Comments on: You Know What Happens to Useful Engines? They Get Used. Also, Sir Topham Hatt Can Suck It. Viva La Revolución, &c.

By: anna

anna — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:25:08 +0000

@Captain Dumbass, my son loves Thomas as well! He will stop in his tracks if he sees Thomas ANYWHERE, latest example: sippy cups. Man, he loves those sippy cups!

By: Captain Dumbass

Captain Dumbass — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 06:03:29 +0000

Productivity? Utility? Uh-huh. If I was productive I sure as hell wouldn't be blogging. Sadly, my children love Thomas. I'm not sure what the show is supposed to be teaching them though. Those damn trains are all self-centred and vindictive and never learn anything. Ok, I guess it is teaching them something about real life... Captain Dumbass´s last blog post..A Tale Of Two Sicknesses, or The White Plague

By: anna

anna — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:06:11 +0000

Simplemom is actually a great site. It’s not the place to go to laugh or waste time, no, but it’s got some great content. But yeah, it’s a different concept. It’s very hard to write about (for example) personal finance and make it entertaining. But it is useful, so if people are interested in that, it’s great.

LOL@Mini having a groupie! I’m glad your son loves the cup!

By: Kerry

Kerry — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:47:51 +0000

The thing about meteoric rises is that they often lead to meteoric falls. Plus, people trash you on the internet. I'm amazed at the things people say about some famous bloggers. It's, like, not cool at all. One thing about blogs I'm learning is that it's about building relationships. If you're a flavor-of-the month, people will read you, but then they'll want a different flavor next month. If they actually like YOU, they'll be loyal, and they'll work harder to make smart comments, refer friends, etc. To make that connection, I think, you need a little fluff. Otherwise it's impersonal, and there's no loyalty from readers. Also, the finance stuff is not at all fluffy...and my son freakin' loves that Boon sippy cup. I told him a cool kid in LA has one, and if he didn't want to be a dorky cheesehead, he'd better start sipping, dammit, and it totally worked. So now Mini has a groupie.

By: anna

anna — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:39:43 +0000

LOL@Tracy Lynn

@J., one of the blogs I read and really like, simplemom.net, has had kind of a meteoric rise. She’s got all kinds of useful information and zero fluff.

By: J.

J. — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:11:39 +0000

WHO is fabulously successful after less than a year of blogging? Names, please. And frankly, usefulness is terrifically overrated. Some of the most beautiful things in the world are completely useless, like Lamborghinis and Paris Hilton. (I kid about Paris, I don't think she's beautiful, definitely useless, through.) J.´s last blog post..Merry Blogiversary To Me

By: Tracy Lynn

Tracy Lynn — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:14:45 +0000

Yeah but those useful bloggers are all earnest sincerity. I hate earnest sincerity. It's so not funny. And far too earnest and sincere. Almost smarmy. Those smarmers, smarming smarmily at us. Bastards. Tracy Lynn´s last blog post..Twelve Guests Of Christmas 2008- Kaply, Inc Version

By: anna

anna — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:38:40 +0000

Awww, thanks Kerry. Maybe we should create another useless blog award, and call it the Toppam Hatt Useless Blogger Award. That’s hilarious that he was called the Fat Man.

@Deb, there’s definitely some phallicism–it would be tough to avoid it without all the trains. But it’s definitely more of an endorsement of a rigid class system, not unlike England’s, I suppose.

By: Kerry

Kerry — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:31:36 +0000

Okay, first off, you totally have to get the Thomas Christmas DVD. There’s a segment on there where Sir Topham Hatt goes through and shows you each engine, and tells you a little about it. It’s like a little mini-performance review. He totally talks smack about them, and it so parallels corporate life that it’s kinda funny. I have worked with a lot of Sir Topham Hatts. Also, he talks about how he started out in the railway, and he worked his way up, and he used to be called The Fat Director until the Queen made him a “Sir.”

Also, Thomas is based on a series that a preacher wrote for his kid to get him to be obedient and useful. I know this because I have a strange habit of looking up all of my kids’ favorite shows on Wikipedia. How’s THAT for productive.

I like your fluffy posts. They’re my first stop every morning. Providing a place people look forward to visiting every day is pretty productive, in my view.

By: Deb

Deb — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:14:05 +0000

I've never seen Thomas the Tank Engine, but it sounds awfully Montessori/Fascist to me. Before the information in your post I had assumed the Engines where all phallic symbols which was brilliant because Erikson says that preschool-age is when children first define their sexual identities. Business blog posts about productivity tips make me laugh, because the first tip really should be "stop reading so many stupid productivity blogs and do something." Deb´s last blog post..It's cause of you I'm like this, Santa. I wish I could quit ya!