Even fictional serial killer Jame Gumb has an online journal!

May 12, 2001 1:20 PM

Even fictional serial killer Jame Gumb has an online journal! And it is funny as hell, although the 'serial killers webring' it belongs to freaks me out. Why are fictional online journals like this one, and the Brad Pitt journal that used to be at Diaryland generally so much better than the 'real' journals kept by noncelebrities?
posted by kristin (9 comments total)

a) because real "real life" is generally boring.

and/or

b) because most people aren't good enough writers to convey the subtleties of real life in a compelling way.
posted by rebeccablood at 1:30 PM on May 12, 2001

Why are fictional online journals ... so much better than the 'real' journals kept by noncelebrities?

Here's a test:

"Hi, this is Sean Connery. Last night I hit on some chick while I was drunk and when I woke up the next morning, I realized it was actually a goat. I really need to stop doing that."


versus

"Jamie sent me a page! Jamie, you're so naughty! hahaha, mmmm sugar good LOL"
posted by jragon at 1:33 PM on May 12, 2001

I don't know who's behind it, and I really wish I did, but someone's writing "the secret diary of Erap Estrada", the president we booted out of office and threw in jail earlier this year. You do have to speak Filipino to read it, but trust me, it's fantastic. (Heaps better than what currently passes for political satire on local tv too, but that's neither here nor there)
posted by lia at 1:46 PM on May 12, 2001

I think "better" here is so subjective as to be meaningless. If you think reading fictional, contrived situations is better somehow than reading real-life, unconstructed stories, well, that's your choice. For my part, just knowing that this was fiction made my interest in reading more than a couple of sentences drop to nil. Meanwhile, I've been following for about six months now the personal diary of Vancouver programmer Jonathan Walthers (a Debian coder and K5er); in November he and his new, pregnant bride were in a horrible car wreck; she spent over a week in a coma, didn't talk for almost a month, and spent most of winter and spring in a wheelchair. She's recovering nicely, though, the baby is healthy and should be born soon. Meanwhile, his apartment has been broken into, and he just lost his job.

Fascinating, real, and even though I would mark him down for style points or dwelling on things that don't interest me or often-times writing for people who know what's going on behind the scenes instead of explaining everything -- it's far more compelling to me than any fictional scare-quote "diary".

In short, you can keep your "better".
posted by dhartung at 2:09 PM on May 12, 2001

Pamie and Stee, who concocted this little parody both have wonderful personal sites - literate, funny, and very engaging.

This parody diary cracked me up though, because of the layout - guestbook, a page of bad poetry, a page devoted to his dog, a journal - all hallmarks of 'typical' online journals. Not all journals are literate, funny, and engaging. Most are kind of just like this. And the references to Journalcon are priceless!
posted by kristin at 3:31 PM on May 12, 2001

Ah. A leg-pull. Consider me pulled.
posted by dhartung at 7:18 PM on May 12, 2001

The Secret Diary of Alan Greenspan
posted by ljromanoff at 10:35 AM on May 13, 2001

Don't forget George W Bush's weblog.
posted by SenshiNeko at 1:40 PM on May 14, 2001

Don't forget George W. Bush's Weblog.
posted by SenshiNeko at 1:42 PM on May 14, 2001