'Just when one thing seems possible some new possibility arises, and finally these phantasms succeed one another with such speed that it seems as though everything were possible, and that is the very moment the individual himself has finally become nothing but an atmospheric illusion.' Kierkegaard.
The impetuous action of Nige in emitting that last post obliges me to announce somewhat prematurely that I am taking a break from Thought Experiments of approximately two weeks. It is premature because I shall post tomorrow on my Sunday articles, but, after that, silence. I have handed Nige my bow of burning gold, my arrows of desire and he shall not cease from mental right until he has built Jerusalem in this green and pleasant blog. I have given him, in short, the awesome power to post. He will do so when he feels moved to emit.
Anyway, Kierkegaard knew a thing or two about blogging and I have been, of late, in danger of becoming an atmospheric illusion. Blogging offers too many new possibilities. Enervated by this process, I have considered abandoning Thought Experiments, but have chosen, instead merely to take a break. This move is at least half inspired by the fact that I am on holiday and my wife views blogging as somewhere beneath Morris dancing and not, in fact, much above staring at a wall and picking one's nose.
For these two weeks, therefore, Nige is your ringmaster. Comment moderation is off so you can continue to talk among yourselves or, indeed, to me as I shall be listening. One thought occurs to me: I would be interested to hear your ideas about what I should do with this blog. Think out of the box, as they say. Comment on this post with your suggestions.
One more post tomorrow morning and then I shall be gone, though watching discreetly from a distance.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
make a book out of it. I've learnt a lot from you knowledgable peeps.
ReplyDeleteBefore you go, Bryan, please could you tell me what is at 18 Doughty Street? The ad comes on this blog very often but when I go to it can make no sense of it and just wondering if you knew. I'm only interested because I often go down the real Doughty Street in London and peer in but it looks like a lot of barristers' chambers to me. Of course the ads might have nothing to do with you, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteThere comes a time when every blogger who has been at it for quite a while (I've just clocked four years) asks him/herself whether to bow out, re-decorate or re-invent. As you said, blogging offers too many possibilities and the mere fact of having an audience, however small, who checks in on a regular basis to hear what one is thinking is tremendously seductive. Speaking for myself, I found I was starting to feel like an entertainer and the prospect of putting on a show every few days was becoming both a burden and an addictive drug. And focus gets lost in the plethora of possibilities. I think that your own blog description is the answer to your question of what to do with your blog:
ReplyDelete"A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats...."
Maybe just removing "among other things" and focusing on the What Ifs and Imagine thats is enough.
(I'm still blogging, by the way, but re-modelled my blog).
That's not a bad suggestion, Natalie. There are too many 'other things' in our lives. And I'm sick of being 'among' them.
ReplyDeleteFirst things first, you go and have a well earned R&R. Commit to memory the tips from the pisshead at cal wines, though better to have sober driver/wife in charge of any mobile tin. While, you becoming the blogging equivilant of the third policeman is as hens ever requireing braces.
ReplyDeleteBry, I hope you have a good rest. I don't know how you do it, frankly. I think just reading blogs is exhausting (I look at yours and two or three others daily). Entertaining, edifying (sometimes), but definitely time-consuming. 'Tis why I shall never keep one myself, though I do enjoy reading them. This living world of other people that twenty -- or even ten -- years ago I would never have been communicating with in real time, or any time probably.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite sure shirley is right and that you'll get a book out of this. Why not? Pop culture is one of your fortes, and what is more of-the-moment than the blogosphere and its denizens? You've certainly garnered some funny comments and some rigorous debates on your threads.
Meantime, hope you have some good couple time with your wife. Don't go into Starbucks together or I fear we'll be reading about a smackdown with some laptop-toting businessman!
Why does this always happen? No sooner do I visit than the blogger says he's off for two weeks or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI think you should just let the blog evolve on its own, but I'd like to see a 'Best of' or a 'By topic' section.
ReplyDeleteSyndicating other bloggers (like that pro Nige) has its pros and cons. It takes the pressure off you to post every day, but on the other hand the blog is such a personal expression.
Generally, I think you have it just about perfect, despite your strange aversion to paragraph breaks.