 visitors to this site.

Could you be the 3,000 visitor?

No, not you.

The other one.

YES! YOU.

Doing this blog thing, it’s stirred up the creative juices for me a little.

I’ve got some ideas that I’d like to share, but some of these ideas are a tad on the offensive side of the spectrum. Well, perhaps more than a tad.

I consider myself an okay-kinda-guy who is pretty sensitive to others’ feelings and all, but I do have a misanthropic muscle or two that must get exercised from time to time.

I’ve got an amusing idea for a little photo-story using stills from the 9/11 movie United 93, as well as a great “dreadful reimagining” of a beloved children’s story, which makes The Velveteen Cockroach look like, well, The Velveteen Rabbit.

I have told the plot of my take on the children’s story to several people, who agreed it was a clever, humorous idea, but said it would probably be a bad idea to post it — it was just too damned offensive, or could be perceived in such a way.

But I haveta, I haveta, I tell ya.

Here’s how I think I can post these offensive things with a relatively clean conscience.

1. Mark the post as containing potentially “toxic” content.
2. Don’t actually include the offensive content in the blog post, but rather a pointer to another page that contains it.
3. The page containing the actual offensive content will require a User ID and password to access it.
4. Give the User ID and password in the blog post, and indicate it’s reader beware.

Does this sound like I am covering all my bases?

I’m not asking for permission to post offensive content, merely asking if this is a reasonable way of posting it.