I hate blogs

I hate blogs for a lot of reasons, chief amongst them the vast majority of them are simply an excuse for mental masturbation. People whack off mentally, telling of their every bowel movement in exact detail to a handful of people who give a damn. I would rather read something like a print newspaper or magazine that I can hold in my hand -- it takes time and effort to create them. That tends to cull most of the worse writing.

I don't much care for Twitter, either, but it is growing on me. I like how people who otherwise wouldn't participate in the "conversation," as Tina Brown would say, have a place to voice what's on their mind. That, I think, will be the thing people will talk about the most about Twitter going forward. I can see a thousand doctoral thesis written about how "urban" voices are now coming forth in 140 characters. I think it's great and look forward to how it will shake up things. Twitter is a long-over due medium in that respect.

One encouraging sign has been how a lot of people who would otherwise blog now get off using social media sites in excess. This frees us of the argument about "citizen journalists" versus "real" reporters. Being a journalist is a trade, not a profession -- at least that's what they told me in college. As a trade, it can be learned and it's actually not that difficult, really.

What will be interesting to see is how the iPad will change the media universe. In some ways, it's perfect to save newspapers and magazines. In other ways, it's not so great. It's perfect because it's a "lean back" experience. It sucks because Apple will have way too much power over what goes into the iPad version of Wired or what have you.

Anyway, the unconscious mind works in mysterious ways and I've found myself wanting to start a blog simply to have a place online to point to should the occasion arise. So, I'm back to blogging, but it's more just to keep my writing skills in shape. I'm also writing short stories these days and am interested in writing a screenplay.

So, let's begin, shall we?