Thoughts for the day.
So, at work, I make a point of bowdlerising my language. I say fudge and sugar and darn a lot. I do this for two reasons -- because it's funny; and so that when I do swear, people sit up and take notice. To add to this effect, when I do swear I make it unusual. Like "cock-biting fuckweasel" instead of "fucker".
And this works.
Work, of course, is at a local newspaper (or a whole bunch of local newspapers; centralised production and all that). Which means everybody swears a lot. It also means that I frequently have occasion to work on the letters pages.
Over the last six years, one of our papers has received numerous letters from an angry, obnoxious, ranting right-winger. We print them, because they get a reaction, but we don't like him. So there was general amusement in the office when this guy (whose letters included the occasional diatribe about immigrants coming over for benefit money) was found guilty of a £40,000 benefit fraud.
Then he wrote to us again, giving one of those "I'm sorry you got upset by my perfectly reasonable behaviour" apologies and attributing his general dickishness to that great catchall excuse: "I have Asperger's syndrome."
(The other thing I don't do at work -- or in general -- is raise my voice. I don't need to; everyone needs to draw breath eventually)
So yeah, I kind of shouted "fuck" a lot when I read that letter.
Because here's the thing: When I'm obnoxious, it's because I'm obnoxious. It's because I'm in a shitty mood, or because I don't like you, or because I am, at bottom, not a particularly nice person. It's never because I have Asperger's syndrome. That's a detail, not an excuse.
***
Watched the first episode of Continuum. It's... not particularly bad. Especially considering how much contrivance it had to pack into 40 minutes. It's not particularly good, either, but the incredibly bad dialogue from the trailers seemed to be the absolute worst dialogue in the episode. And the lead character only acted stupid and incompetent when she was in the future.
So yeah, I guess that's okay.
***
For a moment just now I thought I'd found one of the Bourne movies on TV, because there was David Strathairn, who played Vosen. Except it turned out he was actually playing a character named Rosen in Alphas. Anyway, that got me thinking.
Matt Damon was Ben Affleck's best friend. Then he starred in three Bourne movies.
Jeremy Renner played the Matt Damon-esque role of Ben Affleck's best friend in The Town. Then he starred in a Bourne movie.
(I watched The Town on Friday night, and had this weird moment where I suddenly recognised Rebecca Hall. Is going from Ben Affleck's girlfriend to Benedick Cumberbatch's wife a step up or a step down?)
And this works.
Work, of course, is at a local newspaper (or a whole bunch of local newspapers; centralised production and all that). Which means everybody swears a lot. It also means that I frequently have occasion to work on the letters pages.
Over the last six years, one of our papers has received numerous letters from an angry, obnoxious, ranting right-winger. We print them, because they get a reaction, but we don't like him. So there was general amusement in the office when this guy (whose letters included the occasional diatribe about immigrants coming over for benefit money) was found guilty of a £40,000 benefit fraud.
Then he wrote to us again, giving one of those "I'm sorry you got upset by my perfectly reasonable behaviour" apologies and attributing his general dickishness to that great catchall excuse: "I have Asperger's syndrome."
(The other thing I don't do at work -- or in general -- is raise my voice. I don't need to; everyone needs to draw breath eventually)
So yeah, I kind of shouted "fuck" a lot when I read that letter.
Because here's the thing: When I'm obnoxious, it's because I'm obnoxious. It's because I'm in a shitty mood, or because I don't like you, or because I am, at bottom, not a particularly nice person. It's never because I have Asperger's syndrome. That's a detail, not an excuse.
***
Watched the first episode of Continuum. It's... not particularly bad. Especially considering how much contrivance it had to pack into 40 minutes. It's not particularly good, either, but the incredibly bad dialogue from the trailers seemed to be the absolute worst dialogue in the episode. And the lead character only acted stupid and incompetent when she was in the future.
So yeah, I guess that's okay.
***
For a moment just now I thought I'd found one of the Bourne movies on TV, because there was David Strathairn, who played Vosen. Except it turned out he was actually playing a character named Rosen in Alphas. Anyway, that got me thinking.
Matt Damon was Ben Affleck's best friend. Then he starred in three Bourne movies.
Jeremy Renner played the Matt Damon-esque role of Ben Affleck's best friend in The Town. Then he starred in a Bourne movie.
(I watched The Town on Friday night, and had this weird moment where I suddenly recognised Rebecca Hall. Is going from Ben Affleck's girlfriend to Benedick Cumberbatch's wife a step up or a step down?)