Rhythm And Blogs
Have you ever listened to a really strong rhythm and really felt like you get it? Like if you were just given a percussion instrument you could totally join in?
I get that with a lot of Cuban and West and South African music. It totally fits. It’s challenging yet familiar. Maybe a bit like the winter. It feels like I’m a part of it, following the rhythm so closely that it I imagine I’m doing it to, even though I know I couldn’t.
That’s kind of what blogging is like. Follow me now. I can read along to a good blog. Because they flow and unravel and evolve over the days and weeks and other people are reading, too - you’re reading along, not just reading and that’s a good thing.
So you’re reading along and you’re a part of it, even if you’re not joining in, because the blog probably wouldn’t be there if it didn’t have an audience (no matter what the blogger tells you).
I still feel blogging is more about the format than what is written, but we’re changing that. People used to say “I spoke on the telephone last night.” Now they just tell you what they said. I have a telephone and I barely mention it.
People will say “I heard about this thing”, or “I thought of something”, or they’ll tell a joke, instead of mentioning the blog first and leading with that before telling you what the writer said.
It has already happened with the Internet, because folks don’t say “I’m going online” anymore. They just say “I’m going to order that book” or “I’m going check the scores” or “I need to get in touch with Mike”.
But with blogging things have taken a step back where the format has this significance. The play’s the thing. A singer doesn’t say: “I’m going to do some singing now”. She goes: “Here’s a song.” Or she just sings. And there it is. And the touched listener doesn’t say: “I heard some singing” or “There was this song” - they just feel it and pass it on to someone else.
So it’ll go with blogging. I’m happy for the blog to disappear, or at least for it to become so diluted that what it is doesn’t matter as much as what it does. The newspapers are seeing to that already, with their columnists blogs. And that’s cool - some of them are great writers and the newspapers are only so big.
Benjamin Frankin said “If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.”
The person who can do both has the world at their feet.
Meg wrote a great post about the creative blogging process which you can read all about on her website simply by clicking here. If you missed it that link will be repeated in just a minute. Thanks for reading today. And that link again to Meg’s post can be found here.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
That Meg’s a smart’un.
I’m on the cusp of creating something- and now I’m confused as to who I’m actually creating it for and why.
Me? Moeny? The end consumer? Who? What? Why?
Shit. Talk about being bogged down, now I’ve been BLOGGED down!
January 26th, 2007 at 10:42 am
I’ve read your post twice and I still can’t quite understand it - I feel like I’m on the cusp of an epiphany.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Thanks Sam - The problem is that I can’t put it any better than I have, so I’m probably on the cusp of coherance.
January 26th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
I guess it depends on what sort of circles you move in. And whether you are talking to online or offline friends. Offline, I tend not to mention the blogs and go straight for the content, but not for the reasons you suggest. The opposite, in fact.
Do you not think that perhaps a reason people would mention the content rather than the fact they read it on a blog, might be that, amongst people who don’t blog (or indeed have any other form of online interaction with people they don’t necessarily know ‘in real life’), people are a tad wary of revealing the source of the info, in case they are labelled as some kind of ‘internet weirdo’.
Internet socializing (or whatever) is, I think, something that you never really ‘get’ until you are involved. And most people who aren’t (yet) involved, are still prone to viewing it as something a bit seedy.
Over time, as more and more people get involved, that view may well diminish, and it won’t have to be such a dirty little secret. But I’ve learned that, more often than not, talking about my ‘online life’ (if you like) with ‘offline people’ (friends, family) can lead to raised eyebrows (or worse).
January 26th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
All these cusps have driven my muse away.
January 26th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
FB - True. Seeing as my of my friends are from the online world, I just tend to say the title of the thing, and they will know whether it’s a movie of a site of or a show without me having to mention the medium.
Among my offline friends, the Internet does seem a little obsessive, because online broadcasting is also my job. So I know they are thinking, “Hang on - you’re online all day at work, and you’ve write a blog?!”
But that’s just as strange as saying “Hang on, you trade stocks all day and then you make phone calls in the evenings?!?”
Over time though, that’ll go.
Ed - I think the cusp is right next to the brink, which is one down from the verge.
January 26th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
I drove through that neighborhood but felt uncomfortable, like I was getting too close to the edge or something, and before there wasn’t room to turn around I got outta there.
Happy WEekend, Cliff.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
It was nothing against your writing - you know when your mind is trickling over, you feel like you’re about to think of something almost spectacular…and then it’s gone. Like when you try and blow a bubble as big as possible and then it pops, and all you’re left with is crap on your glasses.