This is absurdly hard to write.
In short, I have the nagging suspicion that I'm doing myself a disservice by not maintaining this blog. It hasn't been my main focus for a couple of years (as the distinct lack of posting shows) But the fact that I've had more success with it than I would have dreamed possible makes me think I'm in danger of throwing away something valuable. My motivation to even do something as simple as post my videos here has been very low and every time I make a start at re-vivifying this blog I lose steam and give up.
I've considered starting from scratch with Tumblr but what would be the point of that? While Tumblr is the trendy thing now, it's nothing more than a delivery method. There's very little that Tumblr can do that I can't do here on this blog (correct me if I'm wrong - I really don't get Tumblr).
I post a lot of content to Twitter (and Facebook to a lesser extent) so maybe I should start by posting that same content here. I guess one of the things that holds me back is fear of not having the time to dedicate to a proper blog post. I could obviously post rapid fire Tumblr-style brain farts and pictures (and I may well end up doing that) but I've always put quite a bit of effort into blog posts and I can't shake the feeling that I'd be somehow failing if I didn't spend the time I thought was required on a good blog post. Obviously there's nothing stopping me from doing both - short and possibly multitudinous posts with the occasional longer more thought out offering.
Most of my focus for the last five years has been on YouTube and with this blog, I think I'm in danger of falling into the trap I often warn people against on YouTube. Obsessing for too long on *what* you should do tends to stop you from doing anything. Spending too much time worrying whether or not what you're planning is good enough becomes the excuse for doing nothing. Perfect becomes the enemy of good.
Besides, as I've written here before, I thoroughly believe writing is a craft that you improve the more you practice it. Someone who writes regularly is far more likely to end up a good writer than someone who is holding off producing anything unless it's their magnum opus.
More than once I've considered going back to my original theme - Angry 365 Day a Year. My original challenge was to write *something* - at least one post - every day for a year. I surprised myself by actually accomplishing this. And in so many ways (not least, more widespread internet connectivity) it's easier to do now than ever. So maybe I will choose an arbitrary date and see if I can do it again. Make at least one post every day. Not necessarily angry but something to keep the blog turning over.
But while I'm on the topic, my original shtick was that I would be angry to a scale that perhaps wasn't appropriate to the subject at hand. You know, the little things that piss us all off from time to time. Really cut loose with some outrage over something that arguably isn't very important. Because sometime the big things are more depressing than anything else. So a little cathartic anger can be the release that stops you being crushed by the worry over big things.
In that vein, I want to rant about Tumblr. Not the content on the various Tumblogs - that is what it is. Everything across the spectrum from the truly pointless and rubbishy through to the truly sublime. No, I have a problem with the name "Tumblr".
Where the fuck is the "e" Tumblr? Back when Flickr first became popular it spawned a whole slew of truly pointless websites that used the same spelling affectation. As if the sum total of their thinking was "Hey, look, our website is spelled like Flickr so we must be as cool as them!" Shut the fuck up! You fucking idiots.
One of the things I really liked about Twitter when it started was that they DIDN'T do that. I may have even done a little happy dance over the fact they included the "e". Or not. Don't judge me. Now that Tumblr has become so popular this stupid crap is probably going to happen again. Hell, it's probably already happening, I don't pay as much attention to tech start-ups as I used to. So we'll get to have the dot-com bubble (and bust) all over again. Hoo-fucking-ray.
Thanks Tumblr. No really, thanks. Fucking morons.
It's TFU Friday and this week I'm talking about Rick Santorum, stinky cat poo and horrible bugs. Those are different stories, by the way, it isn't all about Santorum. Honest.
Links for more info:
I'm usually up late and so I see a lot of infomercials. It bugs me how often they are blatantly lying and apparently it bugged a New York judge as well who found it "highly implausible" 11 panelists would "stick their noses in jars of excrement and report 44 independent times that they smelled nothing unpleasant."
And the world is full of people who want to tell you how fucked up Rick Santorum is.
If you really want to know more about that horrible Satan Bug, what's wrong with you? But there's info here
And I'll round off with my friend AIDzee off his head on drugs:
I don't know what 2012 will bring but it certainly started on a high note for me. On New Year's Eve I met my long-time literary hero Neil Gaiman and his lovely wife Amanda Palmer. The tickets weren't cheap but they were certainly worth it. I think I can still hear myself from 15 years ago screaming with excitement as the echoes of this event reach me.
I hope I didn't make a mess of my Sandman comics.
I usually don't make a big thing of New Year's Eve, it's too much of an arbitrary thing for me. But it was a little different this year when my all time literary hero, Neil Gaiman decided to host a New Year's Eve party here in Melbourne with his lovely wife Amanda Palmer and a host of other performers.
The theme of the night was Trash Masquerade and there were lots of impressive costumes. Among the entertainers were the following pair:
