Well if it’s any us to you, this blog is rather unhelpfully described on the links page of my dodgy, obscure and utterly pointless website thus:

“The Last-Nameless-One holds forth on everything from the information economy to why we shouldn’t celebrate International Talk Like A Pirate Day. May secretly be a ninja.”

[runs]

I’m afraid that any further attempts at description are only likely to become increasingly surreal.

“I suppose being a simple-to-describe cog in a well-defined machine is OK for the working classes, but I know I never quite fit into the neat categories.”

Know that feeling. I always loved Hunter S Thompson’s description of Oscar Acosta, as paraphrased in the film version of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas:

“One of God’s own prototypes. Some kind of high-powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.”

@Crispin: Oh, didn’t you know? I am Mark Pesce! This video was produced using a special mirror. Note: our noses are interchangeable.

@Kate Carruthers : Is Stilgherrian Live really the best introduction? Really?

@Chrissie and @Duncan Riley: I know that my geek background and personal interests make geekery a focus, but I also enjoy writing about other things. The gonzo twittering and gonzo liveblog, as they were called by others first, come to mind.

“Stil’s a force of nature, he’s mercurial and quick-witted, somewhat obsessive about web, technology & media — and he’s a good bloke …”

then I usually say something like:

“… but it’s hard to encapsulate him with mere words, you truly must meet him (or at least watch Stilgherrian Live) to understand.”

I would call you a “Social Commentator”, but I get all sorts of images of Clive Hamilton (and that is just NOT a good look) or “Tech-savvy social commentator” (somewhat better, but I keep thinking James Moody or Mark Pesce).

My original thought was: “Stilgherrian is a social and technical writer with a stunning, erudite, insightful, playful and often offensive view of the world. He presents this to the (occasionally) adoring throng through his writings in published journalism and online postings — both micro-blog and full-length articles.”

To paraphrase someone much better with the language than I, I have not the time to make this brief.

One “problem” with these one-line descriptions is that you’re then limited to that one “job” in people’s minds. “You’re making a music video? But I thought you were a network administrator!”

And some organisations get so hung up over titles!

I’m speaking at the CeBIT WebForward conference in May, for example. On the agenda I’m billed as “General Manager, Prussia.Net”. True, inasmuch as it’s the name of my business and I’m the boss-bloke. But I don’t have employees any more, so “General Manager” seems a bit pompous. The conference speakers list was prepared after I told CeBIT I just did business under my own name, but even then I ended up as “Mr Stilgherrian”.

I suppose being a simple-to-describe cog in a well-defined machine is OK for the working classes, but I know I never quite fit into the neat categories.

Now, the trickster gods… Yes, a significant part of what I do fits that category. I do think it’s healthy for people’s frames of reference to be bent — nay, to be shattered from time to time. All hail Eris!