Comments on: The blah story.

The blah story.

LSK — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:02:59 -0800

Blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah.

By: kuujjuarapik

kuujjuarapik — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:05:22 -0800

nah.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:08:03 -0800

Buffalo buffalo chicken chicken etc. There. I ruined your petty jokes. Now what are you going to contribute?

By: (bb|[^b]{2})

(bb|[^b]{2}) — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:12:09 -0800

wha?

By: iamabot

iamabot — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:12:26 -0800

Link bukake.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:14:24 -0800

omg the new David Foster Wallace is out!

By: lumensimus

lumensimus — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:24:15 -0800

I find this post viscerally unpleasant. A little context might have helped -- the books themselves seem full of words that aren't "blah" which would have served very well as non-excerpt links. As it stands, the post is merely an exercise in athletic redundancy, while the books are apparently statistically remarkable in several more ways. Blah indeed.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:28:49 -0800

Dang, lumensimus responds to my challenge and surpasses expectations. Well done, sir.

By: fuq

fuq — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:31:09 -0800

Like, like like like like?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:32:24 -0800

bleargh

By: erniepan

erniepan — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:36:18 -0800

Meh.

By: sysinfo

sysinfo — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:38:03 -0800

tl;dr. Who's petty now? I'll get me coat.

By: KokuRyu

KokuRyu — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:41:55 -0800

omg the new David Foster Wallace is out! I tried so hard to read Infinite Jest. I really did. But because the book is the size of a doorstop, and because of all the goddamn footnotes, I just could not get through it.

By: zouhair

zouhair — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:45:46 -0800

not funny

By: ten pounds of inedita

ten pounds of inedita — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:46:16 -0800

I couldn't get through it with a knife.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:00:52 -0800

I suggest a drill press.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:10:57 -0800

Thought before mouseover: "Please don't tell me every one of these is a link." Thought after mouseover: "Oh, fuck you."

By: nola

nola — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:10:59 -0800

The first volume of The Blah Story by Nigel Tomm was published in 2007. In the book the author demolishes the barrier of words and meaning, giving vitality and expressive strength to the pattern of his most exclusive novel - The Blah Story. Or put another way, The blah blah of blah blah blah by blah blah was blah in blah. In the blah the blah blah the blah of blah and blah, giving blah and blah blah to the blah of blah blah blah.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:21:55 -0800

I read the post on reddit, which lead me to a mental-floss post, which led me to google "The Blah Story" and when I finally found the object of my curiosity, the crux of the article, the longest book ever; I said to myself "I should post this to MetaFilter" but I didn't because 1) It would take a bit of work finding tertiary information 2) The people who read reddit and Metafilter would have gone through the same trail of links. We are a people who have instant access to information, if something is not linked we'll hunt it down. Eh, oh well.

By: kyleg

kyleg — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:25:23 -0800

I knew it! Take away Diablo Cody's Oscar; it's now obvious that Juno was an adapted screenplay.

By: blahblah

blahblah — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:44:25 -0800

It's the story of my life

By: pyramid termite

pyramid termite — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:55:20 -0800

oh, my god - you CAN summarize proust in one minute

By: autodidact

autodidact — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:43:30 -0800

Fuck this post. Fuck the poster. Fuck the guy in the post. Fuck his book. Fuck idiotic no concept bullshit like this.

By: hellojed

hellojed — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:11:01 -0800

It's the story of my life Whats that one word...starts with an E...I can't think of it at the moment....

By: Chasuk

Chasuk — Sat, 17 May 2008 00:22:23 -0800

I suppose to someone, somewhere (possibly several someones in several somewheres) this is meaningful, or humorous, or both. However, I am personally mourning the sacrifice of electrons and bandwidth that this extended Knock-knock joke consumed. Finnegans Wake was funnier.

By: dirtynumbangelboy

dirtynumbangelboy — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:15:57 -0800

Blah this blah. Blah the blaher. Blah the blah in the blah. Blah his blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:23:12 -0800

A...blah! And.....A...blah! I can has Pulitzer now?

By: Laotic

Laotic — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:33:59 -0800

Well, Metafilter is The Blah.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:01:33 -0800

You gotta pay your dahs if you wanna sing the blahs.

By: takeyourmedicine

takeyourmedicine — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:11:01 -0800

Bufallo Bufallo bufallo Bufallo?

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:30:14 -0800

Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger. Mushroom Mushroom.

By: turgid dahlia

turgid dahlia — Sat, 17 May 2008 03:31:12 -0800

Venezuela Venezuela?

By: splice

splice — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:22:47 -0800

hmpfh. meh.

By: kcds

kcds — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:30:36 -0800

Metafilter: The Blah

By: Faze

Faze — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:39:50 -0800

Pretty damned incisive satire. Certainly has convinced me of the oppressiveness of words and meaning. We'll all be better off without them. More free, I should say.

By: dinty_moore

dinty_moore — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:45:41 -0800

Bison Bison Bison Bison Bison

By: FelliniBlank

FelliniBlank — Sat, 17 May 2008 04:49:01 -0800

You gotta pay your dahs if you wanna sing the blahs. And you know it don't come blasé.

By: hjo3

hjo3 — Sat, 17 May 2008 08:03:23 -0800

So it's about a vampire?

