12.05.2003
blogs
so, if any of the folks i emailed about this site are actually reading this, i figured it might be worthwhile to contextualize blogs a bit.
blogs are sorta like journals or diaries or zines, and they're usually cheap or free (like mine). people set them up to make things they think public, i guess (that's probably a bad explanation). anyway, more importantly, here's a few good blogs and what i have to say about them:
robotwisdom.com is a great site that hasn't been updated in a long while. i used to use it as a kind of refined newspaper, since it is basically a list of links to interesting articles, and things of that sort. i find myself interested in about 80% of the links, so, for a while, it was a nice alternative to scrolling all over the new york times' page, or what have you. the over-arching theme is lefty politics (lots from alexander cockburn's counterpunch site, for example). but also there's just quirky stuff, and he seems to have a decent sense of humor. check out the "harper's index" links...
i remember is a great blog with a simple premise. every day, this guy writes down one specific memory. and they're generally interesting. some are poetic, some are straightforward and most are quaint, for lack of a better word. also, check out the great john ashbery poem at the top of the page.
i check arts and literature daily from time to time, even though i imagine its author to be a hilton kramer-esque curmudgeon. lots of decent links to historical accounts of literary folk, as well as some political stuff from the left and the right (the bias strikes me as a bit right though). interesting, but stuffy. you'll find lots of links that say things like "has feminism changed academic discourse for all eternity??? not likely..." and then there'll be a link to some grumpy nonsense somewhere. just gloss over that stuff. there's better stuff on the site than that.
my favorite blog of late is the pinocchio theory, which was recommended to me in grad school a while back and has remained continually engrossing ever since. a great mix of sci-fi, film theory, comic books, hip hop, indie rock and book reviews, plus just general observations. all through a deleuzian sorta lens. check out his sharp and insightful reasons for not liking "monster's ball," for a start (even though the majority of his posts are less mean-spirited).
and last but certainly not least is my friend ed's blog, which is autobiographical, frank and horny. ed's refined tastes are all his own, and they are mapped out explicitly for our voyeuristic pleasure...
the strange thing about reading blogs is that if you don't know the person who authors it (and i usually don't), there's this sense that you're deriving pleasure from their day to day routines (what they think, do, read, watch, etc.). blogs walk that familiar internet line of desire/voyeurism/banality, i guess. on the other hand, i feel like certain good blogs tend to fill in for a lacking magazine/newspaper culture in my life, and they do so without all the trappings of commerical publications. at their best, blogs make everyday voices intimate-- and occasionally glamorous.
blogs are sorta like journals or diaries or zines, and they're usually cheap or free (like mine). people set them up to make things they think public, i guess (that's probably a bad explanation). anyway, more importantly, here's a few good blogs and what i have to say about them:
robotwisdom.com is a great site that hasn't been updated in a long while. i used to use it as a kind of refined newspaper, since it is basically a list of links to interesting articles, and things of that sort. i find myself interested in about 80% of the links, so, for a while, it was a nice alternative to scrolling all over the new york times' page, or what have you. the over-arching theme is lefty politics (lots from alexander cockburn's counterpunch site, for example). but also there's just quirky stuff, and he seems to have a decent sense of humor. check out the "harper's index" links...
i remember is a great blog with a simple premise. every day, this guy writes down one specific memory. and they're generally interesting. some are poetic, some are straightforward and most are quaint, for lack of a better word. also, check out the great john ashbery poem at the top of the page.
i check arts and literature daily from time to time, even though i imagine its author to be a hilton kramer-esque curmudgeon. lots of decent links to historical accounts of literary folk, as well as some political stuff from the left and the right (the bias strikes me as a bit right though). interesting, but stuffy. you'll find lots of links that say things like "has feminism changed academic discourse for all eternity??? not likely..." and then there'll be a link to some grumpy nonsense somewhere. just gloss over that stuff. there's better stuff on the site than that.
my favorite blog of late is the pinocchio theory, which was recommended to me in grad school a while back and has remained continually engrossing ever since. a great mix of sci-fi, film theory, comic books, hip hop, indie rock and book reviews, plus just general observations. all through a deleuzian sorta lens. check out his sharp and insightful reasons for not liking "monster's ball," for a start (even though the majority of his posts are less mean-spirited).
and last but certainly not least is my friend ed's blog, which is autobiographical, frank and horny. ed's refined tastes are all his own, and they are mapped out explicitly for our voyeuristic pleasure...
the strange thing about reading blogs is that if you don't know the person who authors it (and i usually don't), there's this sense that you're deriving pleasure from their day to day routines (what they think, do, read, watch, etc.). blogs walk that familiar internet line of desire/voyeurism/banality, i guess. on the other hand, i feel like certain good blogs tend to fill in for a lacking magazine/newspaper culture in my life, and they do so without all the trappings of commerical publications. at their best, blogs make everyday voices intimate-- and occasionally glamorous.
