The Ominous Comma
Blog: The Ominous Comma
Type: Humor
The funny thing about humor blogs is that they usually aren’t. Funny, that is. And I don’t blame the perpetrators; it is, after all, a rare talent to be amusing in print, most attempts ending in a strained and embarrassing jokiness that is painful to read. Of all those that I have begun reading (I rarely finish them), The Ominous Comma stands out as a valiant effort.
I would not say that the blog is hilarious but it has the power to grant an occasional wry smile; and that is success indeed in a genre that is characterized mostly by a painful grimace. The writer, Brent Diggs, has a rather more subtle style than the sledgehammers so common in this arena and his wit tends to the surrealist end of the spectrum. Indeed, it is appropriate that I found a reference to Monty Python buried within a post, a suitable homage to the standard bearer of such humor in the seventies. A paragraph may serve as an example of Brent’s style:
“Doctor Toboggans has been mercifully absent the last couple of weeks, having received a complementary trip to Australia from one of his clients in order to swim with the legendary great white sharks along the Barrier Reef. Unfortunately for us, it seems that the sharks were on a low arrogance diet and so our fine physician has returned to Comma headquarters in one piece, refreshed and ready to inflict more insight upon an unsuspecting world.”
This Doctor Toboggans seems to surface from time to time as one reads and leads me to suspect that the blog is also character-driven, an added benefit to the general surrealism, if true (I have not read extensively enough as yet to decide on this one but the signs are good). All in all, the result is a blog I can recommend.
The design is excellent, surprisingly tasteful for a humor blog. Muted colors, tans and browns, and a simple but clear layout is the basis of a very good-looking blog. It all seems too good to be true – let me see if I can think of a constructive criticism.
Ah, yes, the home page. It is a portal more than anything else, offering a choice of routes into the various categories. And I don’t like this, preferring to know whether what I am reading is recent or an early entry. It’s a personal thing, I know, but I really can’t think of anything else to moan about.
Now that has to be good, doesn’t it?
Harry McFry Investigates
Blog: Harry McFry Investigates
The Case of the Missing Family
Type: Fiction
You don’t have to tell me – I know. Fiction published in blogs is almost invariably so awful that I rarely get past the first paragraph. But note that word “almost” there; just occasionally one stumbles upon a rare jewel that flashes through the surrounding dross. Today I found such a gem.
The blog in point is Harry McFry Investigates, a delight at first sight that continues to deliver as one delves deeper. Wryly humorous, it combines the detective genre and, amazingly, the study of genealogy into a thoroughly delicious read. Make no mistake, reading a book on a computer monitor is no mean feat and it takes true dedication or excellent writing to hold the viewer’s attention. McFry delivers and I should warn you that following the advice to begin at Chapter 1 is dangerous; the book is habit-forming (and up to Chapter 137 already).
In part, the author, one Thomas Hamburger Jnr. (hmmm), achieves this through knowing his medium. The chapters are short, just the right length to persuade one to read the next before clicking onward. And the blog design is apt, muted and unobtrusive, allowing the text to remain the central focus. This is a very clever bit of blogging.
It is also a pleasure to read anything written by someone who knows his grammar – I cannot count the number of blogs I have despaired of through their constant misuse of words and the humble apostrophe. Maybe I’m a snob but, if you’re going to publish something to be read by all and sundry, you should at least check to see that it contains no glaring errors. No flies on McFry or Hamburger on this score.
And that really is the power of this blog – it is a complete conception, a delicate balance between fact and fiction, a dweller between two apparently unrelated worlds. The whole thing is just too beautiful for words.
In fact, enough of my pontificating! Do yourself a favor and click on the title up there to enter the mysterious world of Harry McFry!
