To the qustion ‘why blog?’ must come the eternally blank reply. Blogging is writing without reason, pure expression, intellectual lumber. Blog posts can be well-crafted and clever, but they needn’t be definitive. They should be opinionated and grab the attention, but each has to make its way amongst an immensity of ephemera, as such it cannot hope to really lodge in the consciousness of its readers for long.
Unlike the newspapers and journals, it doesn’t decay physically and can be retrieved instantaneously in the same condition. Through hyperlinks it lives on in the blogs of others, creating an intellectual discussion that reminds me of my description of blogging as the modern equivalent of the 18th century coffee house. All human life is here, talking about everything from politics to pokemon. Indeed, if there’s anything that the blogger should take a couple of seconds to ponder it is this: what are they going to focus on?
My friend Will keeps a journal that has the sole purpose of documenting his travels when he leaves Greater London. At first glance it seems unnaturally restrictive, but over time it has built up into something that captivates. It is imposing this kind of arbitrary limitation that interests me in blogging and that is why I have come up with 4 blogging obstructions, a title that comes from Lars Von Trier’s remarkable film The Five Obstructions, which is about a sadist (Von Trier) who attempts to shake a hedonist (Jorgen Leth) out of his complacency by forcing him to remake a film with different impositions. Here are my obstructions:
1. To write at least one entry every day, even if it is just something on the linklog.
2. To write in a way that engages with the world, not just other bloggers.
3. To not post anything until I have an opinion about the subject (blogging should encourage thought).
4. To displays my actual reality rather than affecting an online persona.
These may sound vague to the point of excluding nothing, but it is helpful to have them as reminders and encouragement. In terms of subject matter, I want to limit myself to design and entropy, but I suspect that I’ll cross over into other territories almost immediately. Indeed, this whole subject made me think about what it is that I look for in a blog. Particularly in those blogs I read straight away, no matter how busy - what it is about them that excites me.
I managed to sift the list down to three qualities identifiable in three bloggers:
1. Dickon Edwards - Blogging is pure display and no one displays themself quite like Dickon.
2. Rhodri Marsden - Blogging is inevitably anecdotal and Rhodri never tells the same story in the same way. The man is practically allergic to unconscious use of cliche.
3. Nick Currie - His Click Opera is always opinionated, always engaged and always surprising. What more could you ask for.
Display, well-told anecdotes and opinion - this is blogging as it should be done and as I hope to do in the coming months.
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