By: Floydd

Floydd — Sat, 17 May 2008 08:04:14 -0800

I love this post. Abso-fuckin'-lutely love it. Well played, LSK. Well played.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Sat, 17 May 2008 08:52:04 -0800

O blah dee, o blah dah Life goes on, bra.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Sat, 17 May 2008 09:51:15 -0800

I'm intrigued by the author, Nigel Tomm. In addition to the blah book, he's also created several video "adaptations" of well-known plays. He's also published remixed versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Sonnets, both of which have some discussion on the internet not generated by him. What's strange to me is that the man publishes his stuff on Amazon. If you're actually interested in publishing conceptual work like this, there are hundreds of websites all over the internet dedicated to exactly this sort of thing, where no one will call you a fraud.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Sat, 17 May 2008 10:04:13 -0800

Oh. It looks like you can download some volumes of The Blah Story from his Amazon blog.

By: CitrusFreak12

CitrusFreak12 — Sat, 17 May 2008 10:08:03 -0800

Bufallo Bufallo bufallo Bufallo? YOU LOSE. Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger Badger. Mushroom Mushroom. Ha. Ok fine. Bison Bison Bison Bison Bison You get a bonus point for creativity.

By: flotson

flotson — Sat, 17 May 2008 10:17:12 -0800

Man, the crankiness (and more than crankiness) on metafilter really bums me out sometimes. Too often it seems that folks just come here to vent spleen on any available target. I suppose that describes the internet in general. . .but we're supposed to be smarter than the internet on mefi, right? I propose a mefi standard for not liking stuff: The simple declaration that you don't like X is hereby declared to be poor commentary. It's lazy and adds nothing. Therefore you have two options: a) refrain from commenting and move on to the next FPP b) flesh out your dislike with added value--is there anything in your comment that carries conversation forward? or have you just uttered 'poop'?

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Sat, 17 May 2008 10:39:06 -0800

Flotson, you got a problem with slinging poo? It's an international pastime!

By: Lillitatiana

Lillitatiana — Sat, 17 May 2008 11:18:14 -0800

Blech.

By: gorgor_balabala

gorgor_balabala — Sat, 17 May 2008 11:56:46 -0800

I don't like X. It is poop.

By: oddman

oddman — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:24:24 -0800

I saw a comma splice.

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:55:26 -0800

The sex scene was hot. her blah blah eyes blah blah along the blah blah blah his blah blah lips blah the pattern of a blah of blah on the blah as she blah blah blah and blah him with a blah

By: nanojath

nanojath — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:10:49 -0800

flesh out your dislike with added value How about this: if the idiotic concept garbage you found on the internet consists, in fact, of the repetition of exactly one joke, it does not require fifteen links to present it. Don't like the consistency of the resulting discussion? Garbage in, garbage out.

By: lekvar

lekvar — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:01:07 -0800

Smurfy.

By: LSK

LSK — Sat, 17 May 2008 17:46:54 -0800

The author clearly had no intent to create true literature, but rather to set records - he proudly brags about having the longest sentence, poem, and word in literature.

By: obvious

obvious — Sat, 17 May 2008 18:10:58 -0800

Like like the the the death. Air crickets air crickets air crickets air crickets air crickets air.

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:12:13 -0800

folly - folly for to - for to - what is the word - folly from this - all this - folly from all this - given - folly given all this - seeing - folly seeing all this - this - what is the word - this this - this this here - all this this here - folly given all this - seeing - folly seeing all this this here - for to - what is the word - see - glimpse - seem to glimpse - need to seem to glimpse - folly for to need to seem to glimpse - what - what is the word - and where - folly for to need to seem to glimpse what where - where - what is the word - there - over there - away over there - afar - afar away over there - afaint - afaint afar away over there what - what - what is the word - seeing all this - all this this - all this this here - folly for to see what - glimpse - seem to glimpse - need to seem to glimpse - afaint afar away over there what - folly for to need to seem to glimpse afaint afar away over there what - what - what is the word - what is the word

By: UbuRoivas

UbuRoivas — Sun, 18 May 2008 02:14:13 -0800

oh, it's "blah". ignore that.

By: acrobat

acrobat — Sun, 18 May 2008 04:02:30 -0800

flotson, what about comic value? After a point I couldn't stop laughing with every line I read! Priceless!

By: dersins

dersins — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:06:30 -0800

The simple declaration that you don't like X is hereby declared to be poor commentary. The thing is, though, sometimes stuff just sucks.

By: blahblahblah

blahblahblah — Sun, 18 May 2008 06:14:04 -0800

It is all lies!

By: bicyclefish

bicyclefish — Sun, 18 May 2008 09:31:10 -0800

This is the kind of book that exists solely to piss off people in the American midwest.

By: flotson

flotson — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:01:17 -0800

How about this: if the idiotic concept garbage you found on the internet consists, in fact, of the repetition of exactly one joke, it does not require fifteen links to present it. Don't like the consistency of the resulting discussion? Garbage in, garbage out. Oh, so in other words, you didn't like this. How interesting. flotson, what about comic value? After a point I couldn't stop laughing with every line I read! Priceless! I've got no problem with the funny. I thought it was funny. And I think the author intends it to be. The thing is, though, sometimes stuff just sucks. Rarely is there consensus around this for anything. I guess I'm just getting tired of reading so much sarcasm and ire all the time. It's like being shouted at. I've got no problem with righteous anger about real injustice and suffering. But I could do without lazy, angry narcissism. Happy narcissism is OK. At least it doesn't give me a headache. Discourse is preferred.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:29:39 -0800

I agree, flotson. It makes me sad how many posts about conceptual art get LOLARTISTS comments, as these are some of my favorite posts and one of the main reasons I use MetaFilter. Having said that, there is a difference between interesting conceptual art and uninteresting conceptual art. I'm having trouble telling exactly where to put Mr. Tomm, especially since I can't seem to find any information about his poetics that does not read like a press release. He does apparently claim to have invented literary remixing, which I sincerely hope he's joking about. I've also been hoping that this post would summon the Google Alerts dragon and bring him into the discussion.