Jenny Diski wastes acres of time online! September 21, 2007 6:55 AM   Subscribe

MeFi shoutout from Jenny Diski in the NYT.
posted by mattbucher to MetaFilter-Related at 6:55 AM (64 comments total)

This just in, a blog mentions MetaFilter.
posted by Plutor at 7:03 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I'm willing to admit this could be groundbreaking if I knew who Jenny Diski was.
posted by Plutor at 7:04 AM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Neat. Nice to be staking out some acres. Thanks, Jenny!
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:04 AM on September 21, 2007


I'm still waiting to see Jenny's first (non-double) post to the blue. C'mon, Diski, where's that FPP? :)
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:06 AM on September 21, 2007


Hey, wait a minute... I mentioned MeFi in an interview and did I get a thank-you from cortex? Noooooooooo!
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:07 AM on September 21, 2007


I'm willing to admit this could be groundbreaking if I knew who Jenny Diski was.

Sorry it didn't live up to the title of "groundbreaking" shoutout for you. Maybe if the Dalai Lama wore his "Hello My Name Is TODD LOKKEN" shirt?
If you'd had the stamina to read all the comments in this post, you'd know who she is and that she is now, in fact, MeFi's own Jenny Diski.
posted by mattbucher at 7:33 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


MetaFilter: It’s a kind of hell.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:35 AM on September 21, 2007


Would this be yet another reporter who has mistaken geeky dudes with funny user names as important, authoritative, or otherwise attention-worthy opinion-holders?
posted by five fresh fish at 7:40 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


No. This would be a respected author giving us a shoutout just because the opportunity presented itself.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:43 AM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


I haven't spent much time in the US over the past 12 years, so I ask, genuinely, is fff's comment about geeky dudes indicative of the transformation of the word "dude" into a gender-neutral qualifier? Or is he just unaware that Jenny Diski is a female?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:45 AM on September 21, 2007


mattbucher: "Sorry it didn't live up to the title of "groundbreaking" shoutout for you. Maybe if the Dalai Lama wore his "Hello My Name Is TODD LOKKEN" shirt?"

That I'd favorite. I might even go so far as to flag it fantastic. No promises, though.
posted by Plutor at 7:48 AM on September 21, 2007


If I had any kind of gumption at all, I would get a T-Shirt printed up for Jenny with the caption "I'm Not Mathowie." It would have a geeky picture of Matt wearing a T-Shirt with the caption, "I'm Not The Dalai Lama" and a picture of the Dalai Lama wearing a T-Shirt with the caption "TODD LOKKEN."
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 7:53 AM on September 21, 2007 [6 favorites]


Oh to be at home near the wacom, Flo.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:02 AM on September 21, 2007


Ah crap, I wondered why 50 people signed up for mefi this morning.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:04 AM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


Oh that was just me blowing a $250 windfall on sockeroos.
posted by hermitosis at 8:19 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


That'd explain "hermitosis++", "we <3 hermimari", and Astro Hermitosi 1-48, then.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:21 AM on September 21, 2007


You mean "Mefi's Own" Astro Hermitosi 1-48!
posted by blue_beetle at 8:25 AM on September 21, 2007


Maybe if the Dalai Lama wore his "Hello My Name Is TODD LOKKEN" shirt?

See, THAT would rock. Can we send him one?
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:30 AM on September 21, 2007


I'm willing to admit this could be groundbreaking if I knew who Jenny Diski was.

Would this be yet another reporter...


At least click through the fucking link before you snark. First sentence:
Jenny Diski is a novelist and travel writer.

Thanks for the heads-up, mattbucher!
posted by languagehat at 8:39 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


languagehat: That might describe what she does but it doesn't really describe who she is. I read the link before I commented, but knowing the titles of the books she's written doesn't really help me to know who she is. I really just meant that it's not a name I recognized, nor had I heard of any of her books. In my second comment, I simply meant to express that I felt insufficiently informed to accurately judge the noteworthiness that I rushed so quickly to judge in my first comment.
posted by Plutor at 8:44 AM on September 21, 2007


Hugs!
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:48 AM on September 21, 2007


