Spam & Politics (but no thanks on the Vuitton bag)

[ellenkushner]

The one good thing about this influx of spam I've been getting on random LJ posts is that when it pops up in Incoming it gives me the chance to revisit old posts I'd forgotten all about having written.  And I discover that I'm a lot less boring than I thought!  My posts are terser, and wittier than they were when I wrote them!  Cool stuff.  Like Oct. 2, 2008 Watching the VP Debates: stream of agonized consciousness, my very first view of - and reaction to - Sarah Palin, which I typed live while watching the debates that night (now, I suppose, I'd just tweet): 

She's got a great screen persona. Looks right into the camera with a winning smile. She looks and sounds exactly like someone on a commercial for floorwax or personal care or dessert from a mix or something.

"NUKE-you-ler" - is this a class marker? Are there any Republicans who say "nuclear"?

Oh, great. Now she's selling Israel like toothpaste. "Israel. Our ally. Gets my teeth whiter than white."

We're screwed.

Comments

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

I had a teacher rant once at a classmate who pronounced it nuke-u-ler. He said: Switch around the first two letters in nuclear and you get unclear. You don't say UNK-u-ler, do you?!?

[wildwose.livejournal.com]

Hah! I had the same reaction to this! I was getting all grumpy about the recent spam messages, (I wasn't sure if it was coming in for others like this, so glad to know I am not the only one) and then I realized that each time I got one, i was re-reading my old entries. It has been fun.





Please don't let the spammers know........

[elswhere1.livejournal.com]

Why is it that one's old writing is always better??

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

(I won't if you won't!)

Glad I'm not the only one!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Astral delusion, my dear Nick.

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

And I discover that I'm a lot less boring than I thought!

...
To me, you're the antithesis of boring, so brain is broken now at the thought you'd ever think that.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

It is a thing most writers think about themselves from time to time. Think of it as an occupational hazard. That's what I try to do.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

1) you nailed what Palin is all about, that's for sure

2) gosh, I never thought of doing that while I nuke the spam (re-reading my old posts). You're brilliant!

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized it was *writers* it patterned with, I guess!

[freda-writes.livejournal.com]

British commentators have long mocked 'Dubya' and others for saying 'nuke-you-ler'. Now you sometimes hear Brits say it, as we pick up American (mis) pronunciations. Drives me nuts!

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

Well, all artists I've ever spoken with, of any stripe, medium, or platform, seem to have dark nights of the soul. But the writer's dark night is the one I'm the most familiar with.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

So glad I'm not the only one getting this weird influx of spam - I was beginning to wonder!

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

My condolences.

Just pray they don't pick up "jew-le-ry" and "re-la-tor" (for "realtor"), too.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

I don't think the *rest* of my writing is ever boring - and I don't usually have dark nights of the soul over LJ posts . . . I just worry that, since they're such little blasts of blurt, they might not , uh, that is, they might be, well: trivial, self-indulgent, badly organized, badly edited . . .which, in some ways of course, they are. But if they're charming, too, I guess that covers a multitude of sins.

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

I was also seeing "I'm boring" as quite different from the general "I suck I can't do this I'll never manage it" dark nights of the soul, possibly because I've had the former since before I ever identified as a writer, and the latter mostly after :)

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

See, this is what happens when you reply to a post without re-reading the whole thread. So, more accurately, *I* often fear I'm boring, which is why I don't write much in public about Daily Life or My Thoughts, which are mine and thought by me, D. Sherman.

[deliasherman.livejournal.com]

Not as long as they say "estate agent," they won't. 8-)

[shweta-narayan.livejournal.com]

But I think you're right though -- it is part of the artist-fear, because boring = failing to engage readers/viewers/listeners; I just hadn't thought of it that way before you said it.

...which is why I don't write much in public about Daily Life or My Thoughts

And here I thought that was because your writing time's Full Already!

Also, not that it's any surprise, just to have actually said it out loud: I love your Life/Thoughts posts :)

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Good point!