Hey Genius!

by Jayson Scott Musson May 13, 2010 | 8:00 AM

Hey genius! Whatcha writing in that Moleskine ya got there?
Your memoir? Some poetry? Is it about your father? Is it about an old lover?
Did that person break your heart? Or was your heart already broken before they
met you? Or did you box that person’s heart about like a kitten playing with
spool of yarn? Do you feel so guilty about breaking that person’s heart that
you’re compelled to write everything down and cast them heart-breaking demons
of yours out? So when you write, what you’re really doing is yelling at them
demons: “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” Ooooor, are you writing a screenplay, genius? A
sorta story in which a loveable Steve Buscemi-esque buffoon gets the girl that
works at the fashion design firm in Midtown who is way out of his league, who
also, in actuality, should really fall in love with the Jude Law-esque
character because that character has more money, is way more attractive, and
despite the overtly douchey way in which he is written, is actually a nice guy.
But since you see yourself as Steve Buscemi, except poorer, the Steve Buscemi
character ends up winning the girl based upon the merits of his stamp
collection. That’s pretty unrealistic, genius, but hey, it’s your screenplay,
right? Who am I to criticize your creative output? Or maybe you could be
writing a really swell novel, genius? Will it be a long one like those Russian
novels that I’ve never really read? Or will it be obtuse like Pynchon or overly
stylized like those overrated Beat writers? Will you use terms like “inky
night” or write about amphetamines in cool (not really) post World War II,
Nuclear Age slang that will influence decades of liberal leaning white people
and somehow convince them that their love of such literature is a confirmation
of non-whiteness, that they’re really not the wonder bread lamos that their
parents were? But I digress, I really don’t mean to talk shit genius, I just
want to know about your novel! I just wanna know about what you’re writing! You
have to tell me! The suspense is killing me genius! When I see you hunched over
your journal agonizing over each line you’re putting down like a surgeon
deliberating on which incision would remove that damn cancer, I’m just pushed
to the edge of normal curiosity, compelled to look over the cliff’s edge,
fantasizing about what kind of life a genius like you could live. Maybe I’m so
interested in you because my own life is a complete snore. A real fucking bore.
It’s okay though, I’m cool with having no interests or anything of specific
import happening in my little fish bowl of an existence, sometimes that’s just
life; the absence of life. That’s why god created ipods, marriage, and having
children; to give us something to do to pass the time between being 15 and
being dead. 

