As we near the end of the year, it’s always good to look around for the best and the worst of this, the internet. Thank the Lord, then, for Gawker’s Bad Blog Cliches:
When you make words for a living, you will inevitably find yourself drawn into certain ruts of repetition. That’s why you’ll see the same tired clichés popping up in the same media outlets, or often in the writing produced by the same people. Blogs are no different, and are in fact worse — the increased breadth and depth of volume encourages mass overuse of an even longer list of lazy jokes, references, and turns of phrase. And blog comments and discussions recycle the same slop with alarming regularity. We’re as guilty as anyone of these crimes, and likely more guilty than some. We’re willing to admit there’s a problem though, just like at AA, so we’re cataloguing the worst offenders far and wide.
Armed with this collection of new material, now I can keep blogging for at least another twelve months.
December 18th, 2006 at 5:12 pm
I think I’ve used every single one of these–plus all the stuff mentioned by the commenters–probably just in my last two posts.
It’s doubly painful considering how badly Gawker’s overall quality has dropped in the last twelve months.
December 19th, 2006 at 6:15 am
The cliche I see in comics reporting that really infuriates me is “bring their A game” - comics aren’t sports, as a quick look round the average convention hall would amply confirm.
December 19th, 2006 at 12:00 pm
A blog cliche I hate: the monstrously self-absorbed commenter who posts detailed and continuous updates about his personal life in the comments section. Whether or not it has anything to do with the topic (and usually, they have a surprising amount of anecdotes to justify the tenuous connection). Like, he or she is so insecure about themselves that they can’t bother to get their own blog for fear nobody would read them, and they’re probably right.
Thankfully I never see this on comic blogs.
December 20th, 2006 at 3:05 am
I hate hearing how exited comic creator X is about working on character Y. They’re getting paid for it. Kind of exciting to get paid. I enjoy it myself but it’s not news or even worth covering.
I get excited about a lot of things but they aren’t posted up anywhere. Hard to beat a perfectily toasted English muffin with fig preserves and butter on it. I’m really excited about it. Where’s Matt Brady to interview me about it?