I haven't spent much time in the US over the past 12 years, so I ask, genuinely, is fff's comment about geeky dudes indicative of the transformation of the word "dude" into a gender-neutral qualifier? Or is he just unaware that Jenny Diski is a female?

five fresh fish is in Canada and he wasn't using the word dude to refer to Jenny. Dude is sometimes used to refer to women, though.
posted by ludwig_van at 9:04 AM on September 21, 2007


Plutor, why did you comment without reading the article first? She's a notable and acclaimed writer, Christ. I mean, I realize that's not as impressive as being the cohost of a show on the Discovery Channel, but still.
posted by veronica sawyer at 9:11 AM on September 21, 2007


*waggles weenie sardonically in the general direction of both new york and jenni diski*
posted by quonsar at 9:13 AM on September 21, 2007


Asked and answered. Hugs!
posted by Plutor at 9:14 AM on September 21, 2007


you'd know who she is and that she is now, in fact, MeFi's own Jenny Diski.

...he says as breathlessly as a paris/nicole/britney/lindsay fan standing in the checkout lane.
posted by quonsar at 9:16 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


Eh, q, she writes good shit.
posted by GrammarMoses at 9:25 AM on September 21, 2007


What the fuck is wrong with you people?
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 9:29 AM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


When will the Gray Lady stop riding our coattails?
posted by OmieWise at 9:39 AM on September 21, 2007


What the fuck is wrong with you people?

They bought ill-fitting frocks online.
posted by felix betachat at 9:39 AM on September 21, 2007


Fuck my boots, it's only the NYTimes Book blog, guys (multigender version)...But thanks for the weenie waggle, quonsar - long time coming.
posted by jennydiski at 9:44 AM on September 21, 2007 [8 favorites]


Who was that?
posted by yhbc at 9:59 AM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


five fresh fish is in Canada and he wasn't using the word dude to refer to Jenny. Dude is sometimes used to refer to women, though.

Only when directly addressing them, ie: "Dude, that cellphone makes your ass look hella fat."
posted by oneirodynia at 10:21 AM on September 21, 2007


Something is wrong with MetaTalk today.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:38 AM on September 21, 2007


*slaps MetaTalk a couple times, fiddles with the knobs*
posted by Koko at 10:47 AM on September 21, 2007


Fuck my boots...

God, don't say stuff like that in front of quonsar! Or his pantsfish!
posted by rtha at 10:58 AM on September 21, 2007


sɐʍ ʇı ʍoɥ oʇ ʞɔɐq ʇı ʇǝs - qouʞ ƃuoɹʍ ǝɥʇ s,ʇɐɥʇ ʞuıɥʇ ı 'oʞoʞ
posted by Plutor at 11:19 AM on September 21, 2007 [5 favorites]


fiddles with the knobs

Between that and the sardonic waggling, quonsar's gonna need to take a nap today.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:40 AM on September 21, 2007


*thanks jennydiski for mention of MetaFilter that will help assuage mathowie's hurt feelings at being rated #18 instead of proper rank of #1*
posted by Cranberry at 11:42 AM on September 21, 2007


If you'd had the stamina to read all the comments in this post, you'd know who she is and that she is now, in fact, MeFi's own Jenny Diski.

Laffo. You're serious? Five hundred and fourty comments? That doesn't take stamina - we're talking a kilo of coke with a Red Bull chaser.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 11:50 AM on September 21, 2007


lies
posted by [@I][:+:][@I] at 11:58 AM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


she's hot - my new mefi crush. Suck it jessamyn. And you too quonsar.
posted by vronsky at 1:57 PM on September 21, 2007


When are we having that Cambridge meetup?
posted by grouse at 2:07 PM on September 21, 2007


Ah crap, I wondered why 50 people signed up for mefi this morning.

Yeah, I hate it when a couple of words in an article land me 250 smackeroos before lunch, too.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:08 PM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


One time, Yahoo linked one of my blogs and the storm of traffic netted me like 8 bucks in adsense in one day.

It was really, really exciting, actually.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:10 PM on September 21, 2007


At least click through the fucking link before you snark. First sentence: Jenny Diski is a novelist and travel writer.

Mea culpa. The phrase "in the NYT" deceived me. Hadn't occured it would be an interview.

Sorry, Jenny.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:11 PM on September 21, 2007


Suck it jessamyn.

