Lesson
50
Why
Google-era writers still collect trivia
Someone
with an iPhone and a head of coloured hair may think of trivia as an
overflowing stream to be scooped up with a flick of the finger. But 1997
Leacock medalist Arthur Black,[2]
who began his radio career in 1970s Thunder Bay,[3]
would know what I am talking about, and I’m sure that this explains why he
became a trivia stalker and compulsive “Idea Thief.”
In
the opening of his medal-winning book Black
in the Saddle Again,[4]
Black admits to stealing from “books, magazines, TV programs, things I see on
the street, conversations I deliberately overhear in the supermarket.” He
sounds just like another guy formed in the atmosphere that attached great value
to information tidbits, factoids, and odd expressions, and all of the essays in
this book profit from his obsession.
The
Table of Contents might be one of the funniest sections because it earnestly
tries to categorize a grab bag running from dumb criminals, snoring, weird
music, and worm eating to pirates, hot dogs, Shakespeare, and hockey sticks.
Mostly
repackaged rants from Black’s CBC show,[5] Black in the Saddle does not have the
aura of great literature. Black, for example, doesn’t sweat over transitions,
usually resorting to some form of “which reminds me of the story . . .” or even,
“which for some reason reminds me . . .” Often, the essays read like one-sided
arguments after the third or fourth round at a bar.
But
they make you laugh because Black finds reason for outrage in the trivial,
loves words, and always makes bizarre connections. Sometimes he uses tidbits to
lead into a personal story, sometimes he tells a personal story to introduce a
news item, sometimes he pulls up trivia from history, and other times he
describes something that happened that day. Sometimes, he does none of the
above.
He
can act the straight man, simply rattling off absurd facts for our
consideration; or he can question a world of diets, tummy tucks, and corsets
paralleled by the kind of starving that takes place in Somalia, Ethiopia, and
Bangladesh.
With
blogs that feature bullet lists, 140-character messages on Twitter, and email
jokes, we now swim in a tsunami of information that has no context or purpose
beyond momentary amusement. Arthur Black recognized trivia as having this power
as well and sometimes seemed satisfied with that.
Today,
there might be little market for an Arthur Black, who merely hits us with more
odd facts and trivia, even if skillfully knitted together. But Black, when he
produced award-worthy material, made trivia the starting point, not the goal,
and packaged it within a ball of original thinking--“ideas.” This might be the
reason he called himself an “Idea Thief” and not a collector of trivia.
Whether
plucked from newspapers, TV, or eavesdropping at the coffee shop, odd
information has more worth when wrapped in personal reactions, feelings,
thoughts, and associations--our own “ideas,” the things we can’t find with
Google.
We should probably
collect and save those ideas, whether on our iPhones or in our heads, not just
the trivia that spawn them, and that’s the idea I will steal from Arthur Black.
Writing Exercise
Find out the average
body weight of a housefly and use this information as a springboard for a
discussion of ethics and morality.
[1] I worked at what was
then CKLB and its sister station, CKQS–FM, in Oshawa from 1973 to 1975 as my
first job after university.
[2] Arthur Raymond Black was born in Toronto on August 30,
1943. After dropping out of Radio and TV Arts at Ryerson, he travelled and
worked in different jobs overseas.
[3] Black hosted the CBC Radio
Noon show in Thunder Bay, Ontario, from 1976 to 1985.
[4] Today, Black can look at three Leacock Medals
on his mantelpiece: for this one in 1997, for Black Tie and Tales in
2000, and for Pitch Black in 2006.
[5] By the late 1990s, his show, Basic Black, had been on the national
airwaves for over a decade. It ran until 2002. Black received a number of
awards for his radio work as well as his writing.