Hugh MacLeod
Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards
April 1, 2005
Couldn’t wait a whole week before posting this latest “Beyond Lame” Award:
It’s fake, and it’s upscale. Just like the people you hope to one day be like.
Nice one.
[Thanks to BLOGthenticity for the pointer.]
I'm a cartoonist.
I sell limited-edition prints.
I wrote a book.
I'm CEO of Stormhoek USA, which markets South African wine in the States.
I also draw private commissions.
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
Bluetrain |
$900 | |
We Need to Talk |
$650 | |
Portfolio #2 |
$300 | |
NY NY |
$275 |
Contrast this to Neal Foley at http://podchef.motime.com/ — he blogs, he cooks, he podcasts himself cooking — he truly loves food and giving to other people. It’s not very polished — but it’s true.
Hugh, perhaps you could post these without saying “beyond lame”? Right now I’m wondering if I’m finding the blog to be fake because that how it comes across, or because that’s the way you primed my brain to think about it.
I’m entitled to my own opinion, Mark
We appreciate your comments about the GourmetStation blog and our fictitious character and site host, T. Alexander. We are a small pioneering food company and we see the blog and its content as a way of adding value to our patron’s experience. What T. Alexander has to say about food is not as important as what our patrons have to share about their culinary adventures. We believe that our blog strategy is appropriate so long as there is full disclosure that T.A. is fictitious. We believe that blogging is not yet a fully defined term, process, or model.…so it is difficult to say what is fake and what is real. Time will tell. In the meantime, we appreciate your feedback.
I don’t really think it’s *that* bad, but I do think it would be more effective if it wasn’t a fictional character. Don’t get me wrong, I think blog fiction is a genre that really needs to be explored (I’m working on a fictional blog right now, actually), but I would much rather see a real chef blogging for this site. When I found out that it’s a fictional character, my first thought was, “Why couldn’t they get a real chef to do this? Is their product so bad that they couldn’t get a spokesperson?”
As for the high-falutin’ airs to the site, I don’t really have a problem with that. Living in the restaurant business my entire life, I guarantee you there are plenty of people to make an audience for this kind of site.
“We believe that blogging is not yet a fully defined term, process, or model.…so it is difficult to say what is fake and what is real.”
Wow. Um, no.
I think we can all agree that blogs written by advertising agencies in the “voice” of fictional characters are pretty much the definition of “fake”.
See? That wasn’t so hard.
“[I]t is difficult to say what is fake and what is real.”
Is it?
Or is that the story we tell ourselves to justify what we do?
It reads like something “Mr J Peterman” would have as a blog!
Let’s get real about being “real” on blogs
“it is difficult to say what is fake and what is real”
wow.
Donna, since you are the president of the company, why isn’t the blog in your name? Why bother with the creation of a falsehood? Why go through the effort?
Hugh, definately. Now I’m just not sure whether I read it right
But seeing our other post, I probably did.
In Defense of a Friend
Not that she needs any defense mind you, but my first blogging bud ever Toby Bloomberg is getting some flack from some
Which is worse: a “fake blog” or choking restrictions on relatively spanking new technology? When television came out, people thought it would only work with “real” things like variety shows. Lucy and Dezi proved that “fake” works, too. And aren’t we glad they did?!
).
I haven’t read this “chef blog,” so I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I’m not going to condemn it based solely on what blogging has been so far or what some early adopters say it MUST be.
Hugh, I thought you were all about breaking out of boxes. So why are you trying to enforce the blog box? Why can’t people do what they want to without you condemning it for not fitting your own notions? Is THAT “how to be creative”???
I’m rather new to your blog, but I’ve read your main pieces and I agree with much of what you say. I also like many of your comics. So I’m surprised at these “lame” labels you slap on, as it doesn’t fit within the rest of your message (except that it’s so cynical
I say let people be creative. They have a right to find their own audience in whatever way they wish to try, so long as it isn’t illegal or immoral, and since they haven’t hidden the fact that the chef isn’t real, then neither is the case here. Would you not agree?
Hugh and Tom blow the blogwhistle
According to The Week, the definition of dog whistle politics, like that being practised in the UK by the Conservatives on the immigration issue, is to:
sieze on issues that send a sharp message that, like a dog whistle, is only audible to the liste…