What's The Point Of A Blog?

A blog is a chance to get a detailed behind the scenes picture of your favorite writer, celebrity or normal person. It's more detailed orientated than Facebook, it's more personal than email. In my case, when I have stuff appearing in publications, it can be viewed first here, with bonus footage/content. Also, while we may be used to a one-way flow of data (from a page through our eyes into our brains), a blog allows the opportunity for the reader to respond. Increasingly, you might find a curious detail and want the writer to expand on it. Or, as is often the case, you want to show/tell the writer that you are more intelligent than he/she is.

I started to appreciate the power and usefulness and thrill of blogging while living in Broadband Heaven - South Korea. I had read what I thought was a rare and astutely insightful book (The Long Emergency - by Jim Kunstler)and then was referred in the epilogue to his blog (www.kunstler.com). It's not the best design, but he writes well, has in the millions of visitors and it was fascinating following his commentary on events (updated daily and a column weekly), and seeing how predictions and reality became increasingly congruent. I have also emailed the author a few times and received several interesting responses, which is something you could never do until modern times. The same thing occurred with Weston DeWalt, author of The Climb, who actually contacted me via reading my blog.

It is amazing that we have the capacity now to read one another's minds, and for one person to infiltrate millions of minds, and for those millions (I almost said 'minions') to respond en masse. Kunstler says he wades through masses of emails each day.

The point of a blog, for me, in the beginning, was to provide a place for those people who wanted to get in touch with me, to visit (instead of sending group mails and getting 5 irritated responses each time). I am still shocked, surprised, awed, weary of the fact that what is published on the web can be read by a little girl on a computer in Australia, or a hairy nosed scientist at the North Pole, and everywhere in between.

I only worry that few of us take this technology seriously. So much - the majority by far - of what enters the public consciousness is drivel. And drivel begets drivel. Drivel and our fascination with drivel (rather than what is necessary) is what has driven us to where we are as a civilisation, and we know it is not a safe, happy, sustainable or even sane place. Blogs - if enough people experience a koo koo moment - may be able to reverse this effect, this mental malaise. Change begins with a change in mindset, and blogs can do, I believe, plenty to shift the zeitgeist to a more meaningful level of functionality.

Do Writers Have The Wrong Stuff?

My English teacher in High School (appropriately named Mrs Cranke*) once accused me of being a ventriloquist. It was the morning after an episode of LA LAW where a chap was tried for making scathing remarks through a puppet. He was shy and retiring, but the puppet was a cheeky alter ego. My English teacher accused me of doing the same thing. Accused is probably the wrong word, except it felt a lot like an accusation. When I corrected her she was adamant: "No, Nicolas, you definitely do do that."

I maintain that my cheekiness extends to my conversations, and as an active sportsperson (especially in cycling) I've been accused of similar arrogance. I'm not proud of it. But I think I am particularly impatient with what seems to me to be inferior wisdom. If I could separate from myself I would probably get supremely frustrated with me.

But here's the rub. The danger of writing, it seems to me, lies in the introspection involved, and also, the loneliness. Why do writer's write? Because they're painful, pedantic perfectionists? Because they have a strong need to express themselves? Because there is a particular way they need to express themselves? Because some part of them has given up on the (real) world? Because they have a cowardly impulse to attack in a forum where they expect they are more practised and thus, possibly, better skilled and someone else? But all these reasons may be hogwash next to this one: writers write because it's not enough for them just to say what they think to one or two a handful of human beings. They (we?) want a lot of people to know and agree with them (us?), and they (we?) write to effectively say: check out what a smarty pants I am! Stry!

I have said this many times: I avoided writing for several years after school because of my awareness of the tragic fates of so many poets, and the likes of Ayn Rand, Virginia Woolf, Enid Blyton and so many others who wrote well, but lived poorly. I intended not to make the same mistake, and so resolved NOT to write as far as possible.

There is something innate about the process though. Some people definitely have a feel for language. But Charlene Smith is spot on when she says that even the most astute writers can be embarrassingly inarticulate. I've had my moments when I've made notoriously terrible statements both grammatically and otherwise. Lack of social interaction begins to erode the vocal slime, it seems, that allows for a free flow, a streamlined dialogue. And worringly, the more time we're on our own the more we tend to jabber, interrupt and throw in apparently random disconnected statements.

