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Trivial Pursuit


There's a line in a Malcolm MacLaren 'song' - All this scratchin' is makin' me itch. I think it was Buffalo Girls. I may be wrong and, given that Google is at my fingertips,that may be unforgivable.

That's one of the sad side-effects of the internet. I, or you for that matter, can be endlessly right about all sorts of things. Just the other day a friend emailed me from her office, asking what character in what film spoke the line:

"Mr Phat has just resigned. I'm the new chairman of the board. He always did like that Mausoleum. [dramatic pause] Put him in it".

It sounded a bit Ian Flemmingish, and a quick trip to the Internet Movie Database confirmed it within seconds. James Bond - Man with the Golden Gun (spoken by Christopher Lee in character as Francesco Scaramanga). What might once have passed as General Knowledge had become Specific Knowledge.

I am not quite ready to let go of uncertainty.I felt a pang of nostalgia for the days of blissful ignorance.

I like to refer to the Creative Economy as The UnKnowledge Economy, I'm sure I don't have to spell out the ironic reference to the last moniker for changes in the way the world does business...

Surely has to be some mystery and a sense of discovery. It is the difference between Picasso experimenting with primitive techniques and a seascape produced by colouring by numbers. Sometimes the delight we experiece in culture is the surprise and reward of hearing something fresh and new? The excitement comes from discovery and to see things with fresh eyes you must unlearn what you think you know.

People who always have the answer have always driven me bananas (there had to be a cause!), I like to think in terms of "What if..." In future, when I am asked a question and I don't have the answer in my own memory banks, I shall make one up. The sillier the better. And I shall deliver it with deadpan authority.

And in case you are wondering why I even referred to Scratching and Itching, it was to be a reference to the act of blogging. A friend sent me an email complimenting me on my style and suggesting I do a best of anthology and publish it. If you want to prevent that act of cultural vandalism from occuring send $5 to ....

I also post blog entries on the Idealog Magazine website, for those of you with an especially masochistic bent.

The latest is called 92.6% of all statistics are made up.

I think a line like that requires a t-shirt, don't you?

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