Why Insipid Garbage?

It occurs to me that I ought to explain the title of this blog: Insipid Garbage. After all, it's not exactly the most uplifting title for a blog, nor a very good advertisement for the content contained herein. I don't think I would eat at a restaurant called "Nasty Swill" or go to a doctor called "Incompetent Blunders". So, why should you read something called "Insipid Garbage"? Well, I can't answer that question, but I can explain the meaning(s) behind the name.

First, the title is NOT just self-effacing humor, as though I'm so humble that I call my musings insipid garbage just so that people will insist that it's not, like the pretty girl who claims that she is ugly just to hear people reassure her that she's not.

In reality, the title is a bit of an inside joke. I used to post a lot on a Christian Church forum (to say I posted a lot is a bit of an understatement). Now, while I can certainly be serious when I want to be and can even wax eloquently on occasion, I'm a very good-natured person who loves silly, Monty-Pythonish humor. On top of that, most of the people on that forum take themselves WAY too seriously, so unless you are willing to argue the nuances of baptism for the umpteenth time, you have to have a little fun.

Consequently, a lot of my posting there was just light and fun: discussions about mimes, Legos, lime jello and the like were often the norm. One day some new poster came into one of our typically inane discussions (this one on whether or not the centripetal force of the earth would suck you into hell... really) and declared that I posted more insipid garbage than anyone he knew.

Naturally, at first I was pretty cheesed off. But the more I thought about it the more I thought it was funny. And, after all, I was pretty good at doling out the insipid garbage (in true Monty Python fashion). So, I took his insult and made it into a compliment, and thus: Insipid Garbage. To the anonymous hater out there: thanks for the inspiration. The name is kind of an inside joke with myself, and now you know it too. (But, even though I'm a fine purveyor of insipid garbage, you might find a gem in here every once in a while).


And now for the historical revision. My good friend BS (mynameisbrandon) pointed out that the name Insipid Garbage could be a play on the verses:

Phil 3:7-11 7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish [insipid garbage], that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. NIV

So, I consider whatever genius I might bring to this blog to be rubbish, or, if you will, insipid garbage, compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

Not a bad explanation, BS, and I think I'll go with that. Yeah, that's the ticket! Thanks BS, you're the king of BS, you know.


In all seriousness, both explanations work. The first explanation is the true reason for the title, but I agree with the sentiment of the second, and I hereby apply it as well.

There, now you can rest at night, you know the reason behind the title to this blog.