Blogging for Beginners

1st Ever Blogged Final Paper (for me at least)

2005-12-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

An exploration of the personal

In his theories on the Hierarchy of Needs, Abraham Maslow states that in order to be fully developed, a person must initially satisfy his bodily needs, security needs, social needs and then ego needs before he can be self-actualized (or fulfilled). Although they may only exist on a subconscious level, most bloggers focus on sating two needs in particular. The social desire speaks to wanting love and a sense of belonging which many bloggers look to in forming their own blogging communities. These arenas have developed around everything from the need to unite people based on their location as in CTweblogs to their religious preference like John Rush’s missionary work Additionally, the need to fulfill the ego, or the need to find self-respect and respect from others as well is a force that bloggers deal with daily when they check their comments. Although they know that many times these comments will be either worthless or ignorantly obnoxious, there is still the guiding need leading them to see who is linking to their blog and why. At the point of self-actualization, the blogger has realized his potential and reached personal growth through the blog. This does not necessarily mean that the person has to become a “blogbrity” in order to be self-actualized, going on book signing tours like Tucker Max, who came to fame through his blog are darling Coffee Rhetoric who is now publishing her novels. Rather, self-actualization can come simply by learning about yourself through the process of blogging. If anything, our class provides an ideal template for this. As we have expounded upon during every discussion, every member of our course has learned something about their selves through blogging, even if, in the case of JP or Marc, it is that blogging is not the right medium for them. Blogs provide immediate gratification for the primal stages in development for those that do feel connected to them.

The fulfillment of the social and ego needs are most evident in the personal blogs in which people emote about whatever strikes them as interesting about themselves for the day. Sarah Green’s fascinated me the most of out of this genre. What compels this angsty former teeny bopper to express herself in such a public forum? At least once a week, she writes lengthy diatribes, addressing the same guy who wronged her. It’s been over a year now and things do not seem to be progressing very well for her. Her blog’s title, “Take me Back to Once Upon a Time” waxes poetic about her nostalgia for her past with him. Perhaps if she did not spend so much time obsessing over this boy, she would be able to move on.

However, blogs help us fuel our obsessions. Because they are such inviting places where anyone can ramble about an interest and someone else on the internet is bound to share similar a similar liking, the blogosphere allows people like Sarah to post her musings on herself. In essence, she embodies a little bit of everything that we have been ruminating about in this course. Firstly, her need for expression seems to be what drives her blog. She is obviously looking to connect with an audience however her intended audience is slightly ambiguous. She writes her entries specifically directed to “him” but the people who comment on her walls are an assortment of her gal-pals and fellow brooding teenaged girls just like her. Sarah is looking for catharsis to mend her ego which has clearly been hurt upon her rejection from her love interest. The enthralling part of her blog experience is that her ramblings do not seem to get old. I realize this could be a widely contested statement but for the same type of audience that is drawn to anything starring Hugh Grant, or more accurately for her demographic, anything with an off-beat quirky protagonist (like a young Christina Ricci) who gets the guy in the end, this blog is the stuff of cinematic magic. It is both nauseating and addictive.

Eudora Welty once said, "I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well, for all serious daring starts from within." From the aesthetic of her blog, it would certainly seem that Sarah comes from a sheltered life. Her blog is littered with pictures of her and her friends with such daring to be witty captions as “drunk, anyone?” and another photo of one of Sarah’s walls which sports a poster of James Dean and a construction paper heart. Although there probably is not much else to do in Krum, Texas other than fixate on guys and drink underage (the same could naturally be true for most suburban areas), Sarah is able to create an entire over analytical network of imagination in her mind to keep her occupied. She dares to obsess.

On November 22nd, she writes,

“ I just woke up. 3 in the morning...because I was dreaming and you were there. Only you were lashing out at me. You were back to the way things used to be. You had your booze, your drugs, and something you've never done, you had females, pictures, physical, anything, to hurt me. I didn't understand it. You wouldn't look at me, just made it clear you were doing everything out of spite. I am, indeed, going quite insane. Do you remember that first shooting star in the park? Oh, I do reminisce quite often.”

Sarah longs to rekindle her intimacy with her vagabond ex. It would seem that she has no other friends the way she uncomfortably writes what feels like bad Coldplay lyrics to this punk who I’ve determined is not worth it. However, all of her friends support her and comment that she is beautiful and strong. While I have no doubt that Sarah is both of those things, I’m not sure how much I would support a friend who obsessed over one person for over a year. Breezeface comments, “Sarah Green when you write about him it only makes me want to cry. Not only because it's sad, but for you in general. I wish he hadn't hurt you like he did, and I would give anything to take the pain away, but I can't...so the best I can do is be a good friend.”

When I was in high school I was unhealthily enamored with a boy but only after I dated him. In order to soothe my self-important soul I wrote an article for the school newspaper entitled, “I am obsessed” and charted the development of my crush and in the end concluded that obsessions can be positive things to have provided they keep your mind off of truly negative thoughts, like SATs and illness. I secretly wanted him to stumble across it but that did not even matter. The idea that I had sent it out into a void that he was a part of was enough for me to have some relief. To a certain extent I think that Sarah and I share the same kindred spirit. Fortunately, I have long since moved on since my sophomore year, or so I thought before I started reading the emo blogs and I realized that the need to air your proverbial dirty laundry, or dirty relationship details is innate in more people than just the small town Sarah that I am focusing on.

The most uncomfortable part about Sarah’s blog is that it invites the reader to become a voyeur in a much more profound way than blogs about politics or hobbies do. Of course I mean voyeur in the more colloquial sense and not technically as a paraphilia involving sexual arousal because of these blogs. If that’s the goal of perusing the internet you can find much better sites to become stimulated by then this wholesome account of a first love. However, voyeurism as we understand it as the Rear Window or Peyton Place need to know about other people’s lives certainly comes alive when reading her blog. What is it about Sarah that’s more interesting than our own lives? Is it because she’s unrelenting? Is it because she’s developed a genuine voice without an air of pretension? Because we know that her audience is specific and unless we are her high school mates or the boy that scorned her, we are not who she is directing, it helps to assure any other readers that she is not blogging for fame or recognition. We are even told on September 5th, “Sarah, you weren’t in school today.” Perhaps it is endemic of high school culture, but this is not something that would ever pop up in Kyrie O’Connor’s “cultural musings” or any of the other blogs we have become familiar with.

I do not know this girl, and in all honesty, would not be friends with her. I’m sure she’s lovely but my friends have grown out of the “it’s cool to look drunker than you are phase” not because we are better than Sarah but because her peers are fifteen. However, in general, I know that I am not her intended audience yet I can not stop feeling the need to connect with her and her pain just as she is trying to connect with her skateboarding antagonist. On November 5th she writes,

“At times when you look at me and storm away so quickly with nothing to say, it seems that I ruin you. But how could I do that? And the 'three-day-funk' turned into four and I was too scared to even tell you goodbye, and I just left with my bouquet of nothing that mattered then. I can read you vaguely, but when you say that it's nothing, I just want to hug you. And how can I stand here with you when I realize that I'm involuntarily hurting you? You always talk too little and too late when you explode with your tensions and frustrations. And then you laugh about it. That's what gets me the worst. Because you don't want to laugh at all, you want to scream and kick and gauge my eyes out, but instead you just laugh and begin to start boiling again”

I am clearly not the “you” she is referring to. I did not storm away from her and I have not been in a “three-day-funk” that I can note. Yet, I enjoy overhearing her conversations and being allowed insight into her mind.

How much more ranting can her posse take? Perhaps I am just bitter because I emailed her over two weeks ago and posted on her blog but she still has not responded to my questions. I am taking this as a sign that Sarah is meant to be observed from a far and not communicated with. In order to be intrigued by her blogging personality, I need to feel that she is not a real person.

We have discussed in class the notion that bloggers are disembodied. Even when they attach pictures, it is easier to assume that they are the type of manufactured press release photos that you see before a film screening and not photos of real people. Character is so strong with blogs, even in terms of those who have characters who don’t appeal to you that it is eerie when you see the blogger in the flesh. When we first met Aldon I was surprised by his appearance and demeanor, even though I had seen his photos. In researching Sarah’s commentators, I found that many of them had Facebook Profiles, which was yet another way of reaffirming her status as real person.

