The many, the humble, the ignorant, the mediocre?
I have taken this post nearly word for word from an assignment I have completed for my philosophy course upon reading Dostoevsky's tale of the Grand Inquisitor, omitting only insignificant details in respect to others' privacy.
May it lead you, my dear reader, to further doubts and questions regarding the state of your soul, your faith, and indeed, your very existence.
"As _____ stated in the very first post, this is, indeed, difficult reading. I found myself at several points making the same objections _____ did - but, humanity is glorious! We are strong! We are wonderful! We possess choice, and this is the gift which God has given us!
We are up to the challenge.
At this point, I came to my most uncomfortable realization.
We're not.
The Inquisitor, in a sense, is right. While he does, in the end, release the prisoner, while he does retain the warmth of that kiss in his heart, he refuses to depart from his love of humanity.
Indeed, how could he?
Being a student of Christ and a student of humanity, he had no other option.
I have returned, at _____'s gentle (and likely entirely accidental) prodding, to my old haunt - a forum I frequented in my youth, and may yet frequent, driven by the protective glow of my memories.
I am not there, however, as an equal to the children who call it their home - rather, I am their older brother, I am their caretaker, I am their protector, I am their guardian and their shield, I am loved and adored there still: and it makes my very soul sick.
It makes my heart ache to know that these children - mere children! - are destined to lives of ignorance, not by force, but by choice. That they long to give up their bread, to push away their freedom, to sacrifice it to another.
And so I take their bread. I shepherd these children in the ways of doubt, I assuage their pain and restore their broken confidence, I stand as the impenetrable wall between them and all who would assault them.
For I remember only all too well the days of living among an online community - of dedicating myself to those I had only met through lines of text and disembodied voices in my ear, living all over this forsaken planet. Of loving them, caring for them, needing them.
I remember all too well the days of doubt, of captivity and fear, and the comfort which lies in the protection of others.
Now, of course, that I have left these things behind, I see the behaviors in others still - and I have no recourse left but to act as their Grand Inquisitor.
I cherish these children - As representatives of humanity, as individual sparks in this sea of light, I could even be said to love them in my way. I believe that humanity is worth protecting.
With that in mind, I am confronted with the dilemma brutal honesty brings: those that need protecting aren't worth protecting, as the effort devoted to their protection is effort taken from the reach for ever greater glory, learning and discovery - in my own way, I sin.
Rather than reaching for God myself, I acknowledge with some wistfulness that although I possess that capability, though I possess that strength of spirit, that very spirit bestows upon me the duty to protect those who will not, who cannot do the same.
The Inquisitor presents us with a difficult dilemma.
Yes, humans possess the ability to choose freedom. We possess free will, we possess consciousness, we possess awareness - the problem lies, however, in the fact that many of us simply don't desire it. In the vast fearfulness of an entire universe laid bare to our wondering eyes, many of us - the huddled masses, the poor in spirit, the weak and the ignorant - choose to screw our eyes tightly shut and beg Jesus to make it all go away. We don't want fear, we don't want wonder, we don't want insecurity or uncertainty - we want love, unfettered and unconditional. We want a mother's embrace, the relief and security of a stalwart guardian's strong arms bearing sharpened sword and plated shield.
What, then, of those who take up the sword and shield? Who crusade against certainty, who assail the fortresses of ignorance and hatred with questing darts of curiosity, who plant seeds of doubt in the mortar of blind ignorance?
First, we are hated. If we are weak, we succumb and apologize, lay down arms and stop asking questions. Sometimes we join a church, sometimes we simply settle down to our basic duty as humans to produce offspring and foster generations to come.
If we are strong, however, we stand fast. We shatter the arrows of hatred upon our shields of doubt and cut through certainty with blades of curiosity.
And what then? Why, we are loved.
We are suddenly revered as pillars of knowledge - knowledge we often don't have - and held up as role models for entire communities. We are feared and awed, and approached with the meekest timidity, if at all.
We have, in essence, taken God's place. Others come to us to ask who to worship and how to worship them. They come to us to reinforce their faith, when we were the ones who tore it down in the first place.
At this point, another transformation has the potential to take place.
At this point as well, a crucial question must be asked: where does our love lie? Does it lie with the divine, with the growth of love and learning and knowledge? Do we dare to explore more and more of the world outside the cave?
Or does our love lie with humanity? Do we reject God, reject the divine, in order to call to our fellows dancing with shadows and lead them into the light? Do we sin in our deception of our weaker brethren while we take their hands and give them succor in their fear?
Which shall we choose? In our love of humanity, do we reject God? Or in our love of God, do we reject humanity?
At this point, I don't have an answer - but I must admit that the Grand Inquisitor frames it in such a way that I'm sure it will be nestling in the back of my mind for weeks, months, possibly even years to come.
The profound is rarely satisfying, it seems - the greatest questions lead only to more of the same, while only a combination of fear and the basest answers truly sate the appetite of curiosity.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Making Barfing Sound Pretty, Among Other Things
Yeah, so it's the end of the class.
