From Alan Partridge to Las Vegas

In a scene in the Alan Partridge (BBC, 1997) episode entitled "Basic Alan", Alan Partridge ("a failed chat show host turned early morning Radio Norwich presenter", played by Steve Coogan) is seized by a bout of existential ennui in his beloved Rover 800 car. Alan muses:

“You know, these are inertia reel seatbelts. They were developed in the late-sixties, early-seventies basically to enable you to lean forward for things [Alan leans forward to demonstrate. Lynn [his assistant, copies him]. But in a crash, they do stop you because: [Alan yanks hard on the seatbelt] Impact! Bang! Lock! [He pulls hard against the seatbelt and grunts] I mean, you get bruises, but... I’d love to feel an airbag go off in my face. It would be [leans forward again, sharply, then mimes an airbag going off] Brrr, boosh! Boosh! A really cushioned effect on the face. Ohh. I’ll be honest, Lynn, I’m at a loose end, today. That’s why I’m, er that’s why I’m, er talking, [Alan enunciates the word exaggeratedly], talking, that’s why I’m talking”.

In contributing to the Blog or “Web Log”, I identify with Alan’s bitter-sweet consciousness of the act of talking. On the one hand, I feel energized by the Blog as an expression of all the different themes and approaches to geographies of food, and, on the other hand, I feel really hemmed in by the format of the Blog (I liked Jean’s take on the genres of writing) to the extent that I’d much prefer to sit down and chat about these things with fellow Bloggers – maybe at a conference over some drinks and food! Even as I Blog about Blogging, I feel like “I’m Blogging, I’m Blogging…”: not so much out of boredom like Alan, but out of an awkward awareness of writing through and in the medium of the Blog. For me, the Blog mixes the media of writing (which for me is so often a refreshingly lonely act) and conversing (which I love, but would much prefer to engage via speaking and listening rather than typing). I have never really Blogged before, mainly because I feel like or fear that email colonizes enough of my time. I sure look forward to reading how the Blog is translated into the article, but I look even more forward to (re)meeting my fellow Bloggers. I guess that is a sign of the Blog’s success? What was the aim anyway? Was there one? Does it matter? It was interesting to say the least. But was it? Who knows?

My above description of Blogging seems all very Jean Baudrillard in terms of how cyber communication so often takes place at the juncture of ecstasy and banality, much like Alan’s monologue. So here’s a plea to Ian and others: can we could ‘go beyond the Blog’ and find a place to talk? Why? Because I like what I read and where the research on geographies of food is going (I found Damian’s entry useful here). One obvious place would be a conference such as the AAGs. The next one in 2009 is in Las Vegas. Now there’s another place that combines ecstasy and banality! And, I hear the G ‘n’ T’s are cheap.

Slainte,
Paul Kingsbury
(Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University)