On September 8th, 2005 Sarah tells us, “I don't want to be the disembodied face that comes to you as you close your eyes before you fall to sleep. I want to be there” but obviously the person she wants to be embodied for is not me or any one outside of her immediate circle.

The Facebook (that's my roommate) is another forum of self-expression that we barely touched upon in class yet it is listed as #51 on the Top 100 Best Blogs that we scanned at the beginning of the semester. But does a profile of yourself and links to your friends really constitute a blog? I think that it is too small of a glimpse into a person to give us the wide scope of who that individual is. If Sarah had a Facebook profile (which after many attempts to find, I can safely say that she doesn't) she would feel utterly removed from the Sarah that I know because there is so much more depth to a blogger’s personality than simply a few lines about favorite movies and quotes they enjoy.

Additionally, you can learn a lot about a blogger based on the people who they link to on their blog rolls or by clicking on the profiles of the comment makers. The people who most readily post on Sarah’s sights are the creators of the similarly pseudo-poetic mind fields of “Me from my Words,” and “Music Makes my Heart Melt,” at which is yet another floridly worded sight where a passionate singer tries to pass off Kelly Clarkson lyrics as her own. She says, “music touches my heart in a way that no man ever will.” She tells us, in yet another beauteous poem that she and her crush could have “sat around all day, drinking in life.” These are slightly more saccharine versions of Sarah’s words. After a while, the friends you keep begin to reflect each other and this is certainly true of the blogosphere. However, Alyssa, master of the music heart melting domain spells appreciate “appricate” which is something Sarah would not do.

Additionally, there is “Imperfect Isolation” in which this young man tries to pass John Mayer lyrics off as his own. I am convinced that he is the person that once broke our lovely protagonist’s heart. After his post on August 28th, entitled “Needs and Wants” in which he proudly declares, want to play the piano. I need to play the blues. I want to marry you. I need to love you,” Sarah comments to him, “I just wanted to say something......I'm not sure what though. I miss you.” There exchange however does not last long because his blog stops being edited shortly thereafter. However, if he is indeed her Romeo, it becomes more evident why she has held on to his sentimental drivel for so long. Their relationship is both beautiful and tragic in that it’s so purely high school, there’s something sacred about it. Does posting something so private on the blogosphere make it less meaningful or more meaningful? According to someone like Sarah, creating a blog immortalizes her feelings and therefore gives more importance to her epic love.

Foucault argued that people have an innate desire to make the private public. In this sense, Sarah must be exercising her right to exhibitionism in the same way that all of her friends are. Where else than the blogosphere can pre-teen girls have a voice that is celebrated for being annoying authentic. Novels attempt to recreate this authenticity but often fall short. Coming of age stories written by middle aged women seldom have the same flair for style and language that Sarah and her friends have. Thanks to their need for expression and their Maslowian need for affirmation and self-respect, these young people are pioneering not only the blogosphere, but perhaps the future of literary development.

2005-12-14T11:13:00.000-08:00

http://www.blogger.com/" location >

2005-12-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

Colin

Linx

2005-12-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

Linking seems to be the current hot topic (okay, when isn't it a topic?) but especially this week and I have to say that being a terribly slow reader who gets easily overwhelmed and or distracted, links have taken a lot for me to get used to. Their like hundreds of footnotes in a giant incoherent text book that's difficult enough to get familiar with without the limtless excuses to leave the page. I never like to feel as though I've missed out on anything but in the blog world i always feel that i've missed out on everyhting. There is no closure or thrill of accomplishment. That's why I like your blogs-most of them are new and i can easily chart the beginning and end. BUT, today (entering into inspired blog student moment/yet another sentimental course wrap up speech), I was skimming New York Magazine, or was it the New Yorker? (you can tell how literate I am) and there were lots of small articles when every few words were in bold face and my natural instinct was to click on them and I couldn't. I really wanted to also becuase half the stuff was esoteric and referenced things I wasn't familiar of but easily could have been if i had been reading the article as a blog. Then I got all together nostalgic (another "hot topic" for the week, a la Meredith Viera, everyone's all time fave Lady of the View, with the exception, of course of Star Jones). I wish I wasn't linking inept, because then you could have clicked on her photo and I think everyone's mood would be made better having done that. Perhaps I'll bring one to class along with the Franzia.

in the year 2000...

2005-12-06T20:37:00.000-08:00

Papa Bill will be pleased to know that one of my flat mates (true, my Trin-quad isn't quite posh or British enough to be a "flat" but go with me here) read his sexual awakening blog over my shoulder and is now attempting to cyber with me from her bedroom. This is procrastination at an all time low. Eric thought he had a bad case of it becuase he went to the movies instead of working but I'd wager that my roommate instant messaging me from 2 feet away such delightful romances as, "i want to tounge your engorged anal cavity" and "imagine my small, chubby fingers inside of you" is slightly rock bottom. I'm sorry if I just lost a large portion of my obligatory audience, but now that things have come to a close, I do feel a lot more comfortable divulging personal information than I would have before. I have never been a member of a class with such eager people so as a result i may have taken a more passive role but i think you're all pretty quirky and wonderful. Allow me to clarify, i've been in classes with enthusiastic students, but they were usually prententious and pumped to be heard to prove their esoteric knowledge to the Professor, or to pick up chicks-this was certainly not the case here. In any event, I'm sorry again if tonight's sexual content was largely oversharing, but I believe that the future in blogging community may be taking a turn towards that. I think there will be more incorporation of dating websites with blogging, sort of like what Holly and Jeff have the potential to do with myspace. Seeing as Brett is such a master at this domain, he'll have no problem getting a date (although he may only attract xanax addicts and tree-peepers based on his new format). And our Capote lover won't have to go on any more "fake dates." I like the comment feature as is but I still don't think it's conducive to real conversations-maybe im just saying that because i give comments like kindergarten teachers and i can only dialogue with someone when i agree. Perhaps icons should be incorporated into the comment features. Blogs will be around for quite some time-how's that for a scholarly analysis? As long as their are amateurs who want a performance space there will be blogs, at least of a sort. If you can upload your photos into a permament online database so you can't lose them, blogs can be utilized as thought storage-you can upload your diaries. As our lovely classmate, who has been witholding his "secret" blog from us said, it's a wonderful place to store random musings that we all think are brilliant at the time. And sadly, I have no more at the moment and am being seduced by a totally uneccesary 3 am dunkin donut run. Have a wonderful evening!

more on the personal

2005-12-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

This week, I had a little experiment in non-self created identity. My friends, who have entirely too much free time decided to create 2 separate facebook accounts for me (which, as we've been over, is sort of the myspace equivalent). They made my interests into such wonderful things as "vomitting out car windows" and "cow-tipping" (neither of which is true, just so you know). Additionally, they put up a series of atrocious photos of me and friended over 300 people, mostly freshman boys who I've never seen. They had fun creating my identity becuase it was safer than changing there's. Through my accounts they could comment on other people's profiles such things as "you're cute, wanna bang" which they were probably thinking, but wouldn't say if their own personas were at stake. I realize this is terribly sophmoric but it made me think even more about what makes a persona. Is it how we express ourselves? How we act? How we dress? Whether or not we smile while walking to class/work? And if these factors are the most important elements than it's more difficult to express this on blogs, but easier to sort of fake an idenity, which, if my friend's are any indication of isn't that difficult to do.

I think it all ties back again to the limitless nature of blogs. Seeing as there are so many possibilities and each person can have several blogs if they'd like, you can choose from any type of identity but as Brett said when your identity doesn't seem authentic, that's when it's "silly." Most of the people in class have 2 blogs-one for class and one for "personal" because we all have different aspects of our lives that we'd like to share with different audiences, but in the end, the blogosphere is omniscien. That was my gripe about the blog created by Cosmo magazine and XiaXia, our favorite asian princess. While it was amusing, the fact that we had to second guess it's authenticity made us more connected to blogs that we had no doubt were real.