I think I did okay in a few of the discussion bits here and there, I'm pretty sure I failed the quizzes miserably due to the fact that I missed most of them entirely and didn't realize it until tonight, and I honestly couldn't care less whether I did okay in the blog bit, because the fact of the matter is that I've enjoyed the hell out of blogging.
If I fail the class...well, I enjoyed it, I actually learned new things for the first time since junior high, and the instructor was fantastic (Mark, I know - or hope, rather - that you're reading this at some point in time. You've been great!). With all in mind, I suppose that if I do fail, it's worth it anyway.
In any case, back to blogging. It's like writing. On a daily basis. Except it's not really writing. It's more like regurgitating as-yet unformed thoughts onto a keyboard, at which point they spill from your fingers in tiny rivulets of creativity and become words, dancing across a lovely little white box of text in perfectly aligned chorus lines of ideas.
I have to admit, as well, that there's some satisfaction in making barfing sound pretty.
...
Gotcha. =)
Now then - down to the assignment. For this one, I'm to pick a vanity blog (sorry, Justine) and an information blog (sorry, Scott).
Now, while I don't know either of these folks in person, I positively adore their writing. Also, Justine uses the same distortion of the word "love" that my fiancee and I do, which, I must admit, while the slightest bit creepy, is made awesome by the fact that Mrs. Larbalestier is that rarest of all creatures: a real writer. Not just a wordsmith such as myself, or a budding poet such as my fiancee, but an actual writer. Someone who gets paid actual money to write actual stories about not-so-actual things. Which, of course, being the geeky type I am, I've always wanted to do and never gotten around to.
Of course, her blog has very little to do with actually writing and more to do with life in general - in a very entertaining way. Writing is a way of meeting someone without seeing them (minus the creepiness). To a wordsmith, words are personal - they're part of your soul. When you create sentences, put them down on paper, you are giving birth and these are your children. When people see you, they don't just say your name, they know you by your writing as well. They know your personality, your likes, your dislikes, and your opinions. They know your tendencies, your habits, and that odd mutter you develop in the middle of the night.
Such is the power of writing.
And such is the power of a blog written by those rarefied people who must write - and Justine Larbalestier positively exudes that particular glow. It's as if rather than sitting down and straining, fighting the words to get them to settle down in a nice neat row on paper, they joyously flow from her fingertips, dancing in ecstacy at the touch of an enthusiastic practitioner.
As such, her blog - while not expressly about writing - is a joy to read, nonetheless.
Her husband, on the other hand, is another story entirely - no pun intended. While just as much a writer as his wife, with the same deft touch and finely honed skill, his blog is entirely about writing. Writing workshops, writing quotes, writing interviews, writing ideas, writing hints, writing guidance.
He may as well call it "Westerwrite". Except "Westerblog" sounds cooler. And a little bit more sophisticated. And just very slightly urbane, although not so much that it'll scare off the teens looking to be really cool despite the fact that they're reading a writer's blog. Although, of course, when you think about it...the whole idea is really very clever. By the time the teen realizes they've been sucked in by a writer's blog pretending to be cool (because we all know writers can't be cool. Cool people wear sunglasses, and it's a well-known fact that writers enjoy sunshine. Rain, after all, gets our pages wet), they're already so caught up in Scott's cuttingly caustic cunning that they've stopped caring about coolness in the refreshing flow of genuinely well-written words.
Of course, these two are a rarity in today's blogosphere. In this social community, as in all others, there is a sparkling upper crust of glory which must be supported by the dense, monotonous press of mediocrity underneath. Blogs like this one - hell, even I don't know what that is - or this one, which seems to be...a series of pictures aimed at getting you to rack up an enormous phone bill? I really can't tell.
Don't say I didn't warn you, though. Just in case.
With this in mind...my thesis hasn't changed. I still think that blogging is slowly but surely revolutionizing the world of journalism, and I think that it's perfectly suited for opening up a whole new universe of relationships and connections that most of us never even knew were possible.
Here's to the future - may it be entirely devoid of law-enforced plastic surgery.
I think I did okay in a few of the discussion bits here and there, I'm pretty sure I failed the quizzes miserably due to the fact that I missed most of them entirely and didn't realize it until tonight, and I honestly couldn't care less whether I did okay in the blog bit, because the fact of the matter is that I've enjoyed the hell out of blogging.
If I fail the class...well, I enjoyed it, I actually learned new things for the first time since junior high, and the instructor was fantastic (Mark, I know - or hope, rather - that you're reading this at some point in time. You've been great!). With all in mind, I suppose that if I do fail, it's worth it anyway.
In any case, back to blogging. It's like writing. On a daily basis. Except it's not really writing. It's more like regurgitating as-yet unformed thoughts onto a keyboard, at which point they spill from your fingers in tiny rivulets of creativity and become words, dancing across a lovely little white box of text in perfectly aligned chorus lines of ideas.
I have to admit, as well, that there's some satisfaction in making barfing sound pretty.
...
