Blog, Blog, Blog (Again)

While I was reading Rue Morgue, it was impossible not to notice the deductive powers of Dupin. The story had a clear (if somewhat bizarre) turn of events. Dupin got his man, or rather Ourang-Outang, in the end. Poe didn't include much besides the mystery, the clues, and the solution, but when creating a new genre, who has the time for such frivolities as humor or action?

When I read Blog, Blog, Blog I saw a much different pattern than Poe's. However, much of the story follows the same line of progression as Rue Morgue or the Purloined Letter. What puzzled me most about Blog, Blog, Blog was that the detective and the culprit were the same person. It seemed as though in his drunken and caffeine affected state, Jarod Van Hooten (like the music reference by the way) set himself up for trouble. Poe's Dupin was an objective outsider with sharp reasoning skills, Van Hooten seems like an idiot trying to get out of a tedious homework assignment. Instead of deducing a conclusion, Van Hooten runs out of excuses, and then, expecting his mother to provide proof that he is indeed correct, digs his own grave. Additionally, for the MMO section, it could have been written for Prof. Jenkle as well. He certainly had motive, method and opportunity. Watching the skit version, Jenkle was my suspect because suspicion was well built around his intentions. I guess you could argue that Blog, Blog, Blog would be more in the genre of the spoof, taking the traditional mold and twisting it for laughs, I mean, what's odder, finding out that an Orangutan committed a gruesome murder or that a detective implicated himself in a crime he set out to solve?

I think Blog, Blog, Blog does follow some of the conventions of the detective story. It certainly has a nice whodunit factor. I was really interested in finding out who stole Van Hooten's story. I think the climax was actually the telephone call, more than the baseless accusations against Jenkle, but the story wrapped itself up nicely in the end, much like Poe's works, with all loose ends all tied up.