P.S. I was listening to Eric's autoblog as I posted. It was comforting and yet creepy at the same time.

Why lack of anonymity has ruined my love life

2005-11-30T17:21:00.000-08:00

I write a column for the Trinity newspaper. It's not as fancy as Colin's and at times may lack the merrit that many of your blogs have, but for better or for worse, it's my column and it's developed a bit of a following. I write about college relationships which, as you may recall is best summarized as an idiot's guide to getting drunk and finding someone to take home. I'm slightly classier than all of that, but the fact is, I put myself very much out there and as a result, I have a history of exploiting the boys who have been victimized by me. I keep their names anonymous but apparently it's not that difficult to figure out, or so I was reminded two weeks ago when the kid I had been seeing "dumped me" for being as candid as I was in the newspaper. Ironically, for the first time, I had actually said nice things about him. I (dare I say it) actually may have liked him, and the saddest part is, Jeff aka http://blog.myspace.com/jprzech would have liked him too. He looked a lot like Jon Cusack (and not even in his Serendipity days). Sadly, he valued privacy over me and things in my romance sector have been spiraling down since then. Word got out amongst the paranoid men on campus that any type of engagement with me may result in a public commentary. They're afraid of my persona. I wouldn't have had this problem if I had adapted a psuedonym like many of the bloggers. There's always going to be someone who doesn't like your opinion or your style

This reminded me of Eric the Fearless, As he so aptly points out, poor christian slater would not have been as persecuted if his broadcast was "undercover" but at the same time, it may have lost something. I personally respect people more when their identity isn't as concealed because if the person feels comfortable enough to talk freely and openly about something then it makes whatever the subject is feel less taboo. I realize that there may be a lot of dangers associated with giving too much contact info out over the internet and then saying something offensive, but in general, i give a lot of credit to the bloggers that stand by their opinions enough to sign it with their name. On the other hand, I wouldn't know the difference either way, and I certainly don't use my real name. Also, the beauty of the blogosphere is that it's generally accepted that people can be anonymous where as in print journalism, if you publish an anonymous article, it's kind of seedy. So, in short, I guess I'm conflicted.

"no one is alone, truly"

2005-11-30T16:04:00.000-08:00

So a longer than expected Thanksgiving break at home with a dial-up aging computer put me out of blogging comission for awhile but like most things, it's refreshing to see that the blogging community has gone on quite smoothly and quite overwhelmingly with out me. I hope everyone did something delightful with their brief holiday!

I thoroughly enjoyed Aldon's touching post (no sarcasm intended), but I'm not sure if I can whole heartedly agree with the idea that blogging takes away the feeling of aloneness. Obviously, on a many levels it does-we spent a week reviwing how it connects communities and the fact that we as a class can keep up with each other's lives is indicative of how it can bring people together but it also promotes a certain breed of anti-socialism despite how social it is. For every hour I spend sitting at the computer, sending my thoughts into a void, that is one more hour I could be spending communicating with people face to face. I realize this isn't always feasible and I also realize that blogs work brilliantly for those "pj types" who are more literary than they are good in person, but there is some danger in the addictive distance blogs create even though they try to bring people closer. I did really love Michele Agnew’s blog. That truly does encourage cooperation. It's like the anti-(insert name of that blog that made us all mad the first week of school). Her little "word a day" format gives me nice things to ponder. It's like boingboing for people who would rather get poetry flashes than news flashes.

Another great website for fostering community is www.answerology.com. I don't think it would classify as a blog, per se but it's an online network where people can give and recieve advice. They are typically about relationships but the topics run the gamut and theirs nothing tacky about it. It's also quite addictive and like a blog, if you think a person's feedback is good you can make friends with them. And I'm not just advocating this site because I spent the summer working there, editing people's responses, but because it brings people together for a good cause-even if that cause is wining about ex-gfs, but what else is there, really?

Aldon also points to Brett's blog and from there I found one of the most infuriating sights. I was really tempted to email this "thebestpageintheuniverse" guy but my email address isn't as conducive to anonymity as my Vivica A. Fox honorarium blogging name is. What makes his narcissistic home page any different than a blog? It seems like a bit of projection here.

The quote on http://looseleafnotes.com/ blog, "Things I would not tell anyone, I tell the public." ~Michel de Montaigne basically sums up my rationale on blogs. We've discussed this ad hominem (is that the word im looking for, it's foreign for "a lot"?). Just like theater, for me it's always been easier to perform if you can't make eye contact with the audience and you don't know who is there. Realizing that a few key people are watching you gives you the added adrenalin rush to do your best but when you connect with them while you're in the spotlight it suddenly makes you feel even more vulnerable and silly to be performing, oh hey, for thematics sake, a Sondheim ballad about hats. Like blogging, I'm sure if I had a reputation like many of you, in the class, have developed, it would be nice to know that random commentors were out there and may be checking it but as coffeerhetoric said, if my mom ever wanted to have a direct conversation about what I had written I may feel awkward. Back to the blog though, it's pretty heart wrenching. I'm glad to see that the comments have been nice. It fortunately attracts a different audience than some of the other blogs we have read, who wouldn't have been as kind.

I'll leave this post with yet another Sondheim reference that I thought was especially pertinent about blogging, for those of you who just can't get enough musical theater:

This reminded me of yet another Sondheim reference, for those of you out there who I just know, love, love, LOVE musical theater:

"Someone is on your side.
Someone else is not.
While you're seeing your side maybe you forgot: They are not alone. No one is alone."

Vlogs (sounds dirty)

2005-11-16T23:43:00.000-08:00

Vlogs are creepy! They run totally counter to everything we have learned about blogging. We aren't dealing with disembodied people anymore. We now get to see and hear the people behind the opinions who we so readily trash. Enter, the man. I feel like I know him now so I am less inclined to weild my opinion so freely and make blanketed generalizations. Furthermore, here I am sitting with my labtop on my lab, in my cozy pink laura ashley vomitted in room and this guy is looking me in the eye telling me his opinions on vlogs. Totally breaking down the 3rd wall here. They are also harder to keep track of. you can skim words and pretty much get the content within the first two keystrokes of blatant republican or liberalism but you need to actually listen here. Vlogs are certainly not for the boring day at the office types who want some quick news. They are also not for the i spend all my time in the library types, like this girl, right here, because when you do actually get the thing to play, they don't play with volume/fellow patrons of the libes get mad when they do.

So instead, now i have these guys in my bedroom. Jerry is currently getting me intimately acquainted with the blisters on his hand. He seems to have all the same mindless comments to make that most of the other bloggers we have, ie, "i go into a bar and i meet a girl" but becuase he litters it with interesting visuals, his tale is a lot more interesting-although it certainly makes me feel more awkward. He's actually quite painful, but in that indy film sort of way that makes you uncomfortable to watch yet you can't end it. Is it funny? My fave comment on his vlog being, "you need a girlfriend and no, your mother won't do." What if comments could be vloged. Wouldn't it be neat if you could record your comments and post them on other people's vlogs and then you would essentially be having a disconnected conversation. Talk about tripy! Rocketboom chick, Amanda says (once again, right to my face) that "I get some pretty crappy comments and to have some fun, I like to visualize the commenters"-now, she wouldn't have to. Although I think this would change the face of what people were saying. It's harder assuming a fake identity or a character when you're totally putting yourself out there. Does that alter what people are willing to say? It hasn't yet, but it seems that the genre is so different that generally people aren't saying, "Hi. I'm Will and here's why I don't like Bush"

I also look at vlogers a lot more than bloggers. It seems to take a lot more time and effort so what's the general motivation? If it's fame it's certainly a very specific, less anonomyous sort of fame. I mean, Amanda Rocketboom has costume changes and everything. Does she have a tonuge ring (totally irrelevant). She's like a diet tina fey.

Her comment from the "angry republican character is" i watch your show every day and i can't stand it but i can't help but keep watching becuase i keep hoping you'll change." it seems that this attitude fuels a lot of people-but weren't we saying in class that most of the gents reading blogs are looking into like minded blogs? It's different here though with vlogs because things have so much more flava! You are so much less limited to format.