Gotcha. =)
Now then - down to the assignment. For this one, I'm to pick a vanity blog (sorry, Justine) and an information blog (sorry, Scott).
Now, while I don't know either of these folks in person, I positively adore their writing. Also, Justine uses the same distortion of the word "love" that my fiancee and I do, which, I must admit, while the slightest bit creepy, is made awesome by the fact that Mrs. Larbalestier is that rarest of all creatures: a real writer. Not just a wordsmith such as myself, or a budding poet such as my fiancee, but an actual writer. Someone who gets paid actual money to write actual stories about not-so-actual things. Which, of course, being the geeky type I am, I've always wanted to do and never gotten around to.
Of course, her blog has very little to do with actually writing and more to do with life in general - in a very entertaining way. Writing is a way of meeting someone without seeing them (minus the creepiness). To a wordsmith, words are personal - they're part of your soul. When you create sentences, put them down on paper, you are giving birth and these are your children. When people see you, they don't just say your name, they know you by your writing as well. They know your personality, your likes, your dislikes, and your opinions. They know your tendencies, your habits, and that odd mutter you develop in the middle of the night.
Such is the power of writing.
And such is the power of a blog written by those rarefied people who must write - and Justine Larbalestier positively exudes that particular glow. It's as if rather than sitting down and straining, fighting the words to get them to settle down in a nice neat row on paper, they joyously flow from her fingertips, dancing in ecstacy at the touch of an enthusiastic practitioner.
As such, her blog - while not expressly about writing - is a joy to read, nonetheless.
Her husband, on the other hand, is another story entirely - no pun intended. While just as much a writer as his wife, with the same deft touch and finely honed skill, his blog is entirely about writing. Writing workshops, writing quotes, writing interviews, writing ideas, writing hints, writing guidance.
He may as well call it "Westerwrite". Except "Westerblog" sounds cooler. And a little bit more sophisticated. And just very slightly urbane, although not so much that it'll scare off the teens looking to be really cool despite the fact that they're reading a writer's blog. Although, of course, when you think about it...the whole idea is really very clever. By the time the teen realizes they've been sucked in by a writer's blog pretending to be cool (because we all know writers can't be cool. Cool people wear sunglasses, and it's a well-known fact that writers enjoy sunshine. Rain, after all, gets our pages wet), they're already so caught up in Scott's cuttingly caustic cunning that they've stopped caring about coolness in the refreshing flow of genuinely well-written words.
Of course, these two are a rarity in today's blogosphere. In this social community, as in all others, there is a sparkling upper crust of glory which must be supported by the dense, monotonous press of mediocrity underneath. Blogs like this one - hell, even I don't know what that is - or this one, which seems to be...a series of pictures aimed at getting you to rack up an enormous phone bill? I really can't tell.
Don't say I didn't warn you, though. Just in case.
With this in mind...my thesis hasn't changed. I still think that blogging is slowly but surely revolutionizing the world of journalism, and I think that it's perfectly suited for opening up a whole new universe of relationships and connections that most of us never even knew were possible.
Here's to the future - may it be entirely devoid of law-enforced plastic surgery.
O, I See Wut U Did Thar!
(Paraphrased) What is your favorite ad? Why is it your favorite, and what makes it effective?
Word of mouth=EPIC WIN.
First of all, this is a webcomic (by the way, xkcd apparently has more webcomic than Wikipedia). It is one of the few webcomics I read on a daily basis (the others are, of course, Ctrl-Alt-Del and Order of the Stick, if only because 8-Bit Theater doesn't have an RSS feed I can use with my Google homepage). It is written by a genius. Also illustrated and colored.
The man is amazing, I tell you. I don't have that much talent in my right pinky toe. Probably because it has a funny habit of going numb when I get cold.
That said, the most effective ad I've ever seen is on that page. You see the sidebar? The one with the blip about today's comic? Look lower. No, not there, we're not donating right now. We're not going to Dayfree Press either.
There. You see it? That little line of text, the one that says "recommended reading"?
That is the single most effective ad I've ever seen. It is the reason I read Dr. McNinja, Overcompensating, and Indietits. It is amazing. And hypnotic.
Like Picard.
Why is it effective? Because it is full of recommended reading from Jeph Jacques. This means that it is guaranteed to create laughter from nothing except for air and maybe a little bit of alcohol (if that's your thing. I don't like alcohol myself. My dad used to drink it and get angry, and boy, that just sucked. It's most of the reason I've been straightedge for the past three years).
There you go.
(Paraphrasing again) Which ads don't you like? Why not?
Ehhh...anything except for recommended reading from my favorite webcomics? I use the adblock extension with Firefox, so I don't see ads when I'm surfing the net.
I don't watch TV, so I don't see commercials.
I don't listen to the radio, so I don't hear those ads.
I don't drive and I read in the car when someone else is driving, so I don't see billboards.
I don't read magazines or newspapers, so I don't see those ads, either.
Oh, and the ads that randomly get dropped off in your mailbox? They are the cozy lining that keeps my real mail warm. I like them.