I will NOT. </mockoutrage>
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:13 PM on September 21, 2007


'Interviews' are awful short these days, aren't they?

A: How ya doin'?
B: OK.

PRINT!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:21 PM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]


I think we're going to have to cut that for the print edition, stavros.
posted by Abiezer at 6:33 PM on September 21, 2007


A: How ya doin'?
B: OK.


tl;dr
posted by iconomy at 6:36 PM on September 21, 2007


I feel bad for all those people who think this place must be intelligent and/or useful.

Eyes wide open! Call it the fulminating quagmire of psuedo-intellectuals hurling insults and half-considered thought snippets at each other that it is!

Oh, and there are links.

(This comment made me think of fine and sometimes bear.)
posted by blacklite at 7:39 PM on September 21, 2007


Holy shit. You can play mahjong online? Oh, if only my dear beloved grandma had lived to see the internet.
posted by mediareport at 8:02 PM on September 21, 2007




Honestly, when you see that she's a Mefite and she's in the Times, why not just do a quick Google search and learn about her instead of just being flippant assholes? I read her book "Stranger on a Train: Daydreaming and Smoking Around America with Interruptions" when I was traveling in 2006. The book looked interesting, so I bought it for full price (something I rarely do) in a bookstore with my own hard-earned money, and I read it and I liked it a lot. After I saw her on here, I made a point to tell her as much.

I just wish you all would quit being petulant assholes & insulting this nice lady pretty much to her face (since she JUST SAID SHE CHECKS METAFILTER REGULARLY, IDIOTS) for no damn reason. She has done nothing to make you be pretentious to her... well, other than be interesting enough that the New York Times actually asks her questions about herself.

I'm willing to admit they might care about you too... if they knew who the Hell you were.

(Sorry they're being jerks, Jenny. It happens sometimes. Ignore 'em.)

posted by miss lynnster at 10:42 PM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]


LEAVE JENNY DISKI ALONE! *sobs*
posted by taz at 12:03 AM on September 22, 2007


Hey Jenny - tits or GTFO
posted by dorkwad at 1:00 AM on September 22, 2007


Hey Jenny - tits or GTFO

I can only hope that was meant in a tone-deaf way, somehow, to be funny. You know, 'hey, guys, look at me playing along with the funny game where we pretend to be idiots and assholes.'

Either way, you fail, spectacularly, dorkwad. Particularly given that the wit and wisdom of 'Hey Jenny - tits or GTFO' was your ninth comment on the site, overall. Please stop commenting before you feel the need to bless us with #10.

kthxbye.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:31 AM on September 22, 2007 [3 favorites]


Hi, Jenny!
posted by Wolof at 7:12 AM on September 22, 2007


“One time, Yahoo linked one of my blogs and the storm of traffic netted me like 8 bucks in adsense in one day.”

My MHP page was a Yahoo! Site of the Week back in '96 and it was really exciting. But that was before Google and, um, not that I put random ads on my webpages, anyway. So I didn't make any money. The end.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2007


note: i realize that we can't see your ACTUAL 9th comment
That's true if you use Activity (12,948 maximum). So you need to use this page to find that his 9th comment was this magnificent pean to a plate of chicken.
"I swear by all that's holy, by the sweet unsucked nipples of the mother of jesus, by the small but nonetheless annoyingly itchy watery little bumpy things on the sides of my fingers, by the lords of the underworld and Timmy too, by gum, by gemorrah, by sodom and moloch, by the dirty diapers of the baby jesus, by Aunt Jemima and her god-blessed pancakes, by all the prime numbers up to and including 29,…" [much more]
posted by tellurian at 7:24 PM on September 23, 2007


Uh, tellurian, I think he was talking about dorkwad's 9th comment. But thanks!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:00 PM on September 23, 2007


Click the 'super' link stavrosthewonderchicken (it's actually the 10th comment from your Activity page) - and you're welcome, it was one helluva comment and it gave me a good chuckle.
posted by tellurian at 8:33 PM on September 23, 2007


at times inactivity is preferable to mindless functioning
posted by vronsky at 8:58 PM on September 23, 2007


fap fap fap
posted by Stynxno at 9:13 AM on October 10, 2007


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