Passion of the "Cartoon Store" Clerk
Aug. 8th, 2007 01:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerI went to the liquor store to get recommendations for a nice bottle of merlot. I've started dipping my toe into the wine world with Yellow Tail as my training wines, and so far, merlot has caught my fancy more than shiraz and cabernet sauvignon (the only other ones I've so far tried). I've yet to have a true complementary wine-with-food experience, but so far, the merlot has been great to have on its own.
Anyway, it didn't take long for a worker at the liquor store to offer help (which they never do when I'm looking at non-wine stuff; one of these days, I'm going to have to get up the courage to ask where they keep the butterscotch schnapps), and I told said worker my situation, asking him for his advice.
I tell ya, this guy's eyes just lit right up.
I knew exactly why. I'm certain it's the same look I get when someone asks me for comic advice.
And all at once, I'm reminded of the major problem I'd have in trying to write the HEFNER MONOLOGUES book/show about working in the comic store. It was all summed up perfectly when I tried to tell a comic store story at the Speakeasy open mic last fall, a story some of you might remember. It was a rant about how working there made me come to better appreciate and love the medium, but at the same time, turned me increasingly belligerent and intolerant towards those I deemed had bad taste, and were willingly spending money on crap, thus telling the companies to make *more* crap.
The head of Speakeasy--a damn cool woman who's helped hone my monologues--said to me later, "Yeah, it was good, but I liked your last story better. The one about when you got drunk in Bath? That was awesome. So, uh, do you still, uh... do you still work at the cartoon store?"
... I'm tempted to make that the start of the Hefner Monologues story, except that even though it perfectly sums up the problem, many people still wouldn't get why that's so depressing. Which even further illustrates the problem!
I'm not talking about comics, and the mainstream's inability to accept the medium, wank wank wank. No, I'm not gonna go on that old fan wankery again. It's a thoroughly-legitimate-but-rather-tired point. Hell, I'm not even talking about fandom in general. I've come to fear that what's really sad about that woman's statement is not because she doesn't "get" comics or whatever...
... it's that, when you get right down to it, a story about getting drunk and making a fool of oneself is more universally relateable to your average person than a story about being passionate for something.
Now, at least, that's the idea I had at the time, and I still don't know how true it is. But more and more, I get the distinct impression that most people really aren't passionate about... anything! I guess that's what makes geeks geeks, whether they be for comics, movies, baseball statistics, or magnolias (my mom and step father).
I'm still working on this current hypothesis, but so far, it's holding true. I'd have thought that being passionate about something would have been universal enough to make the "comic store stories" hold up, but more and more, I don't really see your average person get fired up and excited about many things. Is it really just a geek thing? I'm not sure.
I tell ya, though. When I asked that liquor store worker's advice for a good "step up" merlot, you should have seen his eyes. I feel ya, brother.
Anyway, it didn't take long for a worker at the liquor store to offer help (which they never do when I'm looking at non-wine stuff; one of these days, I'm going to have to get up the courage to ask where they keep the butterscotch schnapps), and I told said worker my situation, asking him for his advice.
I tell ya, this guy's eyes just lit right up.
I knew exactly why. I'm certain it's the same look I get when someone asks me for comic advice.
And all at once, I'm reminded of the major problem I'd have in trying to write the HEFNER MONOLOGUES book/show about working in the comic store. It was all summed up perfectly when I tried to tell a comic store story at the Speakeasy open mic last fall, a story some of you might remember. It was a rant about how working there made me come to better appreciate and love the medium, but at the same time, turned me increasingly belligerent and intolerant towards those I deemed had bad taste, and were willingly spending money on crap, thus telling the companies to make *more* crap.
The head of Speakeasy--a damn cool woman who's helped hone my monologues--said to me later, "Yeah, it was good, but I liked your last story better. The one about when you got drunk in Bath? That was awesome. So, uh, do you still, uh... do you still work at the cartoon store?"
... I'm tempted to make that the start of the Hefner Monologues story, except that even though it perfectly sums up the problem, many people still wouldn't get why that's so depressing. Which even further illustrates the problem!
I'm not talking about comics, and the mainstream's inability to accept the medium, wank wank wank. No, I'm not gonna go on that old fan wankery again. It's a thoroughly-legitimate-but-rather-tired point. Hell, I'm not even talking about fandom in general. I've come to fear that what's really sad about that woman's statement is not because she doesn't "get" comics or whatever...
... it's that, when you get right down to it, a story about getting drunk and making a fool of oneself is more universally relateable to your average person than a story about being passionate for something.
Now, at least, that's the idea I had at the time, and I still don't know how true it is. But more and more, I get the distinct impression that most people really aren't passionate about... anything! I guess that's what makes geeks geeks, whether they be for comics, movies, baseball statistics, or magnolias (my mom and step father).
I'm still working on this current hypothesis, but so far, it's holding true. I'd have thought that being passionate about something would have been universal enough to make the "comic store stories" hold up, but more and more, I don't really see your average person get fired up and excited about many things. Is it really just a geek thing? I'm not sure.
I tell ya, though. When I asked that liquor store worker's advice for a good "step up" merlot, you should have seen his eyes. I feel ya, brother.