So uhh...yeah. Ads are bad, mmk?
Also, this is going in my blog. With better linkage.
Clicky clicky!
I told you.
Word of mouth=EPIC WIN.
First of all, this is a webcomic (by the way, xkcd apparently has more webcomic than Wikipedia). It is one of the few webcomics I read on a daily basis (the others are, of course, Ctrl-Alt-Del and Order of the Stick, if only because 8-Bit Theater doesn't have an RSS feed I can use with my Google homepage). It is written by a genius. Also illustrated and colored.
The man is amazing, I tell you. I don't have that much talent in my right pinky toe. Probably because it has a funny habit of going numb when I get cold.
That said, the most effective ad I've ever seen is on that page. You see the sidebar? The one with the blip about today's comic? Look lower. No, not there, we're not donating right now. We're not going to Dayfree Press either.
There. You see it? That little line of text, the one that says "recommended reading"?
That is the single most effective ad I've ever seen. It is the reason I read Dr. McNinja, Overcompensating, and Indietits. It is amazing. And hypnotic.
Like Picard.
Why is it effective? Because it is full of recommended reading from Jeph Jacques. This means that it is guaranteed to create laughter from nothing except for air and maybe a little bit of alcohol (if that's your thing. I don't like alcohol myself. My dad used to drink it and get angry, and boy, that just sucked. It's most of the reason I've been straightedge for the past three years).
There you go.
(Paraphrasing again) Which ads don't you like? Why not?
Ehhh...anything except for recommended reading from my favorite webcomics? I use the adblock extension with Firefox, so I don't see ads when I'm surfing the net.
I don't watch TV, so I don't see commercials.
I don't listen to the radio, so I don't hear those ads.
I don't drive and I read in the car when someone else is driving, so I don't see billboards.
I don't read magazines or newspapers, so I don't see those ads, either.
Oh, and the ads that randomly get dropped off in your mailbox? They are the cozy lining that keeps my real mail warm. I like them.
So uhh...yeah. Ads are bad, mmk?
Also, this is going in my blog. With better linkage.
Clicky clicky!
I told you.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Update
Hitman was awesome. Guns, swords, explosions, bad dialogue, improbable international intrigue, and bald dudes kicking ass. What more could a Bruce Willis/Vin Diesel fan ask for?
Question of the day:
Why do you/don't you believe in God? And no shallow answers - what really makes you want to believe in it or not?
Question of the day:
Why do you/don't you believe in God? And no shallow answers - what really makes you want to believe in it or not?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Oh, my.
Anonymous vs. The Church of Scientology.
The power of the internets compels you!
...Oughta be interesting to see how this turns out.
The power of the internets compels you!
...Oughta be interesting to see how this turns out.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Alright, so bugger this.
So I wrote this blog entry for class, right?
And I wrote it twice. Because I'm that persistent. And because tonight, for some damned reason, Firefox and blogger - two perfectly wonderful pieces of software brilliance - just won't work.
Anywho, my e-zines (yeah, this was clever. Twice. But not now. Not now, M$ - you have sapped my creative energy. Twice. How could you.) are the following:
Torrentfreak, and ironically enough, the Wired e-zine article about things that suck. I should email them this blog. See if they accept it. Bet they wouldn't. I mean, really, who wants to read another blog ranting about a company that everybody loves to rant about anyway? See?
More things that suck.
Anyway, back to the whole buggery of the class thing - Wired=more professional. It's pretty, it's clever, it's smart, it's funny, it's damned sexy. Wired Magazine is in every geek's harem of "other computers". That's right, we don't have significant others, we have computers. And even if we do have significant others, we have computers anyway.
Torrentfreak, on the other hand? Along with Ars Technica, Techdirt, and p2pNet, it's relevant. It's immediate, it's entertaining, it's reliable, and I check it at least twice daily.
In the end, I must admit that while Wired may be seriously cool, slick, and full of awesome features, I trust torrentfreak more. It's not on a corporate leash, it doesn't make loads of money, and what little money it does make, it puts towards good causes.
Now then. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I wanna get on watching Hitman.
Stay tuned.
And I wrote it twice. Because I'm that persistent. And because tonight, for some damned reason, Firefox and blogger - two perfectly wonderful pieces of software brilliance - just won't work.
Anywho, my e-zines (yeah, this was clever. Twice. But not now. Not now, M$ - you have sapped my creative energy. Twice. How could you.) are the following:
Torrentfreak, and ironically enough, the Wired e-zine article about things that suck. I should email them this blog. See if they accept it. Bet they wouldn't. I mean, really, who wants to read another blog ranting about a company that everybody loves to rant about anyway? See?
More things that suck.
Anyway, back to the whole buggery of the class thing - Wired=more professional. It's pretty, it's clever, it's smart, it's funny, it's damned sexy. Wired Magazine is in every geek's harem of "other computers". That's right, we don't have significant others, we have computers. And even if we do have significant others, we have computers anyway.
Torrentfreak, on the other hand? Along with Ars Technica, Techdirt, and p2pNet, it's relevant. It's immediate, it's entertaining, it's reliable, and I check it at least twice daily.
