A blog comment that grew into a blog post, as they sometimes do.
I'm ambiguous about Twitter. The basic idea of microblogging seems to me a good one - where you have a thought or an insight, or you stumble on a quote or a URL you'd like to share, but there's not enough to make a full blogpost. So you tweet it.
The problem is when people use it to tell you they're standing in line at the deli for a cheese sandwich. Even if I were deeply infatuated with someone, I don't think I'd be that interested in what they were doing.
There are words for someone you've never met who cares about the minutiae of your life enough to watch you eat out. Psycho, stalker, creepy, crazy....
I use Twitter as a discipline. I try to have some idea, some tiny revelation every day. And then I try to compress it into the 140 character limit. It's a way to reduce a thought or argument down to its essentials, into an aphorism.
But having said all that...it's my blog, and if I want to write just a URL or a single sentence of inspiration as a post, there's no reason why I shouldn't.
Or I could tell you what I'm about to eat. For the record:
I've just woken up at 4pm, and I'm thinking about having a poached egg on toast with a cup of tea for breakfast.
What was your Twitter handle again? I unfollowed you after series of "re-tweeted" quotes.
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, the only thing worse than poached eggs is runny eggs! Bleeehhh! I can never eat anything runny like that. In fact, I can't even eat egg drop soup! Bleeehhh! Every time I see someone eat a runny egg I feel a little queasy. I have to stop myself from yelling at them, Why don't you just stick your lips to chicken's rear end and suck it!
ReplyDeleteMy runny eggs issues aside, I don't tweet or follow anyone with a tweet, because I have a hard enough time following them on emails and blogs. But I have to admit, I like reading blogs, other people's thoughts. It's replaced letter writing, and to some extent, journal writing.
@Peekok:
ReplyDeleteI've never done retweets so I'm not sure what you mean. But if you want to grab my handle (heh heh), it's KapitanoThinks.
@Eroswings:
I like my fried eggs to have a solid white with a crispy edge, but a liquid yolk. As for poaching I have a very specific way of doing it - cook the white (with pepper, salt and herbs) in the microwave for 60-90 seconds so it goes good'n'solid, then add the yolk, cut up the white and mix it in. and leave for 30-60 seconds for it to warm up...and spread on toast with too much butter.
As for sucking on a chicken's rear end...you do know "chicken" is brit slang for "gay teen boy"? (Heh heh again).
As with everything else, tweets would be more useful if people made better use of them.
Blogs are essentially online journals/diaries, and I agree they have largely replaced the journal aspects of newspapers - one reason newspapers (a) don't cover much real news now and (b) look a bit like bad blogs.
Eroswings' comment put me off me tea.
ReplyDeleteYou could say this is part of a wider internet trend of people thinking other people are interested in the minutiae of their lives. I blame Facebook, at least most people on Twitter can write coherently.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely with you on the last bit (about blog content, not poached eggs). That's my excuse for being so cynical on mine; it's my party, and I'll decry if I want to.
I dig your Twitter concept.
ReplyDeleteAnd I wanted to tell you, I am blown away by your 100 Things about Me posts, which I have returned to check out, after a long hiatus. They are amazing and wonderfully written.
@Alex:
ReplyDeleteI reckon there's a thesis waiting to be written on 18th century Romanticism and 21st century blogging.
The late 1900s in Europe were pretty much the first time the everyday experiences of (relatively) ordinary folk were thought worthy of representation and record. Diarists, Travelouge and Journal writers, paintings showing working class and peasant life - and the notion that simply surviving in the world was a heroic act.
There was Marx of course, championing the downtrodden masses as not just the victims of history but the architects of the future. On the flipside there was Naturphilosophie, with its sturm und drang and the anti-intellectualism of Nietzche and Schopenhaur - later misquoted by the Nazis.
Nowadays there aren't many who believe the workers could overthrown the corporations and govern themselves, and the melodrama of mountains and thunderstorms is passe...but we still assume other people's lifestories are inherantly interesting and valuable.
@Leah:
Thank you...and thank you.
(Though you're the one with the award for a well written blog.)
My taste for brief snippets of philosophy comes from a teenage affair with the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein, who I recommend to anyone who likes having thoughts provoked. Even if you disagree with everything he wrote, it's bound to get you pondering.
As for 100 Things...I've got another one around here somewhere.