thanks, i couldn't bother reading the thing due to the ridiculous chest-thumping and self-aggrandizing.

There's two ways of setting a tone. One is to make the reader think/conclude a certain feeling. The second method is to tell them to feel the thing you want them to feel.

This article tells me to hype myself up, which had the exact opposite effect

He does ramble on and on about how awesome he is, and is enamored of the sound of his own voice.