This Minnesota chick is also creepy. Are there no normal people who vlog? I guess they'd be just as boring as normal bloggers. Or maybe I'm just hypersensitive becuase it's late at night. Are these people using vlogs to get their cinematic "talents" out there just the way that amateur writers use blogs? some of this stuff is quite good. Has anyone been discovered yet?

A call to all bigots

2005-11-09T16:36:00.000-08:00

http://christianretail.blogspot.com/ or the "impish post" has a good level of distance from the topic. He's got some edge which is what I missed about the other more religious blogs. I mean, he calls Christians lazy, that's something.

And as for my fav yenta, I appreciate that she directs her audience to posts we should read first. Not being up on my Jew speak (don't let me last name, Schwartz fool you) I had no idea what a Rebbetzin was. She's totally with it and has a great style, BUT, once again, she falls into the stereotypical voice that I assumed she would take on. Does that make any sense? I find that no matter how authentic the zealots and critics among the bloggers are, I can still see them as film characters that I've watched before-more so than I have in the past with other bloggers. Maybe because what is at the heart of their blogs is something a lot more ancient than Harriet Miller.

Like Brett's suggestion of http://www.reallivepreacher.com/newsite there's something so, dare i say, priceless about a preacher who asks you to pay that it's like everything that has been stereotpyically trashed about hypocrisy in organized religion comes through, right there on the screen.

And I enjoy Jesus of the week suggestion, it's a new brand of religious dorkery that's pretty awesome. Ahh, I'm starting to get used to these G-rated blogs on such contested issues.

Jainism

2005-11-09T16:26:00.000-08:00

Based on last weeks discussion on repetition in the blogosphere I got the sense that the blog world was getting a lot smaller. Millions of strangers were talking about the same petty things which they won't care about next week. But, this topic has opened the blog world back up again and made me realize how freakishly dissimilar we can be from other people. It's one thing to sit in a room with a raging liberal if you are a republican but reading about some of these religious thoughts showed me that there are some topics that are so much bigger than Bush's role in New Orleans. I did a little search for blogs on Jainism (an Eastern religion which, to grossly over simplify doesn't believe in harming any living thing-including dust and therefore celebrate nudity, root veggies and peace). There weren't many blogs on the topic, basically because it goes against a lot of what they stand for, but I did come across this http://www.yja.org/blog/. It doesn't say much, but once again it boggles my mind how many types of people are out there blogging (the pictures are pretty priceless too)

Faithful Bloggers

2005-11-09T15:33:00.000-08:00

http://anvilfire.blogspot.com/ or the "serious one" as Colin calls it, is indeed just that. It's the first blog I've ever come across that actually uses footnotes and it is similarly unpersonal. I'm not used to blogs that are so unheated. Bloggers usually try to make the most uninteresting things (a trip to the store) seem like breaking news and here we have a presumably very nice man talking about something that he is very passionate about and because he is so calm and eerily "good natured" he seems removed from the topic. Where's the fire? A critic called John says that "Anvil & Fire has plenty of passion, of a kind, but this Tennessean of faith seems more fond of sermons than conversations.” Do religous blogs exist to preach to us? How is this any different from political blogs? In both cases, they're basically just preaching to the converted. As we mentioned in class last week, usually you're talking to an audience who agrees with you becasue they're typically the people who will be the most avid readers of your blog.

Tricky stuff. Anvil Fire guy says, "I have never taken a class on blogging. It is probably a good idea to do so"-well, there you go. I guess we're on the right path. The thing that's so striking about this guy though is that he is so consistently Christian and it's not a voice I'm accustomed to. Even the way he accepts his criticism is both thankful and apologetic. Most other bloggers would say, "f. off. I like my style just the way it is."

I personally prefer the http://badchristian.com/index.php and not just becuase of the context but because it felt more like a blog. The anvil and fire seemed like he was looking for a place to organize and immortalize his sermons. It had a very big copy and pasted from microsoft wordness to it that lacks the immediacy of other blogs. I say we go to the "blogenvention"! Here, he has a conversation with us and actually speaks to his audience on a topic that is much more compelling when anecdotes are provided and we are being engaged. If someone was interested in a pedantic telling of the fundaments of christianity they could pick up a bible-they don't need a blog for that.

Thus far, there seems to be a resistance on the bloggers part to say anything too risque. It's one thing to piss off a fellow blogger, it's quite another to piss off God. Granted, the badasschristian does call Jesus a "loser" but just in case those of us who are a little bit dense didn't get that he was being sarcastic, he makes it quite clear that his account was a satire-let their be no mistakes. Even so, he does give practical applications to Christianity in a way that the more dogmatic views do not. In his worlds, Christians can swear, and I guess that's a step in a good direction.

religious unsettling

2005-11-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is from http://www.adrian.warnock.info/2005/04/christian-hedonism-blogging-challenge.htm and it frightens me ever so slightly:

Adrian says, "It worries me a little that many readers of blogs no doubt look to them for their teaching more than their local church. The challenge for some nodoubt is that they attend a church who's teaching appears to them not to bebiblically sound. I am sure many Christians continue to attend churchesthat they believe teach error out of a misguided sense of loyalty. To listen to online teachers and get ones teaching there may seem wise whenyou feel that local preachers are in some way deficient."

Do people really look to blogs to find their religious doctrine? that's almost as unsettling as when my roommate bought 2 dozen communion wafers off the internet to consume as snacks. I guess blogging is now sanctioned by the divine. I suppose blogs can be seen as a form of confession if you subscribe to those schools of thoughts and Rev. Colin is leading us through our spiritual journey.

where are the original thoughts?

2005-11-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

Forgive me if I've been slightly incoherent tonight but I'm teething again and the painkiller I took has been making me sort of loopy. I'm not much of a medicator (advil for emergencies) but I didn't anticipate how much wisdom teeth growing in would smart so I decided to swallow some assistance which, needless to say has made it even more difficult to concentrate than the wisdom teeth piercing my gums have made it all week. I realize that this is the sissiest of all problems and if I could handle it when I was an infant, I can certainly man up and handle it now-so the complaints stop here and the relevant blogging begins again.

I don't know what's worse-saying controversial things about a trite topic just for the sake of getting a rise out of your readers or just repeating the same things over and over again? i prefer the fresh approach, as in not repeating what you've read on the huffington post and smearing it across the blogosphere. Even Al Roker http://www.alroker.com/journal.cfm has a blog to allow a different form for reporting his news-so i guess we need several different forums to express ourselves. Speaking of fresh and random, the article on the huff post about the construction of bra walls to help men buy bras for their lady friends-Very random! www.huffingtonpost.com/thenewswire/#a010030

Free lance editing

2005-11-02T17:12:00.000-08:00

There's something terribly exciting about having the freedom to edit such a polished body of work. Not feeling qualified to edit too many things, I tried my luck on the Trinity College article and added some tidbits. Interactive websites like this are so interesting...so why don't I get the same rush from posting comments on people's blogs? I think it's the Kos sense of entitlement you get from making a contribution to such a widely visited site. I've used wikipedia before as a resource but now that I know how easy it is for some rando to just post-i'll have to use it more cuautiously. This site, like blogs in general, give amteurs the chance to play professionals for awhile-enter the flu encyclopedia-now we're talking fun!

Slatesations

2005-11-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

The slate also seems to give a pretty fair shot to both sides of the spectrum. Again, it's hard for me to gauge if it's raising issues that are out of the norm rather than just duplicating the standard topics because I don't know what it it that I should know. However, there is a pretty good handle on giving both liberal and conservative prospectives-often bouncing back. It also gives bloggers a lot of credit-quoting bloggers more than politicians. Seeing as most of this weeks blogs go off of articles from newspapers (ie, they start by saying-"this week in Washington Post") it's difficult to allege that they are coming up with any startling claims because they are based on things that were already published.

Public Debate

2005-11-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

As an English major I have been programmed to read entire texts, look into background information, let everything digest and then, only after I have completed the entire work and its criticisms should I begin writing about it. I think that's why I've had such difficulty blogging sporadically. These instantaneous responses are hard to get used to, but I am trying to train myself to not be long-winded (starting after this post, of course).

