[Seth Says] Snoop Loggy Log
Greetings Friends, Readers, Countrymen,
I come not to bury Snoop Dogg, but to praise him. (He's not dead, sorry, just realized that could worry people)(Well, not dead as of the time of this writing.)(In the words of Shaggy, “It wasn’t me!”)(Shaggy, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Xzibit, DMX… the rap world is big on dogs.)(Who let the dogs out?)(That song would be improved without dogs: “Who let the owls out? Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”)
I saw the other week that Snoop wanted to start the "Hood Olympics" for athletes who couldn't compete in the summer games, and I think that's a good idea. (Hood is good!)(Well, ice cream is good.)(Well, I like ice cream.)(Cool, cool.)(That's how ice cream works.)(Shut up, Wesley.)
Increasingly, I've come to realize that the lauded and officially recognized is not always the best, and vast swaths of greatness go un-lauded and un-recognized. I know, what terrible timing to be thinking about this just after I was lauded and recognized last month! But I've been doing poetic parodies and politics in rhyme for decades before my recent special edition column where I summarized the Harris-Trump debate in the style of Edgar Allen Poe, in a piece I called:
The Raving
(It's more enjoyable than watching the debate, which is admittedly a lower bar than the Marianas Trench Pub.)
But it's easy to fall into the trap of a cardboard box propped up over a sandwich (i'm hungry), or the trap of thinking that value and merit depends on and/or is solely measured by some combination of recognition and remuneration. (It's hard enough to get cognition and muneration the first time!)("Talkin’ 'bout my muneration...") I had an acquaintance tell me the other day that he'd always wanted to write a book, but worried it was too late, and then didn't feel like he could get a big audience.
Art can be worthwhile for its own sake, something that I realize is antithetical to the AI-generated movement, but sometimes creating something that has meaning to you and sharing it with a few people, or just one specific person, can still be important and meaningful. I've written before about how we think of large audiences as success, but many people's best experience with the creative arts was a small performance for a few people that felt special and magical and intimate. (Arguably that might also describe some other best experiences, but that goes beyond the purview of this newsletter.)(I am pleased to report that reddit already has a sub named OnlyFlans which does exactly what it says on the tin.)(i'm hungry)
CUSTARD'S LAST STAND
The larger world continues to be terrible, and racism and terrorism continue to be promoted and condoned by too many people, and I sure feel like I can't do much about it. So, this week I wrote about local politics instead, where there's a pending deal to have loggers pay a pittance to the city for the right to cut down a bunch of trees from the protected zone around our reservoir.
I don't like this deal, but you'd never know it from the very suBtle satire in my latest column:
A Message from the Friendly Forest Flatteners
I doubt it will achieve any re-leaf for our forest, but I figured at least I can stick in a good word and root for improvement as a way of branching out from national politics. (I decided this while conferring with myself, so you could call me "decide-uous" and also "con*I*fer")(Okay, that's too much of a stretch, I'm barking mad.)
GAME OVER, MAN
Although my boardgaming has dwindled significantly, we still make time for our annual alphabetic challenge, which is of interest only to serious boardgame geeks. (or, I guess, humorous boardgame geeks). But that's for another night. For now, I thank you for reading, will be back in two weeks with another column, and right now I believe a snack is in order.
Hungry Hungry And Yet Not Technically Hippo,
Seth