One person's theory of evolution in terms of a time suck
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What fascinates me about The Adverts is how their opportunity to revel in (their now-legendary) infamy began and ended at the same time, by the release of the debut album (1978, Bright Records). I find that musicians suffer this fate after they get so pegged to overnight-success genre labeling, as many acts had been to no wave, grunge, trip hop or dance-punk, genres having the misfortune of hitting overplayed level eventually, taking their champions down with them. The British punk rock band started strong, having been early players at The Roxy and support to The Damned and Generation X. For five infinite minutes there, the husband-wife team of TV Smith and Gaye Advert was golden, and then the Eighties arrived, the sophomore album fizzled out, people moved on and forgot. In comparison, top 40 pop lives forever.
Although I wrote the above from memory, I am pretty certain I got the facts from where-else-but-Wikipedia. I only ever dig up these useless conclusions because I am Mogging when I should be finding employment, which brings me to theorizing...
Rant
Time suck, noun. 1 : any time-consuming activity. 2 : an activity that consumes one's time just as one is consumed by it. E.g., Mogging. [Definition : poster's own]
The premise to the theory is simple. You might do better at something you're crazy for rather than something you're good at—heck, gifted at—but do not care for. Within the time that you are engaged in a time suck, you are considered to be indefinitely crazy for it. That thing you're crazy for is perhaps your only true chance at evolving. You are compelled naturally to pore over it against all odds. You lose your head getting it, and madness is the difference between a finish and a leap. In contrast, that you would want to excel in something you don't like is meaningless, counter-revolutionary, and probably stupid.
The condition, however, is that your choice of a time suck and your drive to kill at it, regardless of talent, should be inseparable. You had better be into it to the point of pushing it: if you aren't breaking your own record, you aren't making progress. For example, if you're going to sit around staring at the ceiling all night, baby, it had better be the maddest, baddest experience of ceiling-staring you'll ever give yourself. This is the cost. There is no free pass and it is what you owe.
That we keep trying to do better at things we either hate or don't care for (a sucky job, a bad relationship, fitting that repulsive, expensive dress or car in our lives) is possibly the reason we are not evolving as much as we can anymore. It is also why every time a fake / spam / shitty post from hell tries to suck an unsuspecting Mogger's time, it sets civilization back. That's all; carry on with your time suck.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (17)
Ah your posts never cease to make my day... I have been watching and listening!!! I am back in the US but heading to Asia in November....
How right you are, again. Though I will add that, at least once in my life, I have managed to make a sucky job non-sucky by learning to at least take pride in being able to carry out some of the unpleasant aspects. And often when that happens, once the overlords see that you're actually almost-enjoying a particular task, they move you up and give you something less onerous to do instead. (For some perverse reason, the more reluctance show at the prospect of losing this task, the more eager they are to detach you from it.) You end up missing what you originally loathed, but onthe whole you're doing more interesting stuff. This human nature, it is curious, no?
When I think of a time suck, I think of something you do when afterwards, you say to yourself, "OMG, I just wasted two hours of my life on that," like sitting through a bad movie.
Was there a particular post that brought this on? It sounds deliciously annoying to have inspired this rant which I have now read twice.
Um yeah. You hit the nail on the head here at least for an obsessive like myself. That's why MOG is soooo dangerous (or maybe, was soooo dangerous). I figure, If I'm gonna MOG, I need to go all out..posts,comments,stats, checking the front page. Of course, almost always, Mogging is a substitute for something I should be doing..I'm not efficient enough to set aside time to MOG, so it becomes a time suck.
Gaye Advert was the poster girl of Punk. I remember well her sittingin the back of the 100 Club when there were about a hundred of us, already queen of the ball. They were a great group and 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' is a great song.
'Gaye Advert was the poster girl of Punk' LOL! She did a spread in a magazine like Fiesta didn't she? She was cute, for sure, and One Chord Wonders is one of my favorite punk songs...
I vaguely remember something about the Fiesta shoot, but she was certainly very, very friendly with a lot of the Pistols and their fans.
Neill's right about the song "One Chord Wonders" being a good one. Thanks, poebegone, for turning others of us onto it. There are always too many choices for how to spend our time, even if we're in a dungeon or in a tribe living on the tundra. At my funeral, maybe someone will eulogise me for taking the time to come up with a not-that-stupid comment for this post, rather than spend the time doing something more normal and boring.
