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Un Certain Bavard: Brian Owen's Blog

post #1 of 15
10/4/10 at 5:37am
Thread Starter 
So I started a blog here on the site.

Here's the first entry:

Kids! What is wrong with these kids today!
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post #2 of 15
10/4/10 at 7:57am
There was a program that ran in the UK called Shrink Wrapped where a number of stars had a chat with a pyschiatrist. The most memorable one was Robin Williams recounting his early days trying to make it. Very interesting.

Reality TV and Youtube have really changed things.

Great stuff.
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post #3 of 15
10/4/10 at 1:51pm
And the shrink was Pamela Stephenson, the wife of one Billy Connoll.

Great blog.
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post #4 of 15
10/4/10 at 4:47pm
Well said Mr Cellophane, I like the cut of your gib. Except the bit where you start with "So". Lose that crutch, it makes the writing start off seeming uncertain and self-conscious. It's like starting your point with an apology, or like a stand-up comic's comfort blanket.

You don't need it. You're good. I believe in you. Rise above.
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post #5 of 15
10/4/10 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the positive responses, guys.

Bucho, thanks for the writing tips. What's funny is it's a well-known joke between me and my friends that all of my stories and jokes start with an "Ok, so . . ." or just "So . . ."
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post #6 of 15
10/4/10 at 5:56pm
Haha, that's the extent of my writing tips. I don't have any others so you're on your own from here on out.

I understand the urge to soften your opinions and statements by starting with the "So", because opinions and statements are about to get judged on the internet and you've already conversationally pre-apologised, but I prefer less softener with my opinions. It makes a little more sense in a stand-up act, where nerves are very forgivable, but writing - be it articles or forum posts - that starts with "So" or "Ok" or "Well" always conveys "I don't believe in myself 100%, but ..." to me.

Anyway, I'm doing that thing again where I pick a small wrinkle out of something that I enjoyed and yap too much about it. Really the important thing to me is I liked your post overall and look forward to more. I was hoping you'd pick some examples to tear into though. Were you thinking of any kids in particular? Someone that rhymes with Smarsmashian or Smaris Smilton maybe?
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post #7 of 15
10/6/10 at 4:47am
Thread Starter 
Bucho, I started to reply to you, but it turned into a VERY long post. So instead I just published it as a new blog.

Here you go:

I sound crankier than Andy Rooney!

Also, I realize I don't really respond to your question, so here's my "Screw You Guys!" List, comprised of people who have none of my respect because of their lack of talent and amount of fame. Feel free to add your own.

The guy who wrote $%#@#% My Dad Says. Screw that guy.

Robert Pattison. Screw that guy. Not because he's necessarily more or less talented than anyone else, but because he's the most modern example I can conjure of the media creating a "Movie Star" before he or she has even done anything to gage if that is true or no. They create a phenomenon out of nothing, and build hype off of their own hype, manipulating fame from thin air. How many "Huge new stars!" have we seen explode (thanks to the media's declaration of their unearned stardom) only to be gone mere months or movies later? I'd have to take my socks off to fully count.

Omarosa. Screw that chick.

ETA: All I can hear in my head as I think about this blog post is Al Pacino in Glengarry Glenn Ross saying "Where did you learn your trade? Who ever told you you could work with men?" over and over and over and over again. It's what I imagine asking many of these people. "Channing Tatum, where did you learn your trade?" And then he'd punch me really hard in the face and show me his awesome six pack and I'll realize he learned it in the gym. Because that's where actors learn to act. The gym. And the hair salon.
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post #8 of 15
10/9/10 at 6:39pm
Nicely done mate, and far more well thought through than Andy Rooney (who basically just lists things doesn't he?). I think where you really nailed it for me was the thing about these Twitter feeds becoming TV deals. I just heard about one a couple of days ago which is some guy posting a Stuff My Roommate Says type Twitter which doesn't even have the semi-developed wit of the Stuff My Dad says.

Your Robert Pattinson paragraph brings still another angle to it, which is the media's role as the insatiable hype-machine. I don't know what training Pattinson and Tatum have done but I'm almost certain it's less than their Hollywood Idol predecessors of a few decades ago had to.
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post #9 of 15
10/18/10 at 2:57am
Thread Starter 
Jackass makes me feel like a real patriot.

Take that, Glenn Beck.
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post #10 of 15
10/23/10 at 5:13am
Thread Starter 
I defend Nicole Kidman.

I'm sure she appreciates it and is taking note.

ALSO: The blog contains the trailer for Rabbit Hole which you really should watch and then discuss. Also, there's a cameo from some 90s hip-hop. (Hint: It's not Kriss-Kross. Sorry)
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post #11 of 15
10/23/10 at 10:04pm
I have to take umbrage with the Shit My Dad Says guy, because the Twitter feed is funny, and the book is a way more interesting look at that relationship between father and son than the TV show could ever be. Have you read it?
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post #12 of 15
10/23/10 at 11:36pm
Thread Starter 
No, I haven't actually. I didn't know the guy had a book out there. I have read the twitter feed, though. And while it may be funny, I've always taken it to meaning the father is funny, and that dad being funny does not a tv deal deserve. But the book is well-written, eh? I wouldn't expect that, but I hold your opinion in high esteem, so . . .
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post #13 of 15
10/23/10 at 11:59pm
Justin Halprin spends a large chunk of the book making fun of himself. It's short; I read it in less than a day, and a third of it is indeed quotes from the Twitter feed. However, it's punctuated with equally funny stories about what it was like to grow up with his father. It has some very sweet moments in it.
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post #14 of 15
11/3/10 at 5:00am
Thread Starter 
2:00 AM election ramblings! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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post #15 of 15
12/7/10 at 8:25am
Thread Starter 
I get mad at people trying to do a good thing in a lazy way.
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