In the end, I must admit that while Wired may be seriously cool, slick, and full of awesome features, I trust torrentfreak more. It's not on a corporate leash, it doesn't make loads of money, and what little money it does make, it puts towards good causes.
Now then. I'm tired, I'm cranky, I wanna get on watching Hitman.
Stay tuned.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
It's About Time.
I think the video pretty much speaks for itself here.
The story, though - apparently, European politicians have beaten their American counterparts to the punch. Greens EFA and RåFILM collaborated to create the above advertisement promoting the new "I Wouldn't Steal" pro-filesharing campaign. They've already made their work available via bittorrent, and their website doesn't exactly beat around the bush when it comes to their beliefs on filesharing:
"We believe that consumers are willing to pay if offered good quality at a fair price. We also believe that sharing is expanding culture – not killing it."
They don't stop there, either. They go so far as to back up what so-called "pirates" - these villains of the internet - have been saying for years: that, contrary to what the MPAA and RIAA have been trying to convince consumers this entire time, "making a copy is fundamentally different from stealing."
Essentially, these are politicians - a cohesive, unified group of them with a total of 42 seats in the European parliament. They have spoken in support of consumer rights, net neutrality, and artists' rights, and they have made it quite clear that they stand opposed to the media industry's attempts to "adapt laws to criminalize sharing, turning consumers into criminals" and the "faulty propaganda" it churns out in the process.
Stay tuned.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Back to Work.
I'm pretty sure that Whatever qualifies as an entrepreneurial blog.
As far as blogs go that talk about blogging as a way of business promotion, I dug up this blog on celebrity-copulation for popularity, specifically by reading Scalzi's post on it while listening to the Braindead Monkeys' latest album "Haiku".
As far as the first blog goes, I have to say that Scalzi's interpretation is pretty spot-on. Star-fuckery (am I allowed to say that here?) is unattractive and messy, and nobody likes attention-whoring anyway.
I mean, really. "Exploring ways of working together in win-win ways." "pick 5 top-100 blogs that I felt worked well with my target market". "engage in social media marketing campaigns". Or my favorite, "Doing public speaking. Sort of a like a party, right? But it’s a party where everyone is listening to you".
Seriously now, children.
Yes, blogging can be used as a way to attract a larger audience to one's products, viewpoints, etc. For example, I found Scalzi's blog when I stumbled across one of his more entertaining posts, and now I buy his books. Before, I had never even heard of the guy (sorry, John!).
On the other hand, though, blogs certainly aren't the one and only way to market oneself to the public. One way, for example, is to just put your stuff out there and hope to god people notice. You can contact advertising agencies if you've got enough money. You can use word of mouth - talk to your buddy, who will talk to their buddy who will talk to their buddy and so on.
Most of all, though...put out a quality product. If Scalzi's writing sucked, I wouldn't read his blog or his books. If the Braindead Monkeys didn't make...noise...that broke the suck-o-meter so hard it divided by zero and looped back into the realm of pure friggin' awesome, I wouldn't listen to it.
As for what a blog can do that other things can't? Well, reach a massive online audience, for one. Serve as a home for certain elements of internet culture nothing else really can (LOLcats, anyone?). Make your material available internationally, 24/7, for peer review.
Most of all, though, it allows you to connect to your audience. Talk with people you've never met before, let them talk with you, get to know people, broaden your horizons, and hopefully, with a little luck, learn a little bit.
Are blogs effective alternatives to sucking? No. Nothing on the internet is an alternative to sucking.
Go outside.
Really.
To actually answer the question of whether blogs are a viable alternative for other methods of advertising for up-and-coming entrepeneurs, though...not so much a viable alternative as a worthwhile addition. while blogging isn't exactly the be-all and end-all of entrepreneurial advertising, it certainly doesn't hurt.
Most of the time.
As the Braindead Monkeys say,
"Anyone can suck.
But we make it an art form.
Please to kill us now!"
As far as blogs go that talk about blogging as a way of business promotion, I dug up this blog on celebrity-copulation for popularity, specifically by reading Scalzi's post on it while listening to the Braindead Monkeys' latest album "Haiku".
As far as the first blog goes, I have to say that Scalzi's interpretation is pretty spot-on. Star-fuckery (am I allowed to say that here?) is unattractive and messy, and nobody likes attention-whoring anyway.
I mean, really. "Exploring ways of working together in win-win ways." "pick 5 top-100 blogs that I felt worked well with my target market". "engage in social media marketing campaigns". Or my favorite, "Doing public speaking. Sort of a like a party, right? But it’s a party where everyone is listening to you".
Seriously now, children.
Yes, blogging can be used as a way to attract a larger audience to one's products, viewpoints, etc. For example, I found Scalzi's blog when I stumbled across one of his more entertaining posts, and now I buy his books. Before, I had never even heard of the guy (sorry, John!).