Writers I respect combine writing with something else in the real world. For example, writer/directors, writer/filmmakers, and especially writers who work in teams and brainstorm concepts (TV writers are a good example). Writers do play a crucial role in setting the thoughts and minds of others in motion. In this sense they have a vital role to play. But writers have a greater responsibility to live as well, in order to better reflect reality, and to better portray the smorgasbord of life in the limiting and sterile spaces of typewritten letters on blank backgrounds.

*She was actually one of my favorite teachers and a salt of the Earth human being.

More:
Writers and the fallacy of fame

Bullard on Jackdaws, Helen Mirren, Google and Getting Shot (INTERVIEW 7)

NVDL: Did anything happen [between yourself and Helen Mirren]?
Bullard: Not between me…I think quite a lot happened between MacBeth and Lady MacBeth. And some of the older members of the cast.
RP: So you had no interest?
Bullard: No I used to nod at her, and she used to ignore me. Because apparitions are there to be not seen and not heard.
[Laughter]
RP: So we know you write for the Sunday Times, but what do you like to read?
Bullard: I read the Sunday Times obviously. I read Weekender. I read the Mail & Guardian – not every week. Business Day every day, Star, The Times obviously…
NVDL: What is your favorite column?
Bullard: Tom Eton. I enjoy Tom very much at the Mail & Guardian. I enjoyed Robert Kirby – the late Robert Kirby – when he was around. I enjoy Justice, Svela Manku, I always reckon the Financial Times weekend edition is a damn good read…
I do enjoy the ‘How To Spend Its’, things like that, on impossibly expensive trousers and jackets and holidays and things like that.

NVDL: What do you think of the British papers?
Bullard: I think the quality British papers still have an awful lot to read. I mean, if you go to London you buy Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Times, there’s a lot of analysis, a lot of stuff to wade through. Probably too much. Even the Saturday papers are coming out with magazines now. I think the problem is time allocation and information overload. You now have to have the skills to flick through, look at the headlines, and say: “Of no interest.”
RP: Mmmm.
Bullard: But you know I don’t read the Economist cover to cover but I always like to see the Economist. I like to read the Financial Mail, there’s some good articles there, I like Barney’s editorials. And I like Justice’s Restaurant reviews and I like to bring myself up to speed on some of the business stories. Some I don’t feel are hugely fascinating but that’s the thing: pick and choose.

NVDL: That’s why I think you’re a good commentator: because you’ve got to know at least a little about a lot; you’ve got to know about a whole broad range of things.
Bullard: You’ve got to be a bit of a jackdaw I think. You’ve got to be able to settle down and pick something out there and pick something out there.
RP:Mmm.
Bullard: And believe it or not, even though I did enjoy him a lot, I exposed Darl Bristow Baubage writings (for plagiarism). I think he was very talented; I just think he was unfortunately…arrogant. I think when you’ve been caught plagiarizing three or was it maybe four major author’s writings, I think you should concede defeat. But he was a very good writer. I like Oliver Roberts on the Sunday Times; I think Oliver writes very well. I think he’s got a very good talent there. And I enjoy Andrew Donaldson.
NVDL: He reminds me a bit of the way you write. It’s different but there’s something similar.
Bullard: He’s got a nice sort of stumbling edge there.

RP: What’s your favorite website?
Bullard: My favorite website is Google. Which leads me on to wherever I want to go. But I’m sure I’ve been on Google more than anything else. Yeah. Otherwise my most expensive website is Amazon.uk. They tend to come quicker from the UK. Once you’ve got your shopping trolley out and you’re drifting through DVDs and books and CDs; it’s quite easy to find the prices tempting.

RP: But can’t you find things here cheaply?
Bullard: No I want CD versions of records I was collecting long before you were even born.
RP: Oh.
Bullard: When we still had vinyl.
RP: Okay.
Bullard: Do you know what vinyl is? No don’t answer that.
[Laughter]
Bullard: Vinyl’s making a big comeback I’m pleased to say.

RP: What do you like best about SA?
Bullard: South Africa? People. The scenery is damn good but the people are great. The people are the best reason to stay. I mean after I got shot I had so many fantastic emails from everyone, right across. I mean it wasn’t whites, blacks, coloreds,indians, it was a whole lot of really generous spirited people…who really wrote messages that literally brought me to tears. You know I’m quite emotional even talking about it. I’ve got it all in a folder; I’ve kept them all and they were probably a major cause of me being back at work 3 days after I was shot. Shot on the Wednesday and I was back in on the Monday. Not for long but I thought I would just show my face. And in fact I remember my colleagues were on the balcony and they couldn’t believe I was getting out of the car and hobbling up the steps, and there was like a spontaneous applause.

