The Peekaboo Paradox, by Gene Weingarten
This morning, while going through my routine of browsing sites and updating the blog… I came across an incredibly long article about a clown named “The Great Zucchini.”
Ok, that sounded a bit weird. For context, I was on MetaFilter and was reading this post.
That post led me to the Washington Post article by Gene Weingarten, entitled The Peekaboo Paradox [Bugmenot]. Here’s a taste:
The show lasted 35 minutes, and when it was over, an initially skeptical Don Cox forked over a check without complaint. The fee was $300. It was the first of four shows the Great Zucchini would do that Saturday, each at the same price. The following day, there were four more. This was a typical weekend.
Do the math, if you can handle the results. This unmarried, 35-year-old community college dropout makes more than $100,000 a year, with a two-day workweek. Not bad for a complete idiot.
I got sucked in.
It’s an incredibly long article, but incredibly well written, and just … mesmerizing.
It’s rare that I’ll read a document online that’s over 500 words, all the way through. I don’t know if that speaks more to my shitty attention span, or if it’s more about the general quality of writing that’s found online. But since it’s such a rare thing for me, I thought it worth posting here, to share.
In reading over this article, I was reminded very much of the Shabu article (entitled 72-Hour Party People) that I saw last April. Totally compelling, and a great read. I hope you get sucked in too.
This was one of the most evocative and endearing stories I’ve read in a long while. The whole article is a lesson in how you write a truly engaging profile of epic proportions. Thanks for sharing, Felix!
chris (January 17, 2008 at 10:42 pm)