Total Comments: 20

May 13, 2010 | 5:26 PM Posted by: The Business Jayson's book TOO BLACK FOR BET is brilliant. Highly suggested. M
May 18, 2010 | 12:18 PM Posted by: prufrock actually it's just some bilious snark dressed as curiosity and self-deprecation, but thanks for asking.
May 18, 2010 | 5:29 PM Posted by: Jayson Musson Thank you genius! Now I can go masterbate and watch this Lost finale undistracted. Peesh!
May 18, 2010 | 6:31 PM Posted by: Jayson Musson And prufrock, "Bilious Snark" would be a great title for a blog. I must ask though, are you British? You must be with such proficient command of the English language. I mean, in America, the niggas I know at least, we just don't use words like snark, or bilious, and here you've managed to place them together, sequentially in a single sentence! Surely you must have a blog? Some place where I can consume your thoughts? Wait... you don't? Well my friend, perhaps we can compile all of your comments into a single, outstanding volume of literary criticism. We can title it "Nobody Motherfuckers on the Internet Who Think Their Opinions Matter. Volume I" Waddaya think?
May 18, 2010 | 8:04 PM Posted by: so funny I always wonder what those geniuses are writing, myself! Probably exactly what you think - a whole lot of non genius bullshit.
May 19, 2010 | 1:03 AM Posted by: prufrock i call it "black like me," but thx for the subtitle. usa!
May 19, 2010 | 5:26 AM Posted by: Jayson Musson "i call it "black like me," but thx for the subtitle. usa!" -That's chapter 2!
May 19, 2010 | 12:35 PM Posted by: prufrock yes!
May 19, 2010 | 5:23 PM Posted by: zzz I think that genius was writing this shitty blog post.
May 19, 2010 | 5:54 PM Posted by: It was me I am the genius you are referring to. As an aside, us geniuses prefer Miquelrius as they have about 3.6 square feet per cubic inch whereas Moleskine has 2.6. If you are someone who’s looking for the greatest amount of writing space available for the space taken up in your bag or pocket. They also have the benefit that most peasants don't know about them and so they don't usually refer to them in hamfisted eHumor articles, as their general audience would have to visit not one, but two internet sites to enrich their lives and understand the finely woven tapestry of language presented before them. We also prefer paragraphs. Do you think inserting white space between your words as some sort of racial imposition? I don't, but maybe it is because I have a lot of white guilt for enjoying the mastery of language some post-war authors and poets retained while being lumped into palatable generalizations by mentally straining blogerati. And if you'd really like to know, here's what I was writing: Dear Genius Self, White power. Ho ho, no, seriously. Today I'm continuing to care passionately about whatever I am focused on and hope for the best while not harming anyone or encouraging negativity. I hope nobody thinks ill of this because I am truly conflicted about the lack of information that would allow me to make more well-informed decisions about art, science and commerce, allowing me to encourage the community I so dearly love. Today my girlfriend left me because my dad divorced my mom and all he gave me was his Ezra Pound collection. I'm turning the entire thing into a screenplay as diversion suggested by my therapist while I'm in medical school training to become a surgeon. It will be set in pre-nuclear Russia, involving a female sniper and be a metaphor for space exploration. Also, this guy keeps staring at me, looking like he's sizing me up for some sort of naive creative output. Maybe a poorly crafted visual or poorly crafted writing. I wonder when the first time he ever used the internet was, if at all. I find it interesting that technology that enables rapid communication diminishes the quality of it and if he even fathoms that. What's with this generation that lacks the attention span to excel at a craft? The anti-quality movement is boring and easily exchanged with anti-skill.
May 20, 2010 | 1:16 PM Posted by: Must_hate_cats can I get some motherfucking paragraphing over here dudes? Indent and double space that shit. my eyes are all wobbly now.
May 21, 2010 | 2:50 AM Posted by: Jayson Musson WHITE PEOPLE IS MAD! 'It was me', I thank you for the paragraph. About a hundred words shy of mine. I do hope you were paid for it. :* Thasa kiss.
July 01, 2010 | 1:15 PM Posted by: Ehhh Eh, I'm tired of reading this put-down shit. You probably just tore apart what most of your peers are doing. I take that back, not most, all of them. What's that you're writing in your moleskin? Is it one of those diatribes mocking the generation you belong to, the crowd you run with - b/c somehow, what you're doing is on a whole other level, right? I love this feature when it's funny, which it often is, but this post just makes you seem so small.
July 17, 2010 | 4:02 PM Posted by: Rats Ass They some sensitive ass crackas up in this piece.
July 17, 2010 | 4:05 PM Posted by: Rats Ass But seriously, if I may quote First Lady Michelle Obama, "you mad." Pack Of Rats, keep representin' for us mulattos cuz. But, I will say we really ain't feelin' you in the hood since you posted that pic of Jesse Jackson as a white man, which confirmed all of our conspiracy theories regarding that nigga.
July 17, 2010 | 4:56 PM Posted by: Boots Kinda weird how a black man writing about pretentious white liberal arts students and faux-intellectuals gets turned into racism just because he says "white". I mean I'm pretty sure whenever a white person with a platform unfairly gets called out for racism when he/she may be responsibly talking about another race of people, they get defended to the death. :/
July 22, 2010 | 6:56 AM Posted by: Martha Coleman You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your opinion.
July 22, 2010 | 7:12 AM Posted by: Pauline Hunter Thanks for the informative post. It helped me a lot. May the Force be with you.
July 22, 2010 | 7:27 AM Posted by: Natalie Kelley Easily, the post is actually the best on this deserving topic. I fit in with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your upcoming updates.
July 22, 2010 | 7:43 AM Posted by: Cora Moss Pretty insightful post. Never thought that it was this simple after all. I had spent a good deal of my time looking for someone to explain this subject clearly and you’re the only one that ever did that. Kudos to you! Keep it up