Calvet wrote on Feb 10
th, 2012 at 9:22pm:
snip
Dare I enter the arena?
Yes, I'll play a little.
You are close, but not quite there with the real problem with Oak
qua Troll.
I look at Oak
...hmmm...ok I read Oak's posts, ahem, and I see a Troll on the cusp of greatness, but has way too much baggage to turn that corner.
Remember that game folks tend to play in their Teens or early 20's, "If you were stuck on a desert island what 10/20/whatever albums/songs/books/etc would you bring with you?" It's like Oak is trying to play that game when he posts and has his 10-ish favorite responses from which he picks a semi-appropriate one and goes with it never venturing far off course.
This is not unlike the comedian or the joke-writer who makes generous use of various "sandbags" or standard, pat jokes that are easily at hand and universally accessible for nearly any quick-retort situation. Make no mistake about it, Oak is pretty darn good at that. But he could be so much better.
If Oak would just broaden his horizons and discover the wondrous energy found in the vagaries of the English language and it's sub-genre American Slang, he would put himself on the path of the legendary troll. I do not dare suggest that he might ever arrive there, but he has the potential.
I look, erm, read Oak's posts, as I said when I began, and I see a Troll on a path...will he remain beneath his comfortable well-worn bridge and eat the poor billy goats that cross it from time to time, or will he move on down the path to that massive steel and asphalt troll cathedral spanning a huge gulf where he can have the choicest of poor victims for his porridge?