Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Ode to Gino

I, Tully, sing, my blogging compatriots, of Gino.

When I had a blogging career of my own, I was quite the scrappy little runt, getting into fights with whoever would take me seriously, mostly with certain LGBT bloggers, as I would make arguments, for whatever reason, against gay marriage on their blogs.

Gino frequented my own blog long-ago, and was one of the only bloggers who consistently seemed to understand my facetious, underdeveloped intellectual angle. With his wonted good sense, he never took any post of mine too seriously, and he's always had something witty and often even something insightful to say. Here is one having an uncanny ability to cut through bullshit with the cool, unscarring efficiency of a scalpel and with the humorous buzz of an electric carving knife. I don't know that these metaphors are the greatest in the world, but my point is that Gino defies neat little categories in the most delightful of ways. He is comfortably non-academic and far from stupid. He rejects political correctness to a humorous extent, yet I don't believe for a second that he is sexist or racist. The list goes on, I assure you. Indeed, the mark of an interesting person is that he or she puts forth upon this stage of life more masks than can be kept straight by those less-skillful of showmen. And that he doesn't take his masks seriously is what keeps him both sane and interesting. So what can we spectators say but that we like the show, and that we will never understand.

Gino is the only reason I've had anything to do with blogging since the time he started commenting on the output of my then-precarious blogging career. He has encouraged me in this medium not with mere advice, and not just by allowing me to post here, but, as long as I can remember, with his example: cool, smart, witty, snarky, streetwise...none of these and far more describes Gino! Why else continue with such a precarious medium but that it should bear a unique outlet to such a character as Gino's. In short, if he does not love his life at the moment, he ought to know that I, for one, am glad to have him around.

21 comments:

Mr. D said...

What tully said. Gino is aces.

Gino said...

hey, stop that.

tully said...

Yeah, this post is not at all about my views. I'm not even sure my views back then were about my views back then. I was basically being a "little wise-ass" (otherwise called "little cicero")!

K-Rod said...

"hey, stop that."

I'm tryin.

Regardless of whether tully knows what his own views actually are, the fact remains: whether you are homo or hetro, we all have the same rights.

tully said...

K-Rod, you wouldn't be trying to start a controversy on a thread where it clearly doesn't belong, would you? I mean, think about it: would that be a K-Rod thing to do?

Gino said...

and if gay marriage is enacted, we will all still have the same rights, but expanded.

tully said...

Alright, Gino can sanction the discussion. No, I do not argue against gay marriage any more. I also don't believe in magic words like "equality" or "rights" for reasons that have nothing to do with this issue in particular. This is about quality of life in this country: I would like everyone to have a chance to commit to stable relationships without the slightest suggestion from authorities that, no matter what they do, they will always be immoral. Such is not even a political position, but a fantastic position which avoids political reality altogether. Equally fantastic are these notions of equality and rights. These notions are grounded in economic principles that, under the constant revolutions of capitalism, grow more obsolete every day. Taken as political realities, and not as fantastic ideals, they don't cut the muster.

And, to bring in some relevance to my Ode to Gino, if there's one thing Gino isn't, it's fantastic! Oh...I could have phrased that better...

tully said...

Oh, somehow I managed to leave out my positive position:

I am in favor of gay marriage.

Sorry to be evasive...I just like ambiguity too much to make that kind of banal positional claim. Nonetheless, I see the need for it here.

Brian said...

At this point I'm in favor of gay marriage mostly because it pisses K-Rod off.

tully said...

Someone had to carry my banner! Kudos, Brian!

tully said...

K-Rod, as you have given me no argument nor have you deigned to use my blather as it ought to be used, as a ladder by which to escape the abysmal pit of ignorance in which you have hitherto wallowed, I find your comment neither formidable nor interesting, but can only meet it with slight annoyance and the faintest glimmer of pity, that you have rejected what might have been a worthwhile opportunity for debate. You clearly cannot deal with any argument that cannot be boiled down to sticking a label on your opposing position and recycling a hackneyed refutation in your vain and vanitied attempt to crush those who disagree with you.

Unlike Gino, if I may resume my elegy! (:

Brian said...

K-Rod--can I buy pot from you?

K-Rod said...

Maybe some of my Pampered Chef pots for the right price.

tully said...

Wow, how do you make your mantra bold-fonted? That's the most interesting thing you've done throughout this whole thread! Other than, of course, that DELIGHTFUL pun about pot!

K-Rod said...

No mantra, just the facts ma'am. And the fact remains that whether you are homo or hetro, we all have the same rights. Period.

tully, do you really think being "in favor of gay marriage" will increase YOUR odds that much? Anything that might help that cause, eh tully? Any port?
Not that there is anything wrong with that.

tully said...

As with facts, I happen to be of the opinion that if a joke doesn't work the first time, it probably isn't good enough to repeat! So, if your "facts" aren't adding anything new; if they don't do anything to improve on your otherwise Philistine half-articulations, they are mantras and nothing more: masturbatory phrases you repeat to yourself to give you the comfortable sense that you have some kind of grip on reality.

Good Day!

Gino said...

well, i did find him in a blog entertaining exciteable gay men.

but, he also followed me out, so i guess he's cool.

Gino said...

hey, theres a new post top o the page.
what about them sex freaks in rockford,eh?

K-Rod said...

"As with facts... it probably isn't good enough to repeat!"

Wow, tully, you ignore the facts if they don't support what you want, eh?

Fact:
Whether you are homo or hetro, we all have the same rights.



My Karma just ran over your Dogma.

tully said...

Bored...

K-Rod said...

tully, what you have done to you in the privacy of your own bedroom in not of my business. ;^)