a great perspective on blogs

This guy is simply fabulous. Love his stuff. Some choice opinions from his page:

Blog: The word "blog" is literally shorthand for "boring;" a vulgar, overused word that strikes your ear with the dull thud of a cudgel to the soft spot of a child. It's an abbreviation used by journalism drop outs to give legitimacy to their shallow opinions and amateur photography that seems to be permanently stuck in first draft hell. Looking in the archives of the blogs, one would expect someone who has been at it for years to slowly hone their craft and improve their writing and photographs, since it's usually safe to assume that if someone does something long enough, he or she will eventually not suck at it.

and further:
It's an unspoken rule that every blog must use the same layout as every other blog: long, slender columns of annoyingly condensed text, thousands of links to other blogs, plugs for sh*tty political books, and more links to yet more blogs...
If the thousands of mid-sentence links don't annoy you, the long slender columns of text will. Most of the screen on a blog is blank for an imaginary populace of readers still using 640x480 resolution. I didn't buy a 19" monitor to have 50% of its screen realestate pissed away on firing white pixels, you a**holes. They don't print books on receipt paper for a reason. Every time I see this layout, I want to choke the creator with my dry, crackled, and bleeding hands for making my fingers so calloused from having to keep scrolling the mouse wheel to read your dumb "blog."

Good stuff. Even though his own website looks suspiciously like a blog....

Amy Hempel quote

"Aren't we all, I thought, somebody's harvest?"


I was reading Chuck Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction when he goes on about Amy Hempel and her work, including The Harvest which this quote is taken from. I agree with Chuck about, well, almost everything, but I think almost everyone might agree with him when he says that Ms. Hempel must painstakingly go over every sentence so that it takes moments for the reader to think about each separate expression. The quote above is one of those expressions for me.

Something to consider

The Chronicle article of how blogs may negatively effect how people on job search committees think about you:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/2005/07/2005070801c.htm

My first reaction is that people like the author, Ivan Tribble (a pseudonym), don't really understand blogging and what people use blogs for. But on closer consideration, I guess whatever people write can be considered to say something about them, even if it's in jest, or creative, or whatever. Should you hold negative things against them? I wouldn't if I was on their search committee. But can you help but be influenced by some of what is written? It's a valid point, and something I should maybe think more about. Perhaps I should take greater care to keep my anonymity. Feels a little like the academic freedom walls are closing in a little tighter.

gimme the bean, baby

Saw this over at profgrrrl, a vanilla quiz that hit right on the mark. Vanilla bean for me. Want to try? Take the vanillaology quiz.

You're a real go-getter!
Nothing slips by you because you’re on your game at all times. You know what’s right and what needs to be done and you take charge to make sure it happens.

When it comes to vanilla ice cream, the perfectionist in you demands that it taste exactly like vanilla ought to taste. If it doesn’t have the obvious presence of real vanilla, it won’t pass your test.

Your vanilla is Edy's Vanilla Bean. You’re most likely to swap spoons with other Vanilla Bean lovers or entertaining Vanilla enthusiasts.

Wait a minute, are you Monica Geller from Friends? Or maybe Alan from Two and a Half Men?