Ryan Zeinert

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Ryan J. Zeinert

Ryan Zeinert
Born February 1, 1982 (1982-02-01) (age 26)
Neenah, Wisconsin
Occupation Humorist, Author, Blogger
Genres Comedy, Pop Culture
Official website

Ryan Zeinert (born February 1, 1982(1982-02-01)) is an American author, blogger, and humorist. Zeinert is the creator of the popular humor and pop culture blog The CDP, widely recognized as the funniest blog in the state of Wisconsin. He published his first collection of essays, 65 Poor Life Decisions in 2007. Zeinert generally writes autobiographical essays with a self-depreciating type of humor, often focusing on his childhood in rural Wisconsin, his relationships and the idiosyncrasies of daily life.

[edit] Biography & Body of Work

Zeinert was born in Neenah, Wisconsin and raised in Larsen, a small unincorporated town in rural Wisconsin. He is the older of two siblings. As a child, he suffered from insomnia and irrational fears, much of which he contributes to living in an isolated rural farmhouse. Zeinert would often entertain himself during these times by writing stories, one such being "Rampage in the Tower" at age 7, about a group of guests at a party getting horribly dispatched, one at a time, by the sadistic host. [1] As an elementary school student, he was known in his class for a weekly essay entitled "The Stupid Dork," which enjoyed school-wide popularity until his teacher forced him to stop writing it.[1]

From 1998 to 2002, Zeinert worked as a gas station attendant at the Larsen Cooperative. [2]During this time, he wrote over 100 songs and poems, as well as posted essays daily on the message board for the band he was in at the time, Mediocre At Best. Many of the characters and stories that Zeinert encountered at the Larsen Cooperative became material for future essays on his blog and in his book.

In 2000, Zeinert began dating Celia Kasuboski, and the two moved to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, in September of 2004. Zeinert graduated from Madison Media Institute in 2004 with a degree in Music and Recording Technology, with a minor in business.[3] In February of 2004, he started a small blog called the Communist Dance Party as a means to communicate with his family and as an outlet for his creative writing, which had taken a backseat to college for several years.

Zeinert and Kasuboski were married on June 19, 2004. Both began working in local government jobs, with Zeinert pursuing freelance writing on the side. He spent several months doing music reviews for a short-lived Madison newszine called Coreweekly, [4] but found this type of writing unfulfilling, deciding to put more effort into his content on the Communist Dance Party. It was not until Zeinert introduced a weekly feature called "Lost Friday" that the Communist Dance Party really began to draw a steady audience and a devoted following. In it, readers were offered theories based on the TV show Lost, as well as humorous captions to screen captures, and other original content. Due to the popularity of "Lost Friday," the Communist Dance Party was frequently mistaken for a Lost fansite, despite the majority of the content being original essays.

Citing confusion over the name Communist Dance Party, Zeinert decided to refer to his blog by the more succinct TheCDP in 2006. With the rising popularity of the blog and the establishment of a brand name, Zeinert began offering merchandise for sale and offering more chances for reader participation, such as the CDP Nationwide Mix-Tape Exchange, where readers all over the nation are invited to participate in a mix-tape trade. [5] Based on the success of the Mix-Tape Exchange, it has become a quarterly feature on TheCDP.

In November of 2007, Zeinert released his first book of essays entitled 65 Poor Life Decisions. [6] It is a collection of his best essays from TheCDP from 2004-2007. About the book, Zeinert stated, "Well, I started the blog because I wanted to write books some day...I consider this book the bridge between blogger and author, and I want to move further over to the 'author' side of the equation." [7] The title of the book comes from the recurring theme of self-depreciation in many of Zeinert's essays, and is currently enjoying an overwhelming amount of positive reviews and praise in the local press.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b The CDP.net Fact or Crap
  2. ^ "65 Poor Life Decisions", 2007, ISBN 978-0-6151-7580-5
  3. ^ The CDP Year in Review
  4. ^ For core...its the pits 1-26-2006 by Jesse Russell, dane101.com
  5. ^ 5 Questions with The CDP, 11-30-2007 by Kevin Palmer, pointlessbanter.net
  6. ^ Popular Blogger Publishes Debut Book, 12-6-2007, pr.com
  7. ^ The CDP Interview, 11-30-2007 by Josh Taylor, SporkNation
  8. ^ "Reviewing the Neighbors: Ryan Zeinert's 65 Poor Life Decisions ", 12-13-2007 by Nathan J. Comp, dane101.com


[edit] External links

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