What's In a Name?

I’m Simon, and I live in the West Midlands of England. I have a wife and three daughters, all of whom are lovely and are likely to crop up in posts on here from time to time. I’m younger than both Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp, but have been around a bit longer than that Beiber brat (this is starting to sound like a really crappy riddle). I’m on Twitter quite a lot, so I’d be more than happy for you to follow me on there.

As it happens, this beautiful, shiny new site could easily have been up and running at least six months sooner, if only I was able to make decisions. Or could it?

I do think a name is important, and that people instantly read a lot into what a website or blog is called, as well as its strap line. I'm thinking in particular of all of those girlie/Mom blogs (some of which are indeed very good): if you hear www.cupcakesandperiods.com  (hey ladies that one is still available!), you pretty much know what you're going to get.

Is there a male equivalent of that?  Beer and farts is not really the kind of thing I’m aiming for, especially as I no longer indulge in either - haha. Not that I’d want to just attract men (oh grow up!) anyway. I wanted something that would encapsulate what this site is all about, the trouble is I’m not so sure how well I can do that in the following 100ish words, let alone two or three. Here goes anyway:-

This site is my way, and I hope this doesn’t sound too wanky, of communicating a certain view of life, the world and, in particular, popular culture. One that is simultaneously:

·         Pathetically enthusiastic about some stuff, often music, film or TV, and

·         Dismissive of and disparaging about other stuff, often (coincidentally) music, film or TV.

All usually with a dose of (my idea of) humour. One man’s viewpoint certainly, but with any luck one that strikes a chord with a few gorgeous, intelligent, friendly people around the world – sound like you? I hope so. As opposed to the spleen vent of a certifiable idiot (a fine line, granted).

So to represent this I eventually settled on BLINKERED. Even now I’m not sure I’m all that satisfied with it, but the whole thing had gone on so long I concluded I should just pick something and run with it. Much in the same way that I imagine Kajagoogoo or Hootie and the Blowfish did.

Anyhoo I thought that it might be interesting to share some of the ideas I had during my er...brainstorming sessions, so they're listed below. A number of these are absolutely awful, but feel free to steal any of them for yourself (bearing in mind I dismissed several as they were already in use).

Names

Staying In

Culture Mulcher

Under The Radar

Scratch the Surface

What Lies Beneath

Culture Cold Case

Eh?

Muddle Earth

Say What?

Supply Blogger

Trudger

Dome Ass (I know!)

Circlesquare

Scattergun

SofaKing (as in sofaking awesome etc. – already thought of)

Drain Brain

Simon Says / Simon Doesn’t Say

Robe Rage

Rage Against The ______  (really would have liked to have come up with a good word that rhymes with “machine” for this. Best I could do was “tagine”, but I guess that will have to wait for my Moroccan cooking blog).

Stewed

Blather Control

Lookee Here

Rudderless

Unseemly

Feckless

Languorous

Listless

Tosh Pit

Strap Line / Descriptions

Trapped in the body of an Unsuccessful Man (I have used this on Twitter)

My Wife Doesn’t Understand Me – So What Chance Have You Got?

Running Down the Crap: Racing Towards the Good

Walking the Fine Line Between Misunderstood and Pitied

At some point recently I decided it would be hilarious (probably only to myself) to use a Led Zeppelin song title. I have no recollection how I reached this conclusion, but again I had been stuck for a while so took the “run with it” approach, hence What Is and What Should Never Be*.  It could easily have been any of these:

Communication Breakdown

The Battle of Evermore (how do you live up to that?)

Misty Mountain Hop

Trampled Underfoot (would have continued the (blinkered) horse connection)

Achilles' Last Stand

So that slightly bizarre insight is how we find ourselves here. I hope you will stop by now and again, and please free to leave thoughtful and preferably non-abusive comments.

Simon


* Edit - As you can see I've since now changed this again. I'm like that.

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