Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence?
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| High Concept Am I blogging...or am I pitching my existence? |
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Tuesday, September 16, 2003 The Pitch: It's like Being John Malkovich meets Minority Report! Man, other people's blogs rock. I read Nancy's blog every day and I think it's great, of course. Just when I was getting depressed at how reliable and well-written Nancy's blog is, I came across some links to some blogs that review comic books....And now I'm really depressed. This guy reviews comic books, he covers politics, he posts his weight each week. I expect to get bested by Nancy, but this guy? Just some guy? Who writes a blog? Utterly depressing. This morning, while waiting for the (super-late) bus, I was thinking about blogging, the Net, and et cetera. Are we in a new golden age of writing, where the population at large feels compelled to write and express themselves? Or are we just in an age where everyone's publishing their diaries? And even if it's "just" that, isn't that pretty striking? Where will it lead, if it's not some flash-in-the-pan fad? I do think their diarist approach makes blogs similar to the early novels, and I wonder if/how they might develop in the future along similar lines as the novel except different somehow: bloggers staging events, such as dates, and then each writing about it from their individual perspectives. Or >>shudder<< flash mobs, with all the members being bloggers who then recount their sides of the event (I guess it'd have to be a slightly more significant event than a big game of duck, duck, goose...) If so, whatever this new thingy might be, staged fiction, or event literature, bloglit, or whatever the fuck it might be called, it would still lack one of the great strengths of literature: fiction allows you to lie and call it truth. It also allows you to tell the truth about yourself in a way that no one around you (perhaps including yourself) will recognize. I think cowardice is one of traditional literature's greatest strengths, and perhaps its greatest virtue, making it indomitable. But computer culture has thrown asunder so many conventions of modern culture previously deemed involiable, I have to wonder if traditional lit is gonna stay standing... The reason I started this blog entry, you'll be happy to know, is because I went up to Patrick's office during lunch today. Patrick works in EC2. I work in EC West. In Patrick's elevators, there are silent little TVs that flash news updates and fun facts (the word of the day is mellifluous). In my elevators, there is a candy wrapper that a bike messenger has dropped on the floor--if I'm lucky. I pointed this out to Patrick. "Yeah," he said. "And we're owned by the exact same people!" I think Patrick's never seen a wound that couldn't be improved with a little salt. Yes, my heart-shaking epiphany for this entry: I seethe with envy for Patrick's elevators. posted by Jeff Lester | 4:54 PM | |
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