Some of my recent posts have been deliberately (obtusely?) vague. I face an inherent contradiction in blogging despite my desire for privacy. I straddle the fence and sometimes faceplant on it. Certainly I’m out of sync with the zeitgeist. I fret that mentioning that my truck is a Dodge and not a Ford is too personal; meanwhile the rest of the world broadcasts the particulars on social media every time they take a dump.
At any rate, lack of information may make my troubles seem more exotic than they are. I was reminded of an outtake from Sealab 2021 where bleeping out details made a funny story into an epic one.
On a sadly defunct radio show in the U.K. called “Round the Horn” they did a sketch titled Julie Andrews sings rugby songs using the same bleep technique.
Good times.
I don’t know what to think any more. I’ve been blogging for 7+ years; what started as a way to reassure my mother that I hadn’t been dragged off to the wilderness to die has morphed into a blog with a fairly substantial (even international) readership. Who knew? I am in the process of upgrading to new blogging software (which is like getting a shiny new car with all the features) and thinking of all the cool things I will be able to do with it, but I listened to a podcast this afternoon that addresses my area of expertise and the hosts were unanimous is saying, “blogging is dead” and now I am depressed. I suspect I’ll have to ramp up my Instagram account and ugh—just ugh.
Overshare is not a good thing. I am glad you don’t indulge. And I am hoping for a better 2019 for you.
Don’t worry about blogging “going away”. They’ve been saying “blogging is dead” since blogging was new. Most of that noise comes from what would formerly be called opinion page writers. They found themselves in competition with (and losing to) bloggers.
Blogging is really just short form writing, it’ll continue as long as people read it. The media delivery system (like wordpress) may come and go but not the idea. As you’ve noted, there are readers out there. So why would authors to abandon it? If it really annoys you, tell detractors you’re an “e-pamphleteer”. 🙂
Thanks for your support in my one man “don’t overshare” movement.
A.C.
P.S. If you don’t mind, what’s the new software? (You can private e-mail is you wish: ac@adaptivecurmudgeon.com)
P.S.2. You’re the captain of your own ship. I don’t do Instagram based on the logic of “fuck that”. That’s always a possible choice.
Unfortunately, in the business I am thinking of potentially starting/expanding, Instagram is kind of a necessity. (I lost my job—medical transcription—to a computer system earlier this month.) I’ve been writing my blog on Squarespace, which I like much better than WordPress, but I need to upgrade to the latest version. I didn’t upgrade a few years ago when the new version came out and I should have. Squarespace 7 is pretty slick. I am having fun playing with all the features. And I don’t do the endless product reviews or revenue-generating ads on my blog. I do try to provide useful content. People seem to like it.
This is the best I’ve seen of making something dirty with bleeps:
I love that video!
Debbie ain’t shakin’ her hooters. Disapointing.
https://i.imgur.com/z7I17vk.jpg