The Importance of Being Earnest, or, Why do we need ghost-writers?
1. the sad and depressing subject of decline brings out the best in writers. unfortunately, those writers usually have to be outside of the system undergoing decline. we see, for instance, Gibbons's magnum opus, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man. There is always the little bit of schadenfreude in all of us when we see someone getting screwed bigtime, somewhere out there.
this schadenfreude is an important motive force for artistic achievement. (i always had a very strong impression that the most powerful bits of mozart's Requiem were describing ppl burning in hell and the coming of the end days.)
unfortunately kai and i cannot possibly feel like that. as such, the decline of this blog benefits neither of us. we need a fresh view - someone who (probably subconsciously) feels utterly delighted that the content is "running dry".
2. the necessity of gimmick. in the time-honoured tradition of newspapers facing declining readership figures, we need something new to perk the readers' interest. something fresh and exciting and original, something to grab hold of everyone else's attention and say: WE ARE NOT DEAD YET!
in other words, we need a page 3 girl. i'll be honest with you. the reason why kai encouraged female applicants was not because we are both terribly desperate (though we may well be) but because we need just such a figure. the lady-and-tramp pose in the old photo is getting old, really.
though of coures male applicants are welcome in this age of female empowerment.
3. on a completely unrelated point, we need someone who is powerfully, tremendously, and artistically flatulent. (hopefully someone who can reproduce beethoven's ninth symphony.) this is in keeping with aardvarks and the fArt theme.
1. the sad and depressing subject of decline brings out the best in writers. unfortunately, those writers usually have to be outside of the system undergoing decline. we see, for instance, Gibbons's magnum opus, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man. There is always the little bit of schadenfreude in all of us when we see someone getting screwed bigtime, somewhere out there.
this schadenfreude is an important motive force for artistic achievement. (i always had a very strong impression that the most powerful bits of mozart's Requiem were describing ppl burning in hell and the coming of the end days.)
unfortunately kai and i cannot possibly feel like that. as such, the decline of this blog benefits neither of us. we need a fresh view - someone who (probably subconsciously) feels utterly delighted that the content is "running dry".
2. the necessity of gimmick. in the time-honoured tradition of newspapers facing declining readership figures, we need something new to perk the readers' interest. something fresh and exciting and original, something to grab hold of everyone else's attention and say: WE ARE NOT DEAD YET!
in other words, we need a page 3 girl. i'll be honest with you. the reason why kai encouraged female applicants was not because we are both terribly desperate (though we may well be) but because we need just such a figure. the lady-and-tramp pose in the old photo is getting old, really.
though of coures male applicants are welcome in this age of female empowerment.
3. on a completely unrelated point, we need someone who is powerfully, tremendously, and artistically flatulent. (hopefully someone who can reproduce beethoven's ninth symphony.) this is in keeping with aardvarks and the fArt theme.
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