Starting with salon, it certainly has a more balanced approach to the public debate than some of the more radical blogs. You don't have to look to far to find an op-edish section on battling view points. And I appreciated the psuedo-public debate they try to formulate about more pop-cultural issues like Martha Stewart and Kate Moss. While this may not be important, it keeps my interest more than the overtly political stuff so salon does a great job for well-balanced readership.

One of the postings said, "In the cover article of this month's Forbes, the mag exposes blogs as "the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective." This helps to get to the heart of some of this weeks issues. While I don't agree with this statement necessarily, blogs do have a tendency to perpetuate rumors that are taken as truth which explains their bad rap in shaping identities of people. It's a lot easier for someone like me, who isn't very informed, to read a bloggers opinion of a political figure and to take that as truth and make that my own opinion. Yes, it's ignorant, but if you're looking for quick cocktail party banter on why Bush is a screw up, it's a lot quicker to quote a blog than it is to read a newspaper that claims (claim being the operative) to be neautral.

Daily Kos and drugs

2005-10-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today there was a post from our friends at the dailykos about a study showing that marijuana can stop cancer caused by nicotine. They even back it up with real live sources. While I'm not sure how much I buy into it, it's interesting enough.

Commericalized Blogging

2005-10-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Cosmo has a blog and I'm not pleased. While I admit that once I graduated from 17 magazine, i became an avid cosmo reader but as soon as i was old enough to realize that i didn't need to know more than 200 ways to please my non-existent man who i wasn't having sex with (but got to be educated about once a month) I've since supplemented my reading with other publications. Now, I see they have a blog where this random fictional chick talks about guys. I wouldn't mind it so much if the voice was slightly more sincere but it screams fake. Outraged, I created another blog in a similar genre. Hopefully mine sounds slightly more authentic. If you are really going to create a diary of all the men you've slept with, their has to be something genuine sounding about it. And these writers are getting paid! http://magazines.ivillage.com/cosmopolitan

Republic of Dogs

2005-10-25T23:59:00.000-07:00

It seems as if the Dog Republic guy sees into the soul of the class. His most recent post is a premature apology to anyone in the blogosphere who may attack him for his innocuous comment on Lance Manion. He must know how sensitive Neddie Jingo fans are and so as to not follow in Colin's footsteps, he's taking precautions.

We spend a lot of time talking about voice-and while I'm not particularly interested in the things that he says, I do think that his voice is amusing. He's polished yet he doesn't take himself too seriously. Enter the photos of his cats with the cheesy captions. Any man who can rant about politics in one breath and then post photos of kitties reclining is quite balanced. He's not very prolific though. He lost my attention when he wrote, "Liberal women, of course, are generally found smearing each other with cream pies for the sexual gratification of men, because they're liberated from stereotypical sexbot roles." I don't know how many liberal women he knows, but I'd venture a guess that any man taking rolls of feline photos for fun and coming up with pithy sayings to accessorize them, does not encounter too many women who like to get naked and rub around him.

More on Coffee (and my current need for caffeine)

2005-10-20T13:45:00.000-07:00

I think that because the blogosphere is so limitless people feel even more compelled to litter it with their writing even if it's not necessarily good. There is the addictive quality that is associated with writing blogs that you constantly want to one-up yourself. Unlike Professional writing there is no one to tell you this is crap-(unless it's Kos or our class). We have a constant click track of ideas running through our minds. Blogging is a medium that allows us to immortalize these thoughts which feel brilliant at the moment. Somehow, when we know we have this outlet, even the most basic urges comments like, "my room smells like wet feet" or "i'm so tired i could pass out" seem worthy of publication. As a result, most of the writing is simply not good but our normal understanding of the word and this may just be a product of the fact that people don't take the time to take pride in their thoughts. They have little embers of ideas and once they are sent out into the blogo-void they can die alone. That's what I like about coffeerhetoric. While her writing keeps us in the moment and it's always fresh, it's also consistent. She seems that she takes the time to read over her posts before publishing them and she generally sifts through her boring thoughts from the ones that may actually interest people and this is a mark of good writing. Not to mention the fact that she's pretty darn sassy.

blogging: a high art

2005-10-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

I take back my afforementioned comment on liking Spam. I no longer wish to recieve mass produced comments on how my blog peaked someone's interest (it hasn't) and I don't need french kissing tips, thank you very much. Furthermore, what the hec is post viral fatigue? I'm not going to click the link just in spit of whoever posted it, so there. Besides, I've got issues of rhetoric to attend to.

While being a good writer may not be "as" important in the blogosphere is at is on print, that is not to say that good writing isn't rewarded. It really depends on what the reader is looking for. Sometimes you need a quick fix of someone like xiaxia, who enjoys forgetting pronouns and articles and is clearly not what we would consider well-written. However, she is enjoyable. We look to people like her for character and presence and not necessarily writing ability. She's the MTV dating show caliber blog that we allow ourselves to read when we get tired of wrapping ourselves around forcibly witty turns of phrases which sometimes try to hard. Excuse me for being overtly obvious but the beauty of blogging is that anyone can be published which takes away some of the pressure to be polished. More often than not we find stream of conscience style journaling which is unedited and unrefined. There is nothing wrong with that. Blogs like this are almost easier to read than the wordy ones constructed by the writers who are just trying to put themselves out there. But again, this relies on prefereance. Typically, the rambling musings are the most common blogs but there can exist a certain professionalism associated with this. You can master the art of random musings without sounding like a 4-y-old trying to tell your daddy about the movie you had just seen. I think that Memo does a good job of this type of flash writing. In blogs it's all about instant gratification. You find a topic and write about it and move on. Because blogs are so expendable the writer doesn't have to commit themselves to a topic. Unlike in book writing or even in any type of writing that dictates a word count, the writer has to find a way to expound on topics that they may not want to. Here, one simple thought can be enough which allows the blog writer to put his best foot forward every time. But often they get spoiled by these easy access to their cleverness and you get observations that seem pretty useless.

Links act as a fancy accessory to the blogs which give us further insight into the person we are dealing with but the author also has the risk of losing his audience by including this. The blogosphere celebrates A.D.D. While it's just as easy to be fickle when it comes to print reading, when a blogger who is trying to develop a fan base links to other sites of more interest, the blogger can be forever abandoned. Unlike a newspaper, when you can overlook a staff writer who doesn't interest you, there is still the good chance that you will see his name again but you may never stumble upon the blog you gave up to follow its links.

I am personally biased towards wry styles of writing. If I wanted to read something stiff or academic I'd use a more "reputable source" and not a blog. Lance Manion originally reads like a research paper using a critical lens from literature to sometimes (and sometimes not at all) tie into his random thoughts. I appreciate the outside work he puts into his ambling opinions. He has good word choice but he makes the mistake that many blog writers do which other more "seasoned" writers try not to. He tells anectodotes and recalls conversations about things that have no reason to be of interest to the reader. He barely ties them in. Just because the narrator hears something, does that mean that it needs to be transcribed? If he were Hemingway we would read his random observations and somehow have a different understanding of the world (i'm being a little generous) but because he seems to just record things rather than provide insight or fine tune, we get another example of a blogger who celebrates prolific"ness" rather than the less is more theory. It's as if bloggers keep writing until they stumble upon a gem instead of find the gem first and then work from there.

And then you have the http://3bulls.blogspot.com/ type of writer who cares more drawing attention to other things than actually writing-it's a totally different style of blogging but no less acceptable. Like any other medium, it's up to the reader to determine his/her preferances.

I agree with http://rumblelizard.diaryland.com/051020_9.html who seemed genuinely gratified (although perplexed to make it to our sight). Despite the fact that you may be airing out your dirty undies to the mass populace, there is something much more anonymous about it and therefore there is less pressure. I write for the newspaper and in order to feel candid enough to publish personal anecdotes about boys ive victimized over the weekend and other embarassing tales, I have to pretend that I don't know anyone reading it. It's like being onstage. As long as you don't make direct contact with the audience than there's no reason to worry.