RP: Where did you get shot?
Bullard: In there, in there and out of my arm and into my leg. One bullet.
RP: Do you know who did it?
Bullard: No. But they were in the house so…I’m not a strong supporter of lie down and let them take everything.

NVDL: That seems to me to be a great approach to being South Africans in 2008. I hope all the good people will take hands this year and not lie down. Let us take back this land that belongs not to the criminals or the crooked politicians, but to the beautiful people of this country. Stand up and raise your voice. Have a wonderful year; you will if you make the right choices not only for yourself, but also for those around you.

Why Blog?

Right now, the 4th 'Most Popular' blog on Amatomu's aggregator is Hot Gossip.
In the Life column, there's the following feature: Hello, my name is Tertia and I am a whiner.
The 11th most popular News and Politics blog is Poes.com, with posts by a chap called Masterbeer. Charming.

Do I really want to be associated with such mindless drivel?

If all was well with the world, perhaps being drivel (driven) to such purile destraction would be entertaining, even funny. Given some of the urgent issues of this era, it's fair to describe our attention spans as suffering from schizophrenia, AAD, and general craziness.

But then I return to something a colleague said: "We're fucked. But why worry, when it's so obvious just how totally fucked we all are."

Ok then: Why worry? Why blog?

Even more worrying is that the top content of this blog is some of the most inane stuff possible. In first position is a Rugby World Cup joke, 2nd is a description for a sex position, then something on a serial killer. People don't apparently care about what's worth caring about. The internet unfortunately proves what the state of our collective mindrot is. So if I put 75% of intelligent constructive content up on this site, but the masses gravitate to the fraction that is negative ranting, or otherwise titillating garbage, am not essentially reinforcing the cycle of mental vacuousness? Sadly, this apparently hopeless malaise once again confirms why our species is due for a massive KLAP.

Here's the top content for this site, measured for the last 3 months. Sad, but true.
1. 2007/10/van-at-rugby-world-cup-joke.html
2. /2007/10/italian-chandelier.html
3. /2007/10/chaval-caveman-cometh-pictures.html
4. /2007/10/chabal-human-wrecking-ball-video.html
5. /2007/10/mask-tv.html
6. /2007/10/worlds-worst-serial-killer-richard.html
7. /2007/10/radiohead-releases-in-rainbows-free.html
8. /2007/10/gee-die-bal-vir-bryan-habana-music.html
9. /2007/10/nz-choker-picture.html
10. /2007/10/report-rotten-neighbors-at-rotten.html

So why bother blogging at all?

Crazy

Not exactly sure what I was on about, but after the show, and after dinner, I came back to the offices last night - this was around 11:30pm and worked another 2 hours. I was sound asleep, sort've, by about 2am. Then it was the matter of dragging my still sleep-breathing corpse here this morning (like the morning before).The only plus side to this sort of lifestyle is by the time you wake up (semi-literally) it's the end of the week.

That might be okay except for what Wilma van der Bijl said last night. Echoeing Lance she was saying cancer teaches this listen: LIVE RIGHT NOW. I've had flits of that, and need to get more into the Power Of Now. This job does tend to stimulate a constant gnawing on the bone mental activity. That needs to be balanced by incredibly vast amounts of physical movement and sweat. - MEMO TO MYSELF

I'm gonna attempt to have a bit more of a life - aka have some protracted fun - this weekend. Let's see, what's on the cards: swimming, rugby, a flick and kuiering amongst other pursuits. Should be good.

My intentions for this blog was to crack the top 50 and then see about getting higher. Know what I've realised? It's not worth it. There's a ton of better stuff to do. Re-he-he-heaaaally.

NVDL Overtakes Bullard's Bullog

Blogging about why not to blog is a popular topic in the blogosphere. Because it comes back to the question: Why blog? The answer may be: why not?
While Bullard's opinions are far from impotent - in fact they are a credit to the blogosphere - the blogosphere is occupied for the most part by the Braindead. I don't blame Bullard though for reaching the point of ENOUGH; the endless vitriol on his site (people leaving emtionally charged negative comments) is just draining to behold. I wouldn't waste my time responding to that sort of soap scum either. It's a sad indictment of the average netizen.

Meanwhile, on a happier note, it's a credit to David Bullard's popularity and longevity that even having officially (?) signed off, signed out and au revoir-ed the blogosphere, his blog which was last updated on 21 September has only just been overtaken by this blog. This patriarch of the blogosphere, will it be allowed to crash from its dizzy heights? Will the Bullog be resurrected? David, is this really your final post? And is that your final answer?