Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Greetings, fellow automatons.

Sorry for the stupid title.  I don't know what to say.

I've been a blog reader (mostly photography and poetry) for a couple months and thought it might be worth trying my hand at it.

Without further ado...

I've been reading Erik Shonkwiler's blog 'My Heart's Porch' for only a short while, I found it on some random google search (I think about tequila).  I've thought him to be pretty well-informed, entertaining, and also a talented writer, and have enjoyed reading his blog.  I was surprised when a post of literary criticism managed to elicit 85 comments.  It seems the writer in question, Zachary German, lied and said he had a book deal with the publisher FSG.  Erik didn't think too much of German's work to begin with, and the comment, while questioning the validity of German's publishing claim, was mostly a critical analysis of German's and some of his peers' 'literature'.  Now I won't say Shonwiler wasn't critical, but it's a blog!  You can say what you want!  It's not like he personally attacked German or anything.  Almost immediately German made a link on his blog (which is titled, I might add, "Everytime A Police Officer Gets Killed I Throw A Party) making fun of Shonkwiler's blog.  Before long, German's friends by the handful (and German himself) begin saying insulting things on Shonkwiler's blog.  German called Shonkwiler a derogatory term for a homosexual, and when someone commented on Shonkwiler's blog criticizing german for his insensitivity, German called the commentor the same term on the commenter's blog.  Now I'm not one to judge, but jeeze!

I hope tomorrow I can think of something a little more upbeat to drone on about!

Have a good night!