User talk:Tennessee Ernie Ford/Rants/Trivia

Beak of Darkness

I'd be interested in your opinion of the trivia in The Beak of Darkness. It's not a big deal really either way, but I dislike it when a possible point of trivia is disregarded by someone who doesn't see it as trivia based purely on inexperience (e.g. never read the book, never heard the song etc.) Thanks. Sardaukar 22:30, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Short story: I don't see that much of a connection and not enough that I would think it belongs in a GWW article.

There's a longstanding cultural meme to use The [blahblah] of Darkness in a variety of ways: Satan, Prince of Darkness; so-and-so's Book of Darkness, and so forth. Also, I've known people to use beak as sort of a universal silly word, much as comedians favor banana over apple for a joke.

I don't know the book all that well, but I don't see any great similarities in dialogue, character names, storyline, or pivotal moments. Marlow seeks to speak with Kurtz in the book, vs we seek to kill a bird. The characters with whom Marlow interacts with are generically named; in BoD, we meet named NPCs. The theme of the book is about competing ideas of the nature of civilization; the theme of the quest is seeking out and killing a threat. By far the most famous line in the book is, The horror! The horror! and (at least on this wiki) I don't see any quest dialogue that matches it.

So, it strikes me that the similarity in titles is coincidental. And, as you have observed, I don't believe that we should claim trivia solely based on coincidence. It's also possible that one or more of the design team liked the sound of the Heart of Darkness and looked for anything that they could substitute...and this was the best they could come up with. Again, I don't believe we should document possibilities, only certainties.

I always try to keep an open mind, so I'd be happy to look at any evidence you have that the name is a deliberate homage, parody, or is otherwise connected to Conrad's book. For now, though, I would argue that the trivia bullet does not belong on the page.  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 23:09, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Fair enough. Thanks for the feedback! Sardaukar 23:29, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

You are welcome. (And thanks for taking the time to revert your own edit. That speaks volumes.)  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 00:15, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Trivia is Trivial

That looks familiar. --BriarThe Spider 23:13, 10 February 2011 (UTC)