notes.unsay
My name is Cory and this is where I write important things and can't remember why.
twotooto @
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com
Feb 09
Apr 11
“ I mean… the reason I don’t blog is that it’s inherently self-promotional and I want to maintain the fiction of humility.
— Nicholson Baker (who was great last night at NYPL Live) (via christmasgorilla)
Apr 10
Lovely.
Apr 08
Dick Masterson
I spent time reading Dick Masterson’s website Men Are Better than Women tonight after seeing a video link to Dick on Dr. Phil from November 2007. I couldn’t help but think, “Is this guy a cross between Tyler Durden and the pathetic narrator”?
Fight Club has a primal manifesto. Dick does too; he’s raking in the poker chips. His book is available in hours, he had a segment on Dr. Phil and he doesn’t have a Wikipedia page? Come on. Maddox and Tucker Max do.
People think Dax Herrera is a genius for creating Dick (akin to Maddox and Tucker). Yeah, Dax has the patience to pull the prank — especially since he’s known in the search engine field — to all but disappear and reappear as someone else. Because other peoples’ excitement over Dax’s joke and the web’s long tooth, it seems to expose Dax as as Dick Masterson.
The humor is found in people who can’t see through the joke. In a similar vein, Sacha Baron Cohen does brilliant work as Borat. The joke requires the audience to suspend disbelief — a foreigner from a relatively unknown country could have any set of social norms or mores. This device makes Borat excusable. Dick Masterson is not. It is a subtle and significant difference.
Satirists and humorists like Tom Lehrer and T.D. Mischke talk about subjects that make them uncomfortable. These are the misfits; the geniuses. People who make fun of what other people find uncomfortable succumb to an easy cliche. Maybe that’s Dax’s savvy; knowing his market. Unfortunately, it is not a stretch for a search engine marketer — I doubt Dick made him uncomfortable.
Apr 07
