Friday, September 03, 2010

Jidhu What Jighotta Do


PREFACE: Part of me loves posting on Fridays because it's a great way to wrap up a week, but part of me wonders if Friday is a bad day of the week for getting the community involved. I mean, my last review only got 8 comments, and we all know that the only way to determine the value of a blog entry is the number of comments that are on it, right? I just wonder if I am getting an accurate reading on my worth and value as a person?

Thank you for sitting through that with me. Now on to today's review.

Before offering up a review of today’s blog, I wanted to make sure I was clear on what it was that the author thought he was doing, so I asked Shiner to forward to me the content of the review request.

This is what he had to say for himself:

Name of Your Blog: Jidhu's Reflecton
Your Blog's URL: http://www.jidhu.blogspot.com/
A Brief Description of My Blog: Its my reflection

Well, if this is true, than Jidhu must look something like this when he ganders at his own appearance in the mirror each day:



Because I swear, this guy has never met a blog gadget he didn’t like.

I can usually overlook something like that, as long as I can find the links to the archives, but today, I can’t. All those gadgets take forever to load, and they really get in the way. That's one really big demerit right there, son.

Bypassing the template issues for now, then, how well is Jidhu doing with making his blog “his reflection?”

Well, shit.

I don’t know.

I’m just going to come right out and say it. The writing needs a lot of work. Ignoring the mechanics of his English (which needs the most work, but I'm allowing for cultural differences here – “Just expecting something and nothing do for the expectations is a wastage for us.”), the written content is almost completely and totally uninspiring. Which is really sad, because I think he’s shooting for profound and insightful. He seems to be doing a ton of copying and pasting from other sources, or posting things other people have written. But the end product comes across as trite and clumsy.

Let me give you a f’rinstance. He has this topic series in which he shows pictures of Life Lessons on post-it notes. One in particular was “Stop and smell the roses.” After which he provides a full paragraph on what it means to “stop” and another on what it means to “smell the roses.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t need that explained to me. I've been stopping and smelling the roses for a long time.

Okay – here’s another f’rinstance: He published a post laying out ten things he wishes to learn in the future. As I read it, I couldn’t help but wonder why he set his sights so low. I mean, he had “ironing” and “to wear a tie” on this list. If I made a list like this, I don’t know what I’d put on it, but I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t include things I could learn tomorrow from a “how-to” video or a Tech book.

And what the hell am I supposed to make of this little gem? I mean, I can't even get worked up about Jidhu being all emo and shit, because he never gets to that level of navel gazing.

In fact, the only time that Jidhu’s writing stops coming across as very self conscious and pseudo-profound and fake is when he’s talking about the subject he seems to have the most passion for – computers and technology. Sure the subject matter is not always my cuppa, but out of the blue, the writing sounds and feels free and original and possibly, dare I say it, even a more accurate reflection of the author.

Of all the posts I read, the one about how to revert to a Windows XP installation after upgrading to Windows 7 was my favorite. Really. And I happen to LIKE Windows 7. (When I went to get you a link to it here, I didn’t think I was going to be able to find it again. All of those gadgets and not a single fucking way to do a simple text search?)

Now that I think about it, I can't be 100% sure that Jidhu didn't just crib this from another source.

The non written content – the photos – range from thought provoking and intriguing to “why-the-hell-did-you-post-this?”

Fine. I don’t like it. I won't be coming back. I don't think I know anyone who would like it. I can’t recommend it to anyone. I wonder what the point of it is. So, given that, what can Jidhu do to improve?

  • Identify something that you care passionately about. Politics, food, the color orange – I don’t care – and write 500 words on why it is so important to you. Not, why it should be important to someone else. Why it is important to you.
  • Find your own voice. Stop trying to be someone else.
  • Find clarity of thought first. Then write.
  • If you have nothing to say, then say nothing. Don’t write just to boost output.
  • For the love of all that is sacred to you in this world, get rid of all of those blog gadgets and get real, son!

Good luck.

Oh, wait. You wanted a rating. Didn't you? I'm finding it hard to invest in you emotionally long enough to do this, but what the hell.

Here you go:

19 comments:

  1. This title ---> "Jidhu What Jighotta Do" plus "f'rinstance" makes me feel happy.
    The blog? Not so much.
    Except for the fact that he posted a photo of his new Seiko5 watch.
    Not really.

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  2. Harumph.

    Long weekend here in the states. Probably won't see any traffic till Tuesday.

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  3. This review in almost every single way was the best thing I've read all week. The title. The content. All hilarious.

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  4. Now you'll be all alone at the lunch table. Wasn't that some kind of a metric too?

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  5. Excellent review, that picture had me laughing aloud.

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  6. It's hard to rail on someone writing in a second language, but shit. I could get out my old high school French dictionary and cobble together something more coherent than that watch post.

    It's shameful how much the rest of the of the world invests in learning second languages while we (USA) struggle with bon jour or adios.

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  7. "Of all the posts I read, the one about how to revert to a Windows XP installation after upgrading to Windows 7 was my favorite"

    this sentence was enough for me to know I will never visit this blog.

    Lovely review, Scorp. I do have to take issue with finding clarity before writing. I almost never have clarity when I write and I almost always finally figure out how I feel about something through the writing process itself.

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  8. MB - I'm the same way. Some people can do that. Others are like Jidhu.

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  9. In the US there is no motivation to learn a second language, there's no real need. Where I live you literally have zero chances of entering into the workforce nowadays without being fluent in English. Anyone who hasn't perfected it before job hunting has already shot themselves in the foot.

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  10. When I saw that second picture up there, I thought it was Scorpio having turned around. I should have known better than to think he would accessorize in such a cluttersome way.

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  11. Coconut juice came out of my nose at this:
    "Of all the posts I read, the one about how to revert to a Windows XP installation after upgrading to Windows 7 was my favorite"

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  12. "Coconut juice came out of my nose"

    This would be significantly more entertaining were I to learn that there were no coconut products within a 100 meter radius of you at the time. But alas, I fear that is probably not the case.

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  13. "Name of Your Blog: Jidhu's Reflecton
    A Brief Description of My Blog: Its my reflection"

    Um, yeah. So he reflectively submitted for review a reflective picture he took of his reflection in the mirror? 'Cause I'm thinking his likes reflecting himself, or something like that.

    And normally I wouldn't leave my lurker shell to comment but I didn't want Scorpio to feel the he and his blog entry had no value.

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  14. Lil likes me. She really, really likes me!

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  15. Okay. Maybe "like" is too strong a word. Maybe "tolerates" is more accurate?

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  16. Dude, I'm a Scorpio - therefore I am astrologically required to like you by default. Or I would be if I believed in horoscorpial stuff. Therefore, yes, I do like you and your reviews as much as I like that bad ass tattoo on the back of your head.

    That is a picture of you, right? It's not some wrestler or Aryan Brotherhood member or something whose picture you lifted so as to make yourself look bad ass?

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  17. 18 comments - you are validated before the long weekend Masrer Woperchild....as well as having done a bang up job of that review. I wandered over previously and felt VERY sorry for the reviewer.

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  18. "Of all the posts I read, the one about how to revert to a Windows XP installation after upgrading to Windows 7 was my favorite"

    LMAO! *shaking head* That doesn't seem a good thing...

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  19. So here's one for the not-sure-what-to-do-with-this-info file. Jidhu responded to the review in the comments section of his own blog. Not even having the stones to face the gauntlet over here. Not like CrazyBrunette and her scores of minions.

    "@Scorpio Woperchild : thanks for the review. I will try to improve myself"

    Anti-climax. It's not just for breakfast anymore.

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Grow a pair.