I tend to prefer the blogs that do read more like magazine articles. Like Neddie Jingo who's got a bit of Dave Barry in him. He tells a nice story and then loops it back together. There is a conclusiveness to his writing that is usually frustratingly lacking when it comes to blogs. There is no urgency to most blog writing. When you read hundreds of one liners consisting of "today I felt (insert emotion) and then I (insert verb) it gets futile for anyone but the writer. Blogs become a veritable game of mad libs without the fun ending. However, when the writing mirrors something more like column writing there is more of a desire to get to the bottom of the page and find out how all the words and links you have bothered to read will make a more complete picture.

I know I've batted for him before, but I'm still a big proponent of Tucker Max's writing style and this is the last time that I'll name drop him. yes, i kind of want to have his cyber babies a little bit but even so i think his voice and witty writing style is the perfect balance of column and blog.

PS, Happy Belated Birthday Senior McEnroe

2005-10-12T22:13:00.000-07:00

Apparently I have one of the best online loan blogs on the internet. And here I was thinking that I was just an amateur blogger...Not to sound contrary but I'm really beginning to love Spam. Who doesn't adore a good unsolicited compliment? Someone who will not be complimented by me is this southington blog. I realize that I am very far from their target audience but even so, the font alone is dizzying. It's as if they are over compensating for not having anything interesting to say by using a clashing array of cursives, blocks and random primary colors (but I'm sure they are lovely people).

Speaking of lovely people (awkward segue, and not necessarily true) http://tortuoustortuga.blogspot.com/ also talks about living in CT. She has one moment of interesting perspective:

Connecticut is one of those states where it seems everyone lives in one town and commutes to another to work. On a work day, I pass through six towns on my commute (Portland, Middletown, Cromwell, Rocky Hill, Whethersfield, and Hartford). And, my guess, is that this is pretty normal. Of course, as in other areas of the country, this transience has to do with the fact that where people work is often not where they want to live. Lots of people live in Hartford; not so many want to work there.

As an admissions officer for Trinity College I have been trained to view Hartford as a fabulous resource and a delightful place to work, but Tortuga has a valid point.

In other news, the Germanic ex-pat amuses me (real insightful comment #20 tonight). This is more of a travel log than a CT blog but I guess she wouldn't have the same voice if she were originally hailed from, i don't know, somewhere very different.

guest spot

2005-10-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

I'm reluctant to say much about dear Aldon Hynes seeing as we will be meeting him soon. However, I will note that despite the fact that I've read pithier posts than his and his own personal commentary (albeit limited) isn't strikingly titilating, I have enjoyed the links he finds. Several of them were quite touching. One on Gina Coggio, the school teacher dealing with a student/parent's cancer, Kielle's wake commentary and the "state of the heart" gentleman. Aldon has compiled the most macabre list of blogs that I've encountered. He counters this with lively photos of his spritely daughter. Can a person be a good blogger simply because he/she has a good eye for spotting other blogs and posting them? Or, must you have something interesting to say independently of your commentary on other's work? If the first criteria is okay than this Aldon guy is pretty saucy (not to mention how good he looks in that smoking jacket of us-which i secretly hopes he sports tomorrow night).

Shifting Gears

2005-10-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

But then you have blogs like the "Connecticut Conservative" which makes statements like, "Connecticut should gets its fair share of money to defend against terrorism." This comment from a non-Connecticutioner would read differently. Though the rest of the articles on the blog read like newspaper clippings and it wouldn't matter if they were reported from someone outside of the state or not. This is obvioulsy all refuted in the "Connecticut Local Politic Blog" which I admittedly couldn't follow for afforementioned reasons strewn all over my own page but at least we are finally getting to something where locational origin may actually matter (ie, if this were written by someone not from CT than said person's random fixation with CT would be topic for an entire class).

Then there's someone who lives in Hartford and takes things a little too seriously:

Geico and their disgusting TV ad http://www.kcdavidson.com/mt/archives/2005/08/geico_and_their_disgusting_tv.html
I just finished watching the latest Geico ad (for the twentieth time) that I’m sure some ad agency thinks is cute and clever, but I find it simply repulsive. In the background is the image of a large sailboat coursing through the ocean waves. Text scrolls up the screen and a voiceover reads it to us. It starts by stating that Connecticut is the wealthiest state in the U.S., but it’s in danger of losing that honor. Fortunately, Geico comes to our rescue by offering low insurance rates, thereby protecting our lofty position from other inferior states.
We have Fairfield county and its NYC money to thank for our “wealth,” but try to convince the hundreds of homeless and thousands living in poverty in Bridgeport, Hartford, Waterbury, New Haven, and other cities that they are better for living here. I’ve never like Geico, but this ad is a new low and puts them in the same league as ambulance-chasing lawyers in my book. They don’t even acknowledge it on their web site, which has a section specifically showcasing their various ad campaigns. Hey, Geico. Stick to stupid-looking lizards.

As I mentioned, because CT's various cities (just like many other states) are so vastly different it can be hard to describe it as a unified whole. Clearly, Mr. Davidson has some indignation to work through in this vein.

But more on this later...I'm off to do some first hand research on Connecticut's "Star City"

CT and the right to blog

2005-10-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

Considering the limitless magnitude of blogs, having them broken down into categories by state is one approach to trying to make sense of them but so far, the CT blogs only seem marginally different than blogs from other areas that I have read. I can't exactly prove this statement considering I haven't read every blog from the state of CT but I don't know if it's the location of the writer that makes the voice in this case. Perhaps that's because I've always looked at CT as a bit vanilla. You can't really generalize a state though. Hartford and West Hartford are 15 minutes away and they feel like different universes, so people blogging from these two areas, despite the fact that they share a state may not have a lot else in common. Given the plethora of people's concerns sometimes the state genesis is untraceable. When the blogs are more political in nature the CT ones may have a different voice (ie, in the case of http://blogmeisterusa.blogspot.com who labels himself as an uber conservative in a blue state). I'm sure it is difficult to be a raging conservative in a place like CT but i would imagine that it would be more difficult to be a giant leftist in Alabama. That's a blog I'd want to read. That's a blog that may have a more distinctively different voice than someone from New England.

As a CT blogger on Gonzales vs. Oregon http://arklahomboy.blogspot.com wrote that "I'm not from Oregon and don't seem to be in a position to protest Oregon's constitutional right to be screwed up." However just because he may not have the "authority" to give his opinions on the happenings outside of CT, he still gets his underhand shot in. Whether or not the hot blogosphere topics are directly related to the state of CT (which recently they don't seem to be) does not mean that CT bloggers aren't getting their thoughts out there and these thoughts appear interchangeable.

Beyond politics, when it comes to talking about love and relationships and daily musings, it's as if it is just as hard to get a date in CT as it is in NY. As in http://www.coffeerhetoric.blogspot.com/ this angsty poetry slamming chick seems just as likely to be found at our very own UnderGround Coffee house at Trin as she does at a lower east side Starbucks. What really matters (warning, this will get painfully trite) is the aspect of the blogger's life experience which they chose to focus on, be it katie and tom's imminent contribution to society, favorite flicks, or thoughts on bush. These opinions aren't always a product of the place that they live in/come from.

poli-blogging and why I can't relate

2005-10-05T03:07:00.000-07:00

I was initially turned off by James Wolcott because of his countless psuedo-esoteric references to things that I had never heard of. I suppose I can't fault him for my own ignorance but as many have pointed out, it's okay if a blog doesn't "speak to you." There are certainly enough out there to find one that will reference things that you've heard about. I would use this as an opportunity to learn but becuase he seldom goes into more depth than to simply name drop his ideas to an audience who he assumes knows exactly what he's referring to it's difficult to take enough interest to research the items (even when he includes a link, which he doesn't usually do). For me, he's kind of useless. His writing does have a professional appeal but I think he's a little bit dry and seem almost too well researched in comparision to the more amateur blogs I have grown comfortable with. He writes like a well-seasoned journalist but if I wanted to read polished articles like this I'd read a newspaper. Granted, it does have a little more personality than most things in print. I'll give him that. And on another note, he's obsessed with cicadas and had negative things to say about "Sex and the City"-so he's undoubtedly off my fav. people list. Yes, i am being petulant and stupid-sounding but I'm entitled to my opinions.

