On blogging and a town once known as Dresden

So, first, let's get this out of the way. I'm not new to blogging. I've had and still have many different blogs over the internet, and they all vary on subject matter. My LiveJournal is my primary blog, and, being mostly a diary of my life and my thoughts, it's only open to those on my friends list. But, I also have a blog on GaiaOnline, on MySpace, on GreatestJournal, on MSN Spaces and even on Last.fm. It's not to say I'm some kind of blogging whore, come and get your blog sex for a decent price, but all these blogs center on something different.

Then what's this blog for? I think, on the whole, it'll be a blog about ranting about whatever the hell I feel like, and I might take a leaf out of my Last.fm blog and also write about music. So, with the introduction post on who I am out of the way, this next entry will be part nonsensical ranting, part I-am-a-music-whore.

But y'know, funny thing about blogs. See, the other day, I was over at Borders in Mayaguez (it's my semi-eternal hangout), and they sell some books on blogging. Sorta like, what is a blog, where do you sign up to make a blog, what should you write about, what's good and what's bad blogging, examples of blogs, ect ect. I can see why they'd write and sell these kind of books in the first place. I mean, blogging is supposed to be this new phenomenon in literature and writing as a whole. Who doesn't like the idea of their ideas being available for all to see, read and comment on? It's also kind of like being a one-man show, in which you have to entertain a veritable audience once your blog is popular enough for [insert reason here]. So, stepping into this blogging business does seem kind of awkard and weird, like a thirteen year old boy trying to figure out the right way to masturbate.

There is something I didn't like about these books I flipped through though. And that something is what makes a good and bad blog, and what is good and bad blogging. I can't remember everything these books said, but among these things were: don't make a lot of posts; don't get caught up in a persona; don't leave your blog un-updated for months at a time; ect. The grand majority of all these suggestions ranged from common sense to just plain stupid. I mean, okay, a blog, in the first place, is part personal journal, part 'this is what I think of the world, up yours', right? Therefore, with the part personal journal part, it means that there is no right or wrong to your blog. Who cares if you make ten posts a day about how the cat keeps trying to eat your socks? It's your blog. You're the one maintaining it, and you're the one who decides what should and shouldn't be posted.

And with the whole persona thing. Avoiding developing a persona is, if you ask me, kind of inevitable. Why? Because a blog exists in the magical and sometimes horrifying (see Rule #34) realm known as cyberspace (or the Internet, or the World Wide Web). It's all free game what you decide to make truth, what you decide to make up, and everything in between. I mean, I'm presenting myself to you all as an eighteen year old Latina female with varied interests. But what if I'm not? I could be, say, a twelve year old boy from Fiji who smokes, drinks and watches American porn. Also, there is a growing trend of writing fictional blogs (as in, blogs that tell about the life of a fictional person). Point in case, if you're still reading this drawn-out entry, it's because you find it entertaining, and one of the many purposes of the Internet is to entertain, be it truthful entertainment or not.

Anyway, to end this quick, my point: there shouldn't be any standards to what is good blogging and bad blogging just yet. Blogging is still an untamed form of writing and expression, for better or for worse. When will I conform to standards? Easy, when blogging is officially ordained as a deity of literary classification (like novels, essays, and the like). Then it'll be like, "ohh, okay, so I'm not supposed to write about going to the supermarket ten minuted after writing about my obsession with catgirl pr0n". As it stands, blogging will continue to have many many good blogs, such as How to Write Screenplays. Badly. and many many bad blogs, such as the ones you can scope on LiveJournal's Latest Posts page.

Now then, about my music-whore-esque thing. I'm just going to comment quick on The Dresden Doll's latest album, Yes, Virginia. Compared to the first one (two if I count A is for Accident), it's less all over the place. I mean, it's still plays out like a stream of consciousness of a schizo, but it's more together. And that's actually a great thing, because these guys still haven't lost their punk cabaret touch. Though what I don't like is when people give their lyrics the tag of being on the emo plane. See, they're not emo at all. Amanda (the singer/pianist) just has a lot of issues, and isn't afraid to put 'em on paper. And hence, that is one thing I admire most about the album: the sometimes insane, sometimes controversial yet always honest lyrics. The other thing I admire: Brian (the drummer/vocalist/sometimes guitar player) and hs drum work. Seriously, I have no idea how he keeps up. He has an awful lot of talent in that area. And so, off this album, I will recommend the following:

Sex Changes, Modern Moonlight, Delilah, Dirty Business, Shores of California, Mandy Goes to Med School, and Sing.

So concludes this horrifically long entry. I'll leave you all with some sage words though:

"The best revenge uses a vagina."

-Mark Twain

Er, well, that's what he would have said if he had a drinking problem and grew up in the early 80s. And it's ripped from issue #20 of Filter.