I was reading a post on Joi's blog about blogs and googlewashing and whatnot, and had a thought...
The funny thing about blogs is their lack of historicity in the minds of so many people. Blogs are just the confluence of a bunch of odds and ends with about as much great earth shattering newness as, say, DOS or the html/www was. Sure, they turned the world on its collective head, not because it was doing something special, but because it wasn't. DOS was lobotomized Unix. Html lobotomized SGML. Blogs just plain lobotomized *.
As with all killer apps like this, the deal is that they don't stretch anyone's paradigms, or challenge anyone's cosmologies, so they can become ubiquitous... be adopted by the treadmill of the pundits who make up the rolling wave of the A-lists, and in the end, not cause much change to the way things are at all.
It doesn't mean that they're not useful, valuable or fun. Just that they're not much more than that.
I am always suspicious of anyone who gets the notion into their head that they've come up with a solution to a problem. Not that I don't want to hang out with them, or be their friend, but unless you realize that solutions create problems, not solve them, I gotta wonder what you're smoking.
Arun Blake, my buddy from Undergrad residence days (1982-1984) came to town today for a short visit. He was in India for the month that I was in Japan, and is heading back to Montreal soon. He's a photographer with an upcoming show in Montreal next month, and a show in Bombay this november. And he wants me to come and help. So, the deal is to start looking for funding. Something I'm good at.
The show is including pictures that were taken when Arun and I went to Jamacia back in '84 or 5. I went down with his family, and stayed with his grandmother. She was, at the time, the oldest woman in the villiage, and it was great to sort of have that umbrella of staying with them. I rented a motorbike one day, and drove arun and I around half the country, up into the mountains and through the hills. I got some amazing photos then, but nothing that I've ever used. I'm looking forward to seeing arun's.
With Yuka, we went down to St Lawrence Market this morning to stock up on sausages and salmon and 7 grain breads and all that. Which is what I'm turning my attention to now, after having had a joyful afternoon fighting with the tax gods. I seem to be praying to the wrong one.