On the other hand, though, blogs certainly aren't the one and only way to market oneself to the public. One way, for example, is to just put your stuff out there and hope to god people notice. You can contact advertising agencies if you've got enough money. You can use word of mouth - talk to your buddy, who will talk to their buddy who will talk to their buddy and so on.
Most of all, though...put out a quality product. If Scalzi's writing sucked, I wouldn't read his blog or his books. If the Braindead Monkeys didn't make...noise...that broke the suck-o-meter so hard it divided by zero and looped back into the realm of pure friggin' awesome, I wouldn't listen to it.
As for what a blog can do that other things can't? Well, reach a massive online audience, for one. Serve as a home for certain elements of internet culture nothing else really can (LOLcats, anyone?). Make your material available internationally, 24/7, for peer review.
Most of all, though, it allows you to connect to your audience. Talk with people you've never met before, let them talk with you, get to know people, broaden your horizons, and hopefully, with a little luck, learn a little bit.
Are blogs effective alternatives to sucking? No. Nothing on the internet is an alternative to sucking.
Go outside.
Really.
To actually answer the question of whether blogs are a viable alternative for other methods of advertising for up-and-coming entrepeneurs, though...not so much a viable alternative as a worthwhile addition. while blogging isn't exactly the be-all and end-all of entrepreneurial advertising, it certainly doesn't hurt.
Most of the time.
As the Braindead Monkeys say,
"Anyone can suck.
But we make it an art form.
Please to kill us now!"
...Not much you can say to that.
John Scalzi captures the essence of SF.
"Now excuse me, I'm off to write science fiction."
You do that, John. I'll get back to you in 50 years or so, 'kay?
"Now excuse me, I'm off to write science fiction."
You do that, John. I'll get back to you in 50 years or so, 'kay?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
A quick break to talk about the future of music
Okay, taking a quick intercession here to comment on the current state of affairs in the music biz...
This was originally written in response to a discussion board question concerning the future of music in the digital age, but I figure it's worth reposting here with a few slight alterations to take the class references out of it.
There is no future for the physical, major label record store. The age of the record store is over - the age of the independent and independently marketed artist has begun.
With bands such as Harvey Danger, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails, and artists such as 50 Cent, Saul Williams, and Dave Peters openly defying the major record labels and artists willing and able to promote themselves and sell their own product sans middleman, the days where the record labels are able to get away with their monopolistic behavior are swiftly drawing to a close.
A self-described on and off insider in the major record labels had this to say:
"For the major labels, it's over. It's f___ing over. You're going to burn to the f___ing ground, and we're all going to dance around the fire. And it's your own fault."[1]
So-called 'piracy' - or at least what the major record labels would love to make us think is piracy - is bigger, faster, and more widespread than ever. The Canadian police have openly admitted that they are no longer targeting piracy for personal use: "St-Hilaire explained that they rather focus on crimes that actually hurt consumers such as copyright violations related to medicine and electrical appliances." (sic)
Dan Glickman, chairman of the MPAA, has publicly announced that "we recognize and we know that we will never stop piracy."[2]
Even artists belonging to these organizations are fighting back against their barrage of lawsuits: "I play in a metal band. We have sold around 200k records across 3 releases. We’re not ‘huge’ by any stretch but do alright and live off (and ON subsequently) the road. Fans and friends ask me all the time how I feel about “stealing music.” I just told someone yesterday “I have a hard time seeing it as stealing…when I don’t see any money from cd sales to begin with.
...
If you want to squeeze an opinion on theft out of me, ask me about the dude that grabbed our tshirt off the table tonight in Detroit or better yet.. ask me about record contracts."
So says Dave Peters, frontman of straightedge hardcore band Throwdown.
Continuing, he puts forth the following provocative statement:
"I encourage our fans to acquire our album however they please. The philosophy I’ve adopted is that if you’re supporting disc sales, you’re keeping the old model around longer…the one that forces dudes like me to tour 9 mos/year if they want to make ends meet with a career in music."
"If you wanna really support a band," he concludes, "“steal” their album….help bury the label….and buy a tshirt when you show up at their show and sing every word."
Even "the ones directly profiting from the sale of digital or physical music" are speaking out in opposition to the current business model being embraced by the major corporations. The recording industry, and record stores with it, are quite simply obsolete. Contrary to what they'd like you to think, record sales are most likely not declining due to piracy. Rather, the companies trying to make the sales are shooting themselves in the foot - repeatedly - in their futile attempts to bully and terrorize their own customers.
Even mainstream artists like 50 Cent have publicly admitted that "What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists".
The future of music is in the internet - middlemen are no longer necessary for musicians to make money or market their product, and as such, record stores, and the major record label conglomerates with them, have been rendered wholly obsolete.
What reason is there to go to a record store if the music is available to download straight to my computer? The major problem here, I think, is the view of record stores as strictly physical entities. If the music is available online, the only possible logical reason to go to an actual store would be a desire for the physical product in analog format. Given the rapidly increasing recognition of lossless audio formats (particularly FLAC) among the throngs of audiophiles populating the internet, however, this reason is rapidly decreasing in actual relevance. On the other hand, the future of the online record store is looking brighter and brighter by the day - all that's required is for the dinosaurs dominating the industry to catch up with current trends and adapt to current events instead of fighting the inexorable momentum of history.
