I bet you thought this blog post title was a metaphor.
(This was sent to us by a Lit Lab supporter. I'm trying to get the source so I can credit it properly. Just in! It's from here.)
Added by Scott: This is, without a doubt, an all-time lowpoint for Friday Filler. I've never just posted a photo; I made some kind of effort. You're phoning it in, Malasarn. I shake my head in shame. And then, I add a photo of my own. This is the steel goat that lives in our garden. His name is Noel.
Added by Michelle: This is the closest I have to a goat - my daughter's little stuffed lambs. They are cuter than a goat. Right? Right! It's hard to beat Bailey's goat though, especially with a name like Noel. My daughter says her lambs are named Tuddle and Bop. Huh.
In the diorama of literature, one must take care to keep everything neat and tidy, right down to the goats. Did you just slapdash some random goats into your setting? Did you think that the readers of your, for example -- transcendental detective novel -- wouldn't notice the vagueness of those goats you threw into the landscape willy-nilly? Or was it billy-nilly?
ReplyDeleteWell, let me tell you - clean up those goats! Give them personalities, make sure they are doing something necessary to your plot, and above all, make sure they are not accumulating metaphorical mothballs.
That's what this post was about, right?
-Alex
It's Mighty Garden Goat!
ReplyDeleteFunny, on Wednesday I kept thinking "I'm just phoning it in." It was the first time I was too busy to make a meeting and had to resort to a conference call instead. I'm becoming that guy who does that thing. I'm being asked if I've consulted my people. I'm wearing button down shirts instead of Old Navy tees.
Alex, you passed the test! Yes, that's right, this was a test. And you passed!
ReplyDeleteLow-time points for Friday Filler are pretty funny, and I think this just made my day because I keep looking at that photo and laughing. :)
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you have a goat in your garden is pretty awesome stuff, Mr. Bailey. I don't have a goat anywhere. My daughter has some stuffed animal lambs. Does that count?
By the way, this makes me want some goat cheese.
ReplyDeleteMichelle: We can't tell if the stuffed lambs count until you put a photo of them in the body of today's post, can we?
ReplyDeleteMmm, goat cheese. We buy our chevre from Port Madison Goat Farm and Dairy, on Bainbridge Island. Beverly Phillips milks 64 Nubian goats twice daily. Just for us.
Ok, photo added. :)
ReplyDeleteYay! I know I said Alex passed the test, but I think we've also passed some sort of "other" test.
ReplyDeleteCome on, Davin, what are Fridays FOR?
ReplyDeleteI'm experiencing Garden Goat Envy.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm glad I passed the test!
Mighty Reader and I saw "Roman Holiday" last night in a small art theater. I'd forgotten that there was an eel in the market scene.
ReplyDeleteTuddle and Bop are fine sheep.
Davin, I'm not sure if the "other" test was one we really should be proud to have passed. But I agree that we've passed something. Our readers' tolerance, perhaps.
You're right, Scott. We lost a follower today! Oh dear. Okay, next week, writerly content. I promise.
ReplyDeleteSee, I didn't think this was a metaphor at all. I thought that you were reminding me politely that my dog needs a bath.
ReplyDeleteUpon reflection, I'm with Mizmak. The goats better reveal character or advance plot.
But don't goats always do one or the other? Noel is certainly working it. (And Michelle's are so adorable that we instantly forgive them for not, you know, actually being goats.)
Noel's purpose is purely thematic, though not symbolic. Also decorative, but we don't say that around him.
ReplyDeleteFriday fillers are fun, end of the week items. Lighten up and enjoy the silliness of the picture...and remember that someone HAS to do it. Next week it could be you....MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
ReplyDeleteMartin: Point of order, if you don't mind. I invented Friday Filler on el Laboratio Literario. They're whatever I say they are. And you just don't understand the special humor Davin and I share!
ReplyDeleteIs it really left to me to point out that it's actually very *easy* to get Bailey's goat?
ReplyDeleteIt's all a routine. Totally pre-planned. Scott plays this opinionated intellectual guy who speaks Latin and plays violin while I pretend to be this needy (and by needy, I mean sexy) questioning quirky guy. But in reality Scott is a rocker dude who is just trying to have fun and I'm this scientist who spends my time complaining about the current state of fiction.
ReplyDeleteThen there's Michelle. Don't get me started on Michelle.
What was that, Davin?
ReplyDelete*leans closer*
See what I mean? :)
ReplyDeleteI need some chocolate.
ReplyDeleteQED, bro.
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected and ashamed.
ReplyDeleteMartin: I don't mean to shame you! I just have an inexplicable knee-jerk reaction to the phrase "lighten up." No idea why, but those two words in that order make me very unenlightened.
ReplyDelete