In direct opposition, Ailes' blog begins by presenting a story and giving me a detailed and easy to follow description of the the satellite radio issue at hand. He, unlike Wolcott, let me in on his intellectual inner circle instead of making me feel completely uneducated-so Rog and I were already off to a better start. He compiles the news story for his audience, not giving us enough credit to assume that we'll know how to click a link and research the story ourselves-and I appreciate this approach. However, he seems to be venting all of his pent up anti-republican sentiments that he isn't able to be quite as vocal (or maybe just vulgar) about in his other brands of writing. His critics were right-he is slightly offensive (if you're the type who'll be offended by some stranger's opinion) and he doesn't offer a "competing idea, plan, policy, agenda, something?" (as an angry respondant wrote) per se, but that's not his responsibility. The blog offers a lot more freedom and with that comes the flexibility and the unbridled passion that he has which Wolcott with his sarcastic subversive tone doesn't excercise. Both of these men are self-important (obviously) but at least Rog has a better sense of humor about it.

Alterman seems like he's also simply compiling news snippets as well and making a remark here and there but he's style is stiff and formally journalistic. Why blog then? doesn't he have other ways of bringing his opinion to the foreground that he doesn't have to quote news articles?

I think I'll retire for now and give him and others a fair shot in the morning. I'm being unfairly harsh given my current level of fatigue and the fact that I'm completely politically ignorant and can't relate to half of these stories. It is with shame and embarrasment that I report that I hadn't heard anything about the Miers issue before poking around the internet. Maybe I live in a bubble (well, a bubble other than Trinity College that is) so it's taken me a lot more effort to try to understand what people are getting into such a tizzy over. Bring back Sarah Green-now that's a girl I could have a talk with...

An almost fresh start

2005-09-28T22:56:00.000-07:00

I checked out Brett’s suggestion of http://www.aintitcool.com/. I would not initially call this a blog but the site does certainly have a lot of personality. There’s a certain boingboing feel to it but more in the film mileu. Seeing as there are a lot of collaborating voices does this qualify as a blog?

If you’re interested in blogs on movies, I enjoy filmexperience.blogspot.com/. Although the films reviewed aren’t always the ones that strike my interest I tend to agree with Nathaniel R and his wild movie antics. Additionally, http://scenestealer.blogspot.com is a fun-ish read. He does a decent job of balancing his opinions on movies with a discussion of the projects he’s currently working on (a wonderful off off off broadway production of the musical “once on this island” at the moment). But if you like the whole actor looking for another venue to use his voice kind of blog, then you’ll enjoy this.

On an off note, although no less worth of the big screen, I enjoy http://www.searchforlove.blogspot.com/. It has a similar feel to TuckerMax, but without the writing skills and also catering to a gayer audience. Although that does not mean that others can’t appreciate it. I enjoy the brand of blogs that dialogue about dating. There seems to be a big market of people who look to give chronicles of their love life. It’s like a grown up Sarah Green. Once again, who is the audience? What are the odds that his failed dates will find these notes on the web? Is he writing in hopes that this will happen? Or that ultimately, someone will read about all of the things that he dislikes so that he can be rescued by his blogstalker and then have a marital bliss blog to fill his time. How 21st Century "Pretty Woman" this all is.

Speaking of being noticed for your blog by your love, http://www.blogebrity.com/ is
exactly what I talked about in terms of Tucker (yes, im slightly obsessed). MTV can’t follow everyone so for the rest, there’s blogebrities and our course is being taught by an up and coming blogebrity himself! Congrats Senior Mcenroe on your memetic fame this week!

I typed in a variety of random names into my URL with the blogspot.com attached-mainly because I was bitter that none of the names I was entering to start my account would work and I discovered that there are zillions of fellow unoroginal people out there who got to the cliché names I thought of and couldn’t use well before me. Perhaps that’s why I’ve been unable to get a second blog on the go. However, when i typed this names into the blogebrity search engine, none of them came up. I suppose amberwaves and hollygolightly aren't quite cool enough to make it to the list.

Memes
It seems as though memes are something that get started organically. Like when someone yawns and you’re inclined to yawn as well but you can’t really understand why. Most of the time what is catchy about songs or trends or sort of inexplicable. I’ll never understand bringing back half of the vintage fashions but once someone has something or talks about something everyone else will covet it because most of us suffer from a sense of insecurity. If manning up means owning a “hummer” or a 4 wheeled drive car in Manhattan as Clotaire explains, than those of us who can afford to buy ego inflations will do it. However, the Kos outline of memes seems to completely offset the natural flow of memes. I understand that in their utopian cyberworld, they need a lot of control and order, but even so, the outline looks completely out of place and quite intimidating. Once again, they are more than welcome to create rules to abide by for their own site. In class, people addressed their concerns that this could have a hazardous effect but I really don’t forsee this type of micromanaging taking over. Nevertheless, I will not be creating a meme for kos anytime soon. However, if I did want to think of something that could spread to journalists, as they are saying should be an aspiration than I suppose a little bit of order couldn’t hurt.

Not clever enough to start my own meme, I decided to do some searches. I got 81 hits for a search on sudafed being used by inventive teenagers to make crystal meth. 3 for the kenny and renee split and 53 for “britney spears preggers” (yes, im a very intellectual college student)

I want to start a blog for the Trinity Community this way I'd have a very easy way to track memes. College slang catches on very quickly and I feel that it would be easy to test via the internet. Additionally, college gossipp also catches on quickly and if I were able to blog about Jane's hook up with Pete I can almost gaurentee that it would be spread quickly-but i feel that i could get into a lot of trouble for said slander. I guess it would be safer in this type of blogging format but that's strictly because no one is reading this.

Help Making Blogs more Visible
While I think this is a noble attempt at making people more popular it’s all a little too esoteric for my own tastes. The use of terms like “spreading mind-viruses” in order to propogate ideas does not sound appealling. What happened to a good old fashioned meritocracy where people who had interesting things to say got rewarded by popularity? I guess this isn’t always the case as bloggers are competing with millions of others and most times you’ll stumble across something purely by chance, but you see where I’m going.

I enjoy the memetic-flux layout but everything I typed in didn’t appear. Granted, I wasn’t as concerned with the more politically themed things, but even so…
According to the handbook for bloggers

“Bloggers are often the only real journalists in countries where the mainstream media is censored or under pressure. Only they provide independent news, at the risk of displeasing the government and sometimes courting arrest.”

So bloggers are cutting edged martyrs? While this may seem excessively flattering, in many cases it is true. The most amateur bloggers are journalists in their own right, although my favorite bloggers are the ones reporting human interest stories about themselves. Is a handbook on blogging going to far? Kos would be ecstatic, however, it doesn't follow the same exact guidelines. I feel as though we are all a part of this new mode of expression and because, as you said, no one is sure where to go with it, people have the ability to be forerunners of the medium and really make a change. First the graphic novel, now the blog...I'm waiting for blogged epic poems.

More recovered homework

2005-09-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

Again, I apologize for the longwindedness but this is still my word doc thoughts regurgitated onto the blog screen. Things will look better going forward, I promise...

Wednesday, 9-22-05

I also don’t know what to make of “this strange post” or http://deprince.blogspot.com/. I’m going to go out on a limb here and make the assumption that this guy isn’t an actual prince. Although his friend Sim does indeed have a “sweet” home filled with his fabulously drunken hot wife and cohorts, this guy doesn’t strike me as royalty. I do take pleasure in some of his philosophies. He’s got some real gems such as “Human being should just make up their mind without hesitation, and do not shrink away from what they have decided.”

And in other news, here we have a self-described “Red-State Serbian Jewish atheist liberal PhD student” in http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com. He creates (or rather, uses) an entirely different blog language from “blog carnivals” to “linkfests.” I’m slowly beginning to realize that the art form of the blog is bigger than all of us. There is an entire universe that exists that is beyond the realm of comprehension of millions. That’s sometimes how I feel about chemistry, or politics. How are blogs so readily accepted by means of communication by some and completely off the radar for others?

