There is an epidemic going on people … an epidemic that is striking indiscriminately and taking away people who we have learnt to care about dearly.
And what is that epidemic? Bloggers who give up blogging.
First NP needed a rest [but is gladly back] … then Russell started muttering he was going to back off blogging for a while and now Marucs/Sacrum has declared his intention to ‘pack it all in’. Hell, if it carries on at this rate, there’ll be no more blogs for me to read!
Now I can understand why the guys feel/felt this way … because blogging is like crack … it’s addictive, especially if you start getting abit popular and have people commenting on your site each and every day.
Before long, rather than using the blog to simply express your point of view [and damn who sees it] you feel a pressure to not only write something new each and every day, but to write something that you feel will be relevant to the people who you know are checking out your blog each and every day. Suddenly the focus is on number of comments rather than expression of personal opinion.
In a matter of weeks, you can turn into a character who is obsessively checking for comments, stats and links … seeing more and more of your time being taking up … ending with your loved ones feeling second best to a computer and a bunch of blog friends.
As NP said … blogging can quickly start to run you rather than the other way round.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Now I don’t know the reasons behind Russell and Marcus’ decision to stop … and maybe they have nothing to do with what I have written above … but I do hope it is only a temporary halt, because not only do I love reading/hearing/seeing their views, thoughts, comments, moments-of-madness [even if I disagree with them] but because I regard them – especially Marcus – as a mate and to have him ‘go away’ would be awfully sad.
It’s like that last day of school where you are excited and nervous about what the future will bring but also sad because you know – despite what everyone says – that you may never see again, some of the friends you’ve have spent the last few years of your life with.
Dramatic? Maybe but it’s how I feel.
Yes … yes … I know he said he’d still be around commenting on other people’s blogs but I don’t think that is good enough quite frankly.
He is a very smart, talented person … and while he may have fallen foul of trying to ‘entertain’ rather than be true to himself [and when he is, he is astoundingly good] … he has alot of very valuable and powerful things to say – things that are deeply important to him and if he stops doing this, then I think he is doing himself and the World a major dis-service.
Marcus, I hope you take this comment in the manner it is meant … your objectivity, experience, thoughts, opinions, talent, infectiousness and madness are fantastic … by all means get some perspective on how important blogging is versus other aspects of your life [and that goes for anyone else feeling this way], but for God’s sake don’t stop for good, it would be terrible … for us and for you.
[I genuinely worry how you would cope keeping quiet about things that you feel are wrong/right/important. Not sausages – though that was great fun – but real issues that bother you. Surely you can see how you have liberated other people to look at their own lives and question elements that have been restricting or creating happiness?]
I think we should all be like Rob M … a very talented guy who can express his views with wit, clarity and intelligence without the need to write each and every day. I am on my way there, I already have his bald head.
In all seriousness, I think blogging is great.
Sure it can get out of hand … hell, I have about 8 blogs on the go and have now been asked to be the main blog writer for Media Magazine … but as long as you are aware of the addictive and time consuming nature of it all [and I have my lovely Jill to keep-me-in-line, not to mention my partners who like me spending time on paying business, not just blog posts] you should be OK. [emphasis on should]
I started blogging for a number of reasons … some ego, some about personal expression and some about satisfying my curiosity.
And after about 12 months of doing it, I love that … [1] people stop by [2] express their relevant and not-so-relevant views and sometimes [3] passionately disagree with my viewpoint and aren’t afraid to say so [whilst still being decent, open and genuine]
However what I love most is that I have come into contact with some lovely, smart, genuine, talented and intelligent people … people who I would love to [and I absolutely mean this] work with in some way in the future.
George, Andy and myself were talking about this recently and all agreed that interms of finding potential new colleagues, blogging has been far, far effective than any headhunter we’ve used … and we sincerely hope that one day – if you are willing – there’s a chance we can move this ‘desire’ to some sort of ‘reality’. [For your sins, your names are already on our ‘DOUBLE D’ list … a list of people that one day we’d “like to get our hands on” Ha!]
So to wrap up …
Well, the first thing to say is that I have no intention to rest from blogging for the foreseeable future [bad luck] … I have too much to say and too much to learn … secondly, I hope people continue to forge friendships [as Age writes about in his great post about meeting swearalot Lauren!] because it helps celebrate and liberate the power and beauty of creativity [the seemingly common subject to us all, regardless how we manifest it] whilst also making us feel happier and more interested about life … and finally, I send out a personal plea to Russell, Marcus and anyone else thinking of stopping blogging for a considerable time or for all together …
Please don’t … it’s nice having you and your thoughts around [not just your odd comment on our odd post]
Thank you.
PS: NP … do you like the way I got a Queen reference into this? Bet you like the first photo you evil bastard, ha!
Regardless whether you think the above front pages are good, bad or just plain tacky … they demonstrate how a headline and photograph – when executed with attitude and a point of view – can grab the attention of the masses and motivate them to ‘find out more’.
Maybe more ad agencies and clients should remember this when they produce wallpaper communication with an over-reliance on production values and photo/image manipulation.
My very clever mate ‘Toddy’ has written a paper about being British which he has ‘promoted’ by sending out one of those ‘spam-fact-emails’.
Because he is great and the subject matter is interesting, I thought I’d present it so you can either all laugh or cringe at the content.
Being British is about driving in a German car to an Irish pub for a Belgian beer, then travelling home … grabbing an Indian curry or a Turkish kebab on the way … to sit on some Swedish furniture and watch an American show on a Japanese TV.
And why is this interesting? Because Brits are suspicious of most things foreign!
Then there’s the weird things about being British …
Only in Britain do supermarkets make sick people walk all the way to the back of the shop to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.
Only in Britain do banks leave both doors open and chain the pens to the counters.
Only in Britain do we leave cars worth thousands of pounds on the drive and lock our junk and cheap lawn mower in the garage.
Only in Britain do we use answering machines to screen calls then use call waiting so we don’t miss calls from people we didn’t want to talk to in the first place.
Only in Britain are there disabled parking places in front of a skating rink.
And if proof were needed that we are fast approaching Yank-levels of stupidity, get-a-load of these sad facts …
THREE Brits die each year testing if a 9v battery works on their tongue.
ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY TWO Brits were injured in 1999 by not removing all pins from new shirts.
FIFTY EIGHT Brits are injured each year by using sharp knives instead of screwdrivers.
THIRTY ONE Brits have died since 1996 by watering their Christmas tree while the fairy lights were plugged in.
NINETEEN Brits have died in the last 3 years believing that Christmas decorations were chocolate.
EIGHTEEN Brits had serious burns in 2000 trying on a new jumper with a lit cigarette in their mouth.
FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY THREE Brits have been admitted to A&E in the last two years after trying to open bottles of beer with their teeth.
EIGHT Brits were admitted to hospital with fractured skulls incurred whilst throwing up into the toilet.
I tell you something, I might get drunk on Strepsils … I might embarrass myself on boats to Denmark … I might like Queen and support Nottingham Forest, but my God, am I glad I am only half British! Then again, I am responsible for this!
I thought I had reached the depths of my cred when I did that bloody tagging thing … but no, there are whole new depths of hell to fall into.
How do I know this?
Because Marcus, Andy and my beloved Jill [plus ‘honorable mentions’ to Seb, Eva, Charles, Lauren, Rob M, Virgin Atlantic, 90% of cynic Worldwide and ahem, Klaus Meine, Winston