The Required Amount at the Prescribed Rate (Handcrafted From the Finest Corinthian Leather)
A Serendipitous Postmodern Encounter in My Kitchen
A magical meta-moment occurred on Friday in my kitchen; we were hosting an eclectic crowd: my good buddy Whitney and some other W&M folks, a representative from North Brunswick (Mose!) and the Highland Park regulars-- and my friend Ann, a Sentence of Dave lurker, finally got to meet the prolifically profound Sentence of Dave commenter known as Zman and she professed her profound admiration for his wit, erudition, and verve . . . and then went on to vilify all manner of Dave, my writing style, my choice of topics, my digressions, and my general character; Ann's hypothesis in a nutshell is that the only artistry present on this blog is Zman's commentary . . . she contended that there is an odd symbiotic relationship between us, and if I were to expand on this metaphorically, then I would be the flatulent tick infested rhino and Zman would be my cleaning symbiote, the elegantly marked red-tailed oxpecker, feeding off my bloated body . . . anyway, though it was at my expense, I still took great joy at this serendipitous postmodern encounter between lurker and commenter, because I had contributed doubly to its occurrence, with my prolix prose and the crowd in my kitchen.
I have not met Zman myself but I do concur with Ann, his contributions to your blog always elevate your musings and bloviations (megafauna, dog walking, limb removal, etc.). I have a visual of him in my head though – handsome chap, dropping erudite one liners to groups of ladies, those ladies basking in his glow, waiting for the next mirthful quip. Cocktail in hand, of course, arms gesticulating wildly as he speaks, but the drink never spills...
ReplyDeleteyou've definitely got to meet him . . .
ReplyDeleteEverything Lecky said is true, he's wildly insightful. Dave is not the first person to wax poetic about my oxen pecker but he's perhaps the most unlikely.
ReplyDeleteThis is the second time I've been to Dave's house and both times someone I never met before excitedly exclaimed "You're zman?!?! I love your comments!" It's intimidating, so much so that I now feel great pressure to come up with good, well-curated retorts to Dave's sentences. I might have to be more selective with my commenting.
Conversely, nobody we meet there is even vaguely familiar with the pithy stylings of either Whitney or Clarence, so I can remain free to comment willy-nilly . . . about my willy-nilly, if I so desire. Such freedom is liberating. And insulting.
ReplyDeletei believe both of you are witty and wonderful stylists (drew is more pithy) but i think zman may be capitalizing on a cool nickname. if this thing was called "sentence of zman," i'd be very famous.
ReplyDeletethe worst thing is, i could have given myself whatever wild and crazy moniker i desired, i could have called my blog "sentence of carlos" or "sentence of thok," but i lamely went with the most common diminutive of one of the most common names-- and now i'm ten years in so it's too late to change. dammit dave.