Anyway, whatever, I just read Wolk’s review of YMG, & that last sentence is not bad at all – certainly worthy of anything GM has come up with lately.

And yes, I am a self-important asshole on the internet sometimes, which is why I wish I had an “edit” function. But Leonard, your blog is called “The Ludic Kid,” so don’t you already look like a stooge?

Sorry your “victory through abandonment” gambit has left you unable to read this, but what can ya do?

It pains me to have to explain things to someone who is, after all, a doctoral candidate in one of the top five English departments in the country, a professional poetry critic, & a professor of English & creative writing, but it is quite possible to be self-flattering and pseudonymous at the same time. For example, I could write a newspaper column under the name the Scarlet Falcon, and say “I, the Scarlet Falcon, am appalled that our country breeds college professors who are unaware that it is perfectly possible for energy fluctuations to rise and fall along an axis — for example, on a gyroscope. And you can take my word for it that I know what I’m talking about, because I, the Scarlet Falcon, am the world’s most handsome genius millionaire, and I once knocked out Mike Tyson.”

And, of course, pointing out that you are, in fact, a doctoral candidate in one of the top five English departments in the country, a professional poetry critic, & a professor of English & creative writing, while simultaneously writing quite badly, and then defending your bad writing as taking place in a format or context in which good writing is not necessary, is pretty ridiculous, but if your comment was sensible and thoughtful, couldn’t it stand on its own merits, without you having to mention that you are a doctoral candidate in one of the top five English departments in the country, a professional poetry critic, & a professor of English & creative writing?

See, let’s try again.

“As America’s most superfly big-dicked block-locking diamond pussy pimp, I, the Scarlet Falcon, believe that the new Santogold/Diplo collaboration is very entertaining.” Okay.

But wait: “I, the Scarlet Falcon, believe that the new Santogold/Diplo collaboration is very entertaining.” The difference is subtle!