A Quirky Guy Reading about Quirky Guys

quirk (kwûrk) n.
1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" (Harriet Beecher Stowe).
2. An unpredictable or unaccountable act or event; a vagary: a quirk of fate.
3. A sudden sharp turn or twist.
4. An equivocation; a quibble.
- American Heritage Dictionary

In the September issue of The Atlantic there's a story, written by Michael Hirschorn, about the U.S. drowning in quirk. They touch on a lot of my favorite quirky people and shows, like Ira Glass and "This American Life," like author Miranda July, like the great comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, like the television show (sadly canceled) "Arrested Development," like the folks over at McSweeney's.

The story in Atlantic is not a critique of being quirky, per se, though there are some underpinnings in the story that says there's just too much quirk going around and, by that measure, quirk is the new normal which thereby alleviates quirk from its definition, i.e. quirky. Wes Anderson's films are mentioned, Jonathan Safran Foer novel Everything in Illuminated is mentioned, the movie Garden State is discussed, in particular Natalie Portman's quirky character.

As long as I can remember I've loved those skewed, odd, out-of-the-blue quirky bits in life. Me and my wife just recently watched again Michael Gondry's magnificent (and magnificently quirky) romance Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The whole damn movie is quirky, weird, "surreal," a term often thrown around when discussing things that are out of the ordinary. There's one scene that just cracked me up. It's nearer the beginning of the movie. Jim Carrey's character is discussing his romantic quandary with a couple of his friends. He's having a conversation with a woman about it. Her husband is making a lot of noise in the kitchen. The woman asks him to stop.

Carrie: Rob, give it a rest.
Rob: Carrie, I am making a birdhouse!

What genius! It's so damn funny and there's no reason for it to be in the movie. It doesn't propel the story at all. I have no idea why Gondry (or screenwriting marvel Charlie Kaufman) included it. But, thank god they did. That's some great quirk and, honestly, in my opinion, the best line in the whole movie (and the whole movie is filled with great lines).

What am I trying to say about all the quirk discussion? I don't know, but I'm not going to critique the work of the quirky crew (Ira Glass et al). Life is quirky. It's messy and silly and sweet and funny and hard and challenging and bewildering and we should celebrate it for all its quirkiness. Celebrate and praise it.