Great Expectations

Two hundred years ago, it was practically imperative that one be a genius – and an ambitious one at that – if one wished for his or her musings to someday be accessible to millions.

Take, for instance, the great Dickens: Who, despite his family’s sentence to debtor’s prison at age 12, which sentenced him to many months hard labor pasting labels on jars of shoe polish in a blacking factory (pictured, above right), still rose, by age 15, to the lofty position of law office clerk; Who, despite the duties of said position, which he found dull, still made time to (a) people watch the streets of London, thereby further freshening an already uncanny knack for character interpretation and (b) master, in defiance of minimal formal education, the stupendously sophisticated study of stenography, i.e., shorthand, thus securing the specific skill specified by his second “situation” as a Parliamentary court reporter; and Who, while amid said career as journalist, also managed, despite having never been given the recipe, to select from his mind’s market the choicest of ingredients and, with the page as his plate and a publisher as his garçon, began serving a public who, with appetite once whetted, never ceased to consume the most imaginatively delectable fictional creations the world had yet had, and perhaps ever will have, the pleasure of digesting!

And yet now, in 2008, any geek(s) off the street can, on a whim and at no charge, literally gain access to the world's eye at the click of a button. Case in point, it seems, is today’s (2.3.08) Blogger debut of Mic’s Tape, a new forum that aims to combine various elements (e.g., film, food, finances, poetry, politics and pop) into one cohesive presentation with the heartfelt sincerity of a prepubescent burning up disc one for his new girlfriend.

The brains behind the blog belong to one BrumpelStiltskin, or The BS, for short, the “world’s first blogging troupe of 26-year-old males”, or so they self-proclaim.

According to Mickens (pictured, left), the group’s literature guru and as of yet only identified persona, while The BS claim their own voice, they also intend to make no secret of their influences: “Take Dickens, for instance”, he said today, “We, too, although comparatively better educated yet lazier and more self-focused (some might even say oblivious), are not afraid to use wordiness to achieve great ends. Asked later about the critics who've already dubbed his troupe a "Monstrosity of Verbosity", an evidently confused Mickens smiled proudly, before adding: "Clearly, people like what they see".

Only time will tell if the brumpelstiltskin vision will turn out as "great" as they apparently expect it to be.