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[pmcd9]

I have an idea for a blog in the vein of sites like Regretsy or People of Wal-Mart or Animals Behaving Badly. I don't know if there's a name for this type of blog, that takes a specific subject and finds countless ways to mock and ridicule the subject. Shameblog perhaps? I don't know.

I would call my blog What Have they Wrought and it's about brilliant people who have done something that have had such an impact on popular culture that they spurned imitators that ruined the concept they were imitating.

Here are some notable examples.

John Madden: He created a big dumb jock persona as a football announcer. His success spurred so many imitators that for the next decade or so it seemed like every football announcing crew had a big dumb jock character. What those other big dumb jock imitators overlooked though is the fact that John Madden is actually one of the most brilliant minds in NFL history. So he backs up his big dumb banter with science. Unlike his imitators who were just big and dumb.

Madden is mostly notable in this list because he maybe seemed to realize that he was becoming a parody of himself and dropped the dummy act for the most part the last few years of his broadcasting career.

Hunter S. Thompson: Brilliant political writer who invented the concept of writing from a first person perspective inserting himself into the story. This type of selgiraffe reporting is now a scourge on journalism. His countless imitators have done irreparable damage to journalism.

Okay, obviously I would need to do research to properly make my points, but I'm way too busy right now to get into that. I'm too busy to even give an explanation of my 3rd example Queen - A Crazy Little Thing Called Love for creating the Rockabilly subculture that exist today.

[wombat]

Are there enough examples for a continuing blog? If not it would make a great Cracked article, if they haven't already done it. You know that anyone can write for them - or at least, can pitch them an article. But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to come up with something like this that they haven't already done.

[pmcd9]

Your post just made me want to invent time travel so I could go back and junk punch Madden into not spawning Tony Siragusa.

Exactly!

Are there enough examples for a continuing blog? If not it would make a great Cracked article, if they haven't already done it. You know that anyone can write for them - or at least, can pitch them an article. But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to come up with something like this that they haven't already done.

Hmm, I don't know, maybe. I actually thought about Cracked, but didn't know that they took blind submissions. Do you know what they would pay for an article such as this?

[wombat]

What they do at Cracked is that you sign up for their writer's workshop forum and you pitch the article, basically with an outline and one of the examples written up. People give you feedback and once the mods think the pitch is acceptable, they pass it on to the editors. It's not easy to get accepted, the standards are high and it's hard to find stuff they've never done, but the process is completely transparent. If you sign up I think it says somewhere what they pay, but maybe fifty bucks?

[jaydub]

I'd just like to weigh in that I think it's a brilliant concept and I look forward to your unique take on things

[KeithHernandez]

This is a good concept, but I don't know about your queen hypothesis.

[Victoria Waterfield]

But you have to get up pretty early in the morning to come up with something like this that they haven't already done.

"12 Amazing Ideas for Articles You Won't Believe Cracked Hasn't Done Yet"

Calling it now.

[dejavroom]

Grunge ----> Nu metal

Radiohead -----> Coldplay, Travis

Feminism ------> Misandry

[KeithHernandez]

Grunge ----> Nu metal

Radiohead -----> Coldplay, Travis

Feminism ------> Misandry

Man, you and Paul are both 2 for 3.  I'm all, word, word, uh, nah, fuck that.  I guess that could be good if making a website.

Simple mp3 players/ebook readers ---> Smartphones, tablets, things that connect to the internet constantly that are in my pocket that I am a slave to.

[dejavroom]

Do you know what they would pay for an article such as this?

$50 an article (at least it was when they rejected an article I wrote).

[pmcd9]

I'm catching a lot of shit on Facebook for comparing Shirley Temple to Honey Boo Boo. What I meant of course is that Shirley Temple was the original child star. It's generally accepted that she was a brilliant little actress and and an inspiration to millions. As an adult she proved to be a stellar human being as well. But her outrageous and unprecedented success in the nascent early days of Hollywood sent a signal out to the greedy mothers of the world with dollar signs in their eyes who would jump at the chance to exploit their precocious children. And of course there are the Hollywood producers who are more than willing to take advantage of them. No matter how you slice it, this long road of greed and exploitation leads directly from Shirley Temple to Honey Boo Boo.

[jaydub]

I agree with your premise, also noting it leads to Brook Shields and Jodi Foster.  I think there is a weird "classist" dynamic about the revulsion of Honey Boo Boo being compared to Shirley Temple, ironic given most of Shirley's early roles were that of a destitute orphan or an unloved/overlooked child.

[pmcd9]

I agree with your premise, also noting it leads to Brook Shields and Jodi Foster.  I think there is a weird "classist" dynamic about the revulsion of Honey Boo Boo being compared to Shirley Temple, ironic given most of Shirley's early roles were that of a destitute orphan or an unloved/overlooked child.

I underestimated how much Shirley Temple means to people who grew up during the depression (i.e. my parents) and her playing a destitute child only made her resonate more with them. I don't think that saying she lead to Brook Shields or Jodi Foster would help much in their eyes. Maybe I should have said it lead to Macaulay Culkin. My mother loves the Home Alone movies.

I guess that road also lead to Christina Ricci so God Bless Shirley Temple.

[jaydub]

I'm pretty sure Culkin's star skidded into the dumpster of failed child stars once puberty turned cute into goofy.  Shields and Foster parlayed early success into lasting careers and considerable philanthropy. Not to say the book is closed on Macaulay, or any of the other crop of "too rich, too famous, too soon" kids that the Disney machine wrings profit from for 4-12 years.  I don't really know what to do about that whole thing.  Entertainment certainly can focus on stories about young people and children, and its only fair that the actors who portray the characters should be paid fairly in cash; it just seems that somehow we should do a better job of raising them.

[pmcd9]

Oh, I'm not saying her assessment is fair, I just know that she likes the Home Alone movies. She probably doesn't like Shields because she's shown too much skin in her movies and she probably doesn't like Jodi Foster because she's a lesbian.