What is that photo from?
I agree w/Dar, a time suck is when you feel you've wasted your time on something. I don't feel that way about mog. To me it's essential since music is essential and has filled a void where I was longing to kibitz about the details of music w/other like musicheads.
I'm kinda meh about The Adverts & not heard of them before. Maybe if I heard an album's worth of their tunes I might feel different.
ZR, Asia wants you back, pronto. ;p Will it be Laos, Bangkok or someplace else? Goshdarn, travel is ever my biggest motivation to go find a job right now. ::: fingers crossed ::: ...That and the desire for a decent internet connection so I can Mog, ack!
Bill, I dig a deeper hole each time I try to understand human nature. I love what I do for a living but the environment (the industry?) in which I was doing it made me miserable. It's like you can take poebegone out of Mogging but can't take Mogging out of poebegone. ;d
Dar & Aug, you are correct. Definition #1 is indeed the universal meaning. Oh, those hours of our lives we'll never get back! Definition #2 is more contextual and about things we love and can't stop doing even when we should be doing something else.
To borrow Cody's words, "Of course, almost always, Mogging is a substitute for something I should be doing..I'm not efficient enough to set aside time to MOG, so it becomes a time suck."
Dar, I have pretty low standards on how I use my time. I can sit through a bad movie and derive perverse pleasure from doing that. PS- Look who's MotW! {:
Aug, I love how The Adverts' music is punk rock with a touch of post-punk. If there was ever any doubt, I am extoling the virtues of Mogging, yo! Btw, the photo comes from the Japanese movie Battle Royale.
Cody, the post is in part my feeble and muddled way to applaud sincerely those like you who go all out in Mogging, whether it's posting, commenting, announcing, recommending, and a heap of other ideas people have brought.
"Posts from hell" is a direct reference to actual spammers and those who sign up, leave their homepages empty and add everyone to their Trusteds. I will note that MOG's done a swell job reducing the incidence to almost nil.
There is one particular time suck within Mogging that is irreplaceable in my heart: talking about a lot of nothing over music. It's soulful love (of music) and soulful is why I'm here.
Jonh & Neill, your exposure to The Adverts certainly dwarfs mine. Gaye Advert was totally queen, wasn't she? After all...
Credit: www.boredteenagers.co.uk/ADVERTS.htm
Jonh, Gary Gilmore's Eyes is super. In a world where "in your face" and "dumb" can often mean the same things, I am glad for TV Smith's way with lyrics.
Neill, I luurv One Chord Wonders. It is essential anti-anthemic punk, it says it all! What on earth is Fiesta? (Right, it's a magazine. I'll look it up.)
Charles, I remember watching the reality show Survivor back when it was new and thinking to myself that I'm pretty sure I'll have more worthwhile uses of my time while living on the tundra. When the day comes, you shall be eulogized for being anything but normal and boring.
Nothing! Oh yes, my favorite.
Bulk joiners, yeah, they are quite the nuisance. Ever since they took away that easy to reach top moggers page those drive-by friendings have, like you say,reduced to almost nil.
I'd be scared to see how much time I've been logged in to MOG over these 2.5 years..but I will dutifully report it if the stats become available.
Wow. You always have the words I need. Particularly at this moment when I'm on a creative fizzle, I sometimes wonder why that which I am mad for drives me over that which I am good at. Didn't I want to make comics at one time? What happened to that? Even my mog posts are nil these days, but there's someting around the corner, I just have to dust myself off. Oh inspriation, are you over that hill? Naw, just another mountain...perhaps it's just over the next peak...
We will see you in the Fall Contra..Is it a coincidence that a huge bunch of spam porn showed up on MOG yesterday? I dunno.
very cool :) awesome sound!
Cody, my god, you're right, bulk joiners must've bookmarked "that easy to reach top moggers page". Cripes, I don't think I want to know how many hours I've logged in to MOG. It may rival the hours I put into my real-life job.
Tyler, you nailed it, "that which I am mad for drives me over that which I am good at". I've indeed been missing your MOG posts for a long while now, no one quite formulates theses and theories like you do! I also wanted to make comics at one time... alright, now I feel sad over that...
QP, hey, girl, it's good to see you paying us a visit. Knock yourself out with those status updates, heaven knows we all did at one point or another. (8