As for reasons other than buying an album to go to a record store...a better place to find fellow music enthusiasts, including band members, would be an online community dedicated exclusively to those who love music - such as the former filesharing site OiNK, loved by industry heavy hitters such as Trent Reznor[3] (frontman of popular industrial group Nine Inch Nails) as well as everyday fans and music enthusiasts.
As much as the major record labels would love people to believe that they're losing millions to piracy, it's actually been strongly suggested by a Canadian government-commissioned independent study to be factually incorrect.
As for ethical implications of downloading? Hopefully, someday, the end of tyranny over music by aging executives who openly admit that they don't know what they're doing. Included in the positive ethical ramifications of filesharing, however, as opposed to negative, are free publicity for the artist as well as the potential for larger audiences than they ever could've reached without the hugely effective word-of-mouth advertising ability provided by P2P (peer-to-peer) technology.
As for the last two questions...
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to download any music for free off of the internet, whether I downloaded it at all would depend quite heavily on the circumstances surrounding the download.
For example, if the artist themselves specifically requested that people not download their music for free, I wouldn't download it.
If, however, the music was copied from CD and made available for free online by an individual who legally obtained that CD with full permission from the artist and all associated entities to reproduce and share the effort represented by and art contained upon the CD as they saw fit...I sincerely doubt that I would see any moral problem at all with downloading it for my own personal use. Continuing to speak hypothetically, if I did download something for free off the internet using the above criteria, I can even see myself sharing what I downloaded with others if I liked it enough.
Contrary to what the RIAA and its cohorts around the globe would like the largely technologically illiterate public to believe, copying is not stealing...unless, of course, the RIAA ends up getting their way in the end, in which case anybody who owns an iPod - or a computer, for that matter - would be well advised to start saving their nickels and dimes in preparation for the lawsuits to come.
When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide
Steal This Film II, 4:49-4:54
"I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now...I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want."
-Trent Reznor in an interview with New York Magazine, "Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK"
This was originally written in response to a discussion board question concerning the future of music in the digital age, but I figure it's worth reposting here with a few slight alterations to take the class references out of it.
There is no future for the physical, major label record store. The age of the record store is over - the age of the independent and independently marketed artist has begun.
With bands such as Harvey Danger, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails, and artists such as 50 Cent, Saul Williams, and Dave Peters openly defying the major record labels and artists willing and able to promote themselves and sell their own product sans middleman, the days where the record labels are able to get away with their monopolistic behavior are swiftly drawing to a close.
A self-described on and off insider in the major record labels had this to say:
"For the major labels, it's over. It's f___ing over. You're going to burn to the f___ing ground, and we're all going to dance around the fire. And it's your own fault."[1]
So-called 'piracy' - or at least what the major record labels would love to make us think is piracy - is bigger, faster, and more widespread than ever. The Canadian police have openly admitted that they are no longer targeting piracy for personal use: "St-Hilaire explained that they rather focus on crimes that actually hurt consumers such as copyright violations related to medicine and electrical appliances." (sic)
Dan Glickman, chairman of the MPAA, has publicly announced that "we recognize and we know that we will never stop piracy."[2]
Even artists belonging to these organizations are fighting back against their barrage of lawsuits: "I play in a metal band. We have sold around 200k records across 3 releases. We’re not ‘huge’ by any stretch but do alright and live off (and ON subsequently) the road. Fans and friends ask me all the time how I feel about “stealing music.” I just told someone yesterday “I have a hard time seeing it as stealing…when I don’t see any money from cd sales to begin with.
...
If you want to squeeze an opinion on theft out of me, ask me about the dude that grabbed our tshirt off the table tonight in Detroit or better yet.. ask me about record contracts."
So says Dave Peters, frontman of straightedge hardcore band Throwdown.
Continuing, he puts forth the following provocative statement:
"I encourage our fans to acquire our album however they please. The philosophy I’ve adopted is that if you’re supporting disc sales, you’re keeping the old model around longer…the one that forces dudes like me to tour 9 mos/year if they want to make ends meet with a career in music."
"If you wanna really support a band," he concludes, "“steal” their album….help bury the label….and buy a tshirt when you show up at their show and sing every word."
Even "the ones directly profiting from the sale of digital or physical music" are speaking out in opposition to the current business model being embraced by the major corporations. The recording industry, and record stores with it, are quite simply obsolete. Contrary to what they'd like you to think, record sales are most likely not declining due to piracy. Rather, the companies trying to make the sales are shooting themselves in the foot - repeatedly - in their futile attempts to bully and terrorize their own customers.
Even mainstream artists like 50 Cent have publicly admitted that "What is important for the music industry to understand is that this really doesn’t hurt the artists".
The future of music is in the internet - middlemen are no longer necessary for musicians to make money or market their product, and as such, record stores, and the major record label conglomerates with them, have been rendered wholly obsolete.
