Marina (from the GU) lays into our Garry

[zeusbheld]

"Someone needs to put down her thesaurus"

Can you really criticise someone's ability to write well?

can you really criticize someone's ability to sing well? or manage a football team? of course you can.

if you can't criticize someone's ability to write well, there are a lot of universities that will go under, or at least release their English, Journalism, Film, and Creative Writing professors and cancel their programs. she's obviously very proud of whatever university she attended, although i suspect her writing professors may be cringing quite a bit at her prose.

The woman has a large vocabulary. Do you need to be semi-retarded to be accepted? I was going to say monosyllabic but feared that I may be accused of using big words.

the point isn't that she uses big words. the point is that she uses big words when it doesn't help her express herself more precisely. being shamelessly pompous myself at times, i'm not fazed by big words, but those big words have to be doing something besides saying "look how clever i am!"

Humour, particularly written humour, is constructed by creating images, scenarios and situations. Using specific terminology enables writers to create a more detailed picture rather than using lots of conversational tones. Satire is to do with excessively presenting an unbalanced argument a la the jokes we have about Blair etc. It wouldn't be funny if we didn't exagerrate and weren't biased to his shortcomings.

i would rate Ricky Gervais as a lot funnier than her, yet he seems to get away with using conversational tones rather brilliantly. nonetheless, you have a good point in that tone and diction level are the key to written comedy or satire. however, her tone and diction only works if she's making fun of her own pretensions.

there's a word for her kind of prose: purple. it isn't considered flattering.

By the way, I'm a misogynist, but I think Marina actually has ability which makes her ok in my book, whether she has a failed attempt at trying to satirise Cookie.

how does that make you a misogynist? as in, someone who categorically hates women? i'm confused by that.

in a way, i'm more offended by her writing style than her content. she squanders her ability in a self-aggrandizing, flashy manner, rather than using it to express herself more precisely. i'm just glad i don't agree with her; her prose is embarrassing even to someone as pretentious as me.

when it comes to humor i'll stick to reading the likes of Douglas Adams, Mark Twain or Wodehouse. They're not very current but on a different plane than her pretentious posturing.

 

[zeusbheld]

I didn't find her article that offensive really, think people are over-reacting a little.

There's quite a funny email exchange going on between Marina and brooklandsblue though, I think they secretly quite like each other.

now THAT ought to be funny.

 

[Ric]

Here you go:

"It was Nike whence he came, of course, where he was in charge of Michael Jordan's brand, another chap - how to put this? - who has never allowed himself to be held back by the dead weight of principle. When the segregationist Republican senator Jesse Helms ran against a black Democrat in his home state of North Carolina, Jordan famously declined to take sides on the basis that "Republicans buy sneakers too"."

Why mention that it was a 'black' Democrat? Are you making the assumption that Jordan should have rallied behind him because he too is black? Tut tut, your bosses at bleeding heart central will not be happy.

P.S Your article about Gary Cook was among the most poorly researched, poorly written rants I have had the misfortune to read, even by the Guardians standards.


Regards

erm... I'm suggesting that ANYONE should side against segregationists, black, white, or any colour.

tut tut, you really aren't the brightest, are you?

You will be hoisted by your own petard Marina. Your 'newspaper' has been running this little campaign against Manchester City ever since Dr Shinawatra took over in 2007.

Your comments have caused quite a stir, I suggest you follow the link below and consider retracting your thoughtless ramblings.

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=105790" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bluemoon-mcfc.co.uk/forum/vi ... 1&t=105790</a>

grow up, dear. if your only response to criticism of Garry Cook is that sort of spewing bile, then you are something of a pathetic creature. I have had over 200 thrilled emails from City fans, so perhaps you might accept that not all your suporters share your view. there is a spectrum of opinion on this one, and I, you, and all other City fans are perfectly within our rights to sit at different points on it.

Marina,

Your masters will be pleased with you. Good puppy.

what masters? and shouldn't you be getting back to the [deleted] grindstone yourself?

I am Marina, I have had a veal calf steak with foie gras and I'm ready to roll again. Calm down dear you'll give yourself skin failure.

Keep up the "good" work!

 

[dannybcity]

Jeez get a room. I always said that BB is funny.

;)

 

[BingoBango]

Good to see that Brooklands is still an objectionable twat.

 

[JohnMaddocksAxe]

Brooklands Blue, a stereotype to the last.

Where did you get that exchange from, Ric? It doesn't seem to be on the comments section.

 

[Ric]

It was a private email exchange between them, so I probably shouldn't have published it. To be honest, I was on Marina's side.

 

[zeusbheld]

i couldn't resist leaving another comment for Ms. Hyde:

Marina said:"personally, I believe that there are some moral absolutes, and for me being anti-segregation is one of them, whatever colour you are."

hmmm.

You know very little about American politics. have you ever even been to North Carolina? I actually was living there at the time. I voted for Harvey Gantt. I know a lot of black people in North Carolina, all of whom voted for Gantt. I have yet to meet one that takes your sanctimonious position regarding Mr. Jordan's role in the election, or even considered his role significant.

You also conveniently overlook the fact that Helms, for all his odious qualities and dubious past, was decades past being a segregationist. In fact, this may shock you, but segregation was no longer an issue to Americans by then, except to the likes of David Dukes and Louis Farrakhan (who incidentally, get along with each other quite well).

But hey, you're the expert. After all, *you* say so.

Some unrelated advice. You dispense it so freely, I'm feeling generous too and will return the favor: precious comments like "bowdlerised Nietzsche" might be more clever instead of merely purple if you actually read and understood Nietzsche, instead of just the Monarch notes. But hey, your fanboys lap it up, so it's all good.

breathlessly awaiting your moderator's inevitable deletion of this comment.

 

[zeusbheld]

It was a private email exchange between them, so I probably shouldn't have published it. To be honest, I was on Marina's side.

she handled him well except that she's full of shit when it comes to American politics.

Helms had a past as a segregationist, true--but that was decades ago. by the time of Helms vs. Gantt, it wasn't an issue. which is in no way an endorsement of Helms, but ffs. as an American who lived in North Carolina and voted for Gantt in that election her sanctimonious, 2-crayola approach to American politics offends me. sorry but we DO NOT need (or want) some posturing Oxford elitist who writes a mediocre column about celebrities to come over and sort our politics.

also, her self-indulgent, self-aggrandizing prose is cringeworthy.

 

[MDLVKM3]

zeusbheld -

When I said can we criticise her writing ability? You made the wrong inference because you took it out of context. It meant her ability to write well i.e. she has excellent ability. Criticise her all you like.

Ricky gervais' comedy is verbal. Therefore less words are needing because of visual stimuli.

Is the language use for comedic effect? Yes.

That's her schtick. Thats the point of the column. Using OTT arguments and terminology to explain trivial events in news. You would know that if you read the guardian. I was offering insight from experience.

Misogny was in reference to what started the debate (being a slag) but feel to jump in half way through and pick out non-contextualised sentences. Ta.