The weekend supplement, it's just copy
really. You just type stuff for people to read over a coffee. It
doesn't have to be that interesting. It can be a bit interesting if
you like but that might take a while to get together and you've other
stuff to be doing like going out to dinner or maybe staying in and
having a bottle of wine. Maybe you could write an amusing piece about
staying in and having a bottle of wine. Amusing, not funny. Staying
in for dinner and having a bottle of wine is the new going out for
dinner and having a bottle of wine. Yeah. Or maybe some pop cultural
nostalgia. List the ten best Irish bands of the eighties or movie
sequels that were better than the first film. Or you might review
something everyone else is reviewing. I also hear there's a new
organic food market on the open top of a double decker that travels
South County Dublin. Email the guy that set it up and get a few
quotes. Or maybe just rehash a few received urbane wisdoms, the
consensus of the cognoscenti. What Richard Did is the best Irish film
of all time. Hmm, top ten moments in What Richard Did. Or maybe
something about somebody who happens to be a kind of 'somebody'. What
next for Kathryn Thomas? Or you might fancy providing a chuckle, not
a laugh - too boisterous, just a chuckle. How about a bit on funny
ads from the eighties? Or how about just words, any words that come
to mind. Any old words in any kind of order. Does it even matter what
order? Does it even matter if the words are in order? Does it? Does
even it order matter the if words in are? Just type and cut and paste
words and reach the word count. Clogs are popular again. There's a
French Film Festival on or maybe something about speed dating or
something or something else or something. Hmmm. Have we done speed
dating this quarter? Let's do speed dating then. Go to an event or
pretend you did. Rosanna Davison attended an Osteoporosis fund
raiser. Almost reaching requested word count now. Hmm, ...ideas -
puff pieces and light pieces - Ryan Tubridy's quirky/ironic garden
gnome collection. Weightier piece - 'What's Troubling Joe?' about
Joseph O'Conner. Get a picture of Joseph O'Conner staring moodily
into middle distance on Dunlaoghaire seafront. That might work. Or
what's Mahdi al-Harati up to these days? What does a brave rebel do
on a Sunday afternoon? Maybe a piece called 'At Home with Al-Harati'.
Does he still live in Firhouse? Check it out. Lots of ideas there.
Nothing too, y'know, engaging in that demanding way. Just stuff to
set the brain in neutral and coast. The advocacy of complacency. We
all deserve it. We work hard. Our brains get tired. We spend enough
time thinking. Thinking is something you should only do to make
money. There's no other reason to be bothered with thinking. That's
what I think. But enough thinking. There's copy to be produced. The
meat of culture must be mechanically separated and made digestible.
It isn't that hard a task.
The main thing to remember is not to
spill wine on your laptop.