Thoughts on the “slightly pissed off older woman”

She’s acerbic but in that type of sassy way that you can only get away with if you’re aged. This is amusing, Now that I am faced with possible evacuation I can well understand why so many people refuse to leave. It is extremely difficult to decide what to put in the car.
I saw that “transgendered trash” had commented on Sally’s wall and I was admittedly confused momentarily. It made me think of how romantic blogs can be-that someone with such seemingly different interests and surely different online personas could stumble across little old sally and find the time to comment-and then I realized that transgendered trash was indeed one of our very own classsmates and suddenly the world got a little bit smaller.

Neddie affirmed my thoughts that yes, while blogging seems to be for self-expression, what draws me to it (or atleast in the last week since I started) is that it gives people the ability to create letters to posterity. If only Petrarch was alive now…

As far as the connecticut Weblogs are concerned:
We had a big debate during class regarding daily kos and whether or not it’s regulations were a 1984esque approach to undermining the freedom of blogs. Here they say that some things don’t classify as blogs because they are “not engaging.” (ie, the New Haven Register) Well, I’ve personally read many blogs that don’t exactly engage me but I wouldn’t say that they are not blogs.

I don’t like http://www.kottke.org/everfresh the format. While I’m not one to talk (at all) I get the impression that a seasoned veteran at blogging would have something more interesting to look at or something that will help me decide if I’d rather read Jan or Feb. There are no little headlines that give me a clue yet he seems to do a lot of time organizing and explaining the categories and subcategories. I need some nice bold print to get me through. And then I started with “about” and things began to get a little more personal. So far, I don’t like the blogs that get right into action. I need a little overview to warm me up and let me know what the person stands for and why they’re writing. I need a way to narrow things down and without a brief intro, or in Jason’s case on the homepage, with nothing more than lots of little black hyperlinks to follow, I get overwhelmed and give up. This site seems to be way to all over the place. However, he says that he’s “blogging for bloggins sake” and I certainly respect that. Hec, if a man can quit his job and find a way to sustain a living on blogging and blogging alone than I say way to go lucky man!

As far as www.maxismeg.blogspot.com, you are right. He is a “nice young man.” And his voice is a lot more refreshing than the other ones ive come across. He lacks conceit and bravado and although he is obviously trying to express himself, I get the sense that he is doing it simply because it makes him feel better to do so and not because he wants to display how great he is (not that that is the always the case of the bloggers, obviously-perhaps ive just read a lot of unbittered ones today)

My Love Affair with Tucker Max

2005-09-28T22:42:00.000-07:00

Tucker Max of www.tuckermax.com fame has mastered the celebrational yet self-effacing skills needed to write an amusing chronicle of his life. If you took all the id out of Lady Domestic and gave her a large phallus and a keg, you’d have Tucker. While some are of the more crass variety (ie, “Tucker tries butt sex”) his other blogs, which read like columns bear a self-conciously blasé attitude that makes him a titillating find. In fact, he has become a bit of a celebrity. MTV did a documentary on him and he claimed that he was even recognized. Are we so starved for reality tv shows and new B-list (or in this case, D- list celebs) that we will look to bloggers for our next big thing? In a lot of ways though, it gives people a lot of hope. It’s a very approachable venue and it sure beats open casting calls or having to submit your writing to the publishers.

Tucker even has a section where you can email him your picture and solicit him for dates. Could he be on to something? If match.com and blogging merged, people would really never need to leave their house to find a date. After all, you could get to know a lot about a person from his/her writing style and the way he presents himself on the internet. Maybe Tucker is spearheading a revolution! Or maybe, he's just uber arrogant.

Additionally, he links to this chick, “bunny” who I imagine is his ex-girlfriend, so it provides an even more thorough voyeuristic view at their lives. http://www.thebunnyblog.com/

Bunny’s response to someone asking how she responds to getting hate mail or angry blog messages is:

"It takes a little bit of time, but eventually you realize that this person is doing all of this because she's too cowardly to make herself happy. That's the best lesson I ever learned from having a web site: people are weak and insecure. They spend all their lives struggling to seem as normal as possible to everyone else, ignoring who they are and ultimately becoming torridly unhappy. Then they make fun of people who are more courageous. The more I get to know "normal" people, the more I realize how fucking crazy they are. "

I think this may be a little bit extreme, but she may be on to something. The more I read unnecessary, cantankerous responses to people's blogs, the more I realize that there are a lot of not so nice people out there with way too much free time. On ther other hand, there has been some nice feedback, of course.

While I find Tucker amusing (okay, fine, i want to have his cocky little children), I can’t seem to get to the end of many of these blogs. I grow tired of reading as im sure people would grow tired of reading this if it were for any purpose other than exploring my educational background in the blog.

He also links to the http://www.tardblog.com/ and I began to realize that everyone has their own experiences and just can't wait to share them. Where else can an an only moderately creative special ed teacher publish a journal role of his school day findings? After awhile, I’m sure his friends get tired of his musing, so now strangers have access to his thoughts. In many ways, it’s a cheaper form of therapy. And through the advent of the “threads” and through allowing people to comment, therapy takes on a new form.

There’s something about the blog that makes me not feel guilty for stopping right in the middle. Perhaps it hasn’t grown to complete literary credibility yet and so as a result, I don’t feel bad dropping it as I would dropping a bronte novel.

Compiled Thoughts from my Blogless Weeks

2005-09-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

Warning: The following may be jumbled and painful to get through as it has been copied from the microsoft word document I have been keeping during my "i hate the internet" hiatus from blogspot so I apologize if this seems completely unpolished. But here goes...

From Wednesday, September 14 2005
1st Thoughts
It's 4:30 am on a school night. Blogging can be a dangerously addictive practice. I have a new found respect for people who spend all day "surfin the net," something I never enjoyed doing unless I was looking up celeb photos or movie quotes but now I see how seductive all of the links in people's profiles can be and how diffiuclt it is to resist being navigated away from the first page you looked at 3 hrs ago. So far, I thoroughly enjoy BoingBoing (and I'm not just saying that because it's technorati's top choice). It narrows down the things I would or would not want to look further into on the internet. It also gives neat little icons. Additionally, I get a kick out of the #99 choice of "Things Overheard in NY conversation." It provides quick mental desert. I'd be curious to hear about your opinion of http://mocking.textamerica.com/ "Making fun of people with Class" which simply has a lot of silly photos without much commentary. Would you classify this as a blog? Also, for your consideration, http://xiaxue.blogspot.com/. all I can say is wtf. Some people are a little batty (yet no less entertaining). Technorati seems to like it (or at least enough to rank it number 43). Regardless, while that's not a site I will be frequenting, I feel as though I've already established a rapport with several internet personalities and I'm beginning to understand why people continue to log on in order to read about a stranger's opinion.

www.gorillamask.net functions similarly to boingboing in that it gives news flashes with fancy little icons (as it was mentioned, a great medium for people bored at work to have a more guided approach to net surfing) but it's a little bit busy for my tastes.

A Rebirth

2005-09-28T22:27:00.000-07:00

After one glorious evening as tayloredwards, I've had to put my former blog to rest. For whatever reason, blogspot wouldn't allow me to log on anymore after my initial attempt and finally after weeks of frustration and thinking that the blogging community had something against me (besides the fact that my posts are painfully un-pithy), I realized that I was probably being rejected because a) blogspot was being a jerk for a while and b) because everytime I tried to re-register with different names, they were all taken and it wasn't a viral thing it was an unoroginal thing. Finally, I decided to dedicate my blog to the great Shante Smith, the heroine from Mark Brown's film Two Can Play that Game starring Vivica A. Fox as sassy jilted lady. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. I screen it everytime one of my friends has a boy-ish or whenever we go home alone. But I digress. The sexual appetites of my compriates is the subject for another blog and not the type of scholarly criticism I need to do for my graduate blogging course experience (which is to date the most random class I've ever seen listed, but it's proving to be mighty intellectually stimulating) and it's given me a great excuse to pry into other people's lives. So, I'm off to pry.