What reason is there to go to a record store if the music is available to download straight to my computer? The major problem here, I think, is the view of record stores as strictly physical entities. If the music is available online, the only possible logical reason to go to an actual store would be a desire for the physical product in analog format. Given the rapidly increasing recognition of lossless audio formats (particularly FLAC) among the throngs of audiophiles populating the internet, however, this reason is rapidly decreasing in actual relevance. On the other hand, the future of the online record store is looking brighter and brighter by the day - all that's required is for the dinosaurs dominating the industry to catch up with current trends and adapt to current events instead of fighting the inexorable momentum of history.
As for reasons other than buying an album to go to a record store...a better place to find fellow music enthusiasts, including band members, would be an online community dedicated exclusively to those who love music - such as the former filesharing site OiNK, loved by industry heavy hitters such as Trent Reznor[3] (frontman of popular industrial group Nine Inch Nails) as well as everyday fans and music enthusiasts.
As much as the major record labels would love people to believe that they're losing millions to piracy, it's actually been strongly suggested by a Canadian government-commissioned independent study to be factually incorrect.
As for ethical implications of downloading? Hopefully, someday, the end of tyranny over music by aging executives who openly admit that they don't know what they're doing. Included in the positive ethical ramifications of filesharing, however, as opposed to negative, are free publicity for the artist as well as the potential for larger audiences than they ever could've reached without the hugely effective word-of-mouth advertising ability provided by P2P (peer-to-peer) technology.
As for the last two questions...
Hypothetically speaking, if I were to download any music for free off of the internet, whether I downloaded it at all would depend quite heavily on the circumstances surrounding the download.
For example, if the artist themselves specifically requested that people not download their music for free, I wouldn't download it.
If, however, the music was copied from CD and made available for free online by an individual who legally obtained that CD with full permission from the artist and all associated entities to reproduce and share the effort represented by and art contained upon the CD as they saw fit...I sincerely doubt that I would see any moral problem at all with downloading it for my own personal use. Continuing to speak hypothetically, if I did download something for free off the internet using the above criteria, I can even see myself sharing what I downloaded with others if I liked it enough.
Contrary to what the RIAA and its cohorts around the globe would like the largely technologically illiterate public to believe, copying is not stealing...unless, of course, the RIAA ends up getting their way in the end, in which case anybody who owns an iPod - or a computer, for that matter - would be well advised to start saving their nickels and dimes in preparation for the lawsuits to come.
When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide
Steal This Film II, 4:49-4:54
"I'll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world's greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn't the equivalent of that in the retail space right now...I'm not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want."
-Trent Reznor in an interview with New York Magazine, "Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK"
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Needs Moar Research!
As we all know, the interwebs are full of LIES (or was that lulz?).
In any case, I'm using them for my research. The hypothesis?
"I am for the following statement: Blogging has significantly impacted the print journalism industry."
Financially affected? Perhaps not. Actually made a dent in sales? Probably not. Changed, though? Certainly.
Blogs can indeed be used as an up to date, reliable resource for specialized information (just take a look at the guys over at Ars Technica or Technorati if you don't believe me), and as far as attracting widespread audiences and influencing journalism go...Look no further.
As for why I'm taking this position? Simple, really - I think that as technology improves, humanity ought to take advantage of it. What's the point of creating neat new things that make life better if we don't use them? Why invent the wheel if we're just gonna sit in our caves and grunt?
Suspicion, paranoia, and maximum lulz: the future of global communication.
OMGWTFBBQ
First post - welcome to the world of a java gremlin.
I'm Brandon, it's 2 in the morning, and I need more coffee.
This, by the way, is a blog that my media and journalism class finally got me to start writing after several months of hemming and hawing around the idea.
Blogs, in my not-so-humble opinion, are to print journalism what the Mpeg-3 format and widespread peer-to-peer technology are to the record industry: death incarnate. Much like the record industry, though, print journalism just hasn't realized it yet. My prediction? Within the next few centuries, paper and ink as methods of communication will not only be wholly obsolete, but quite possibly illegal as well (trees as a finite resource, anyone?).
So yeah. There's my starting position. It's almost two in the morning, though, and I don't have nearly enough caffeine in me to make a thoughtful post of this.
More later. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after. We'll see.
I'm Brandon, it's 2 in the morning, and I need more coffee.
This, by the way, is a blog that my media and journalism class finally got me to start writing after several months of hemming and hawing around the idea.
Blogs, in my not-so-humble opinion, are to print journalism what the Mpeg-3 format and widespread peer-to-peer technology are to the record industry: death incarnate. Much like the record industry, though, print journalism just hasn't realized it yet. My prediction? Within the next few centuries, paper and ink as methods of communication will not only be wholly obsolete, but quite possibly illegal as well (trees as a finite resource, anyone?).
So yeah. There's my starting position. It's almost two in the morning, though, and I don't have nearly enough caffeine in me to make a thoughtful post of this.
More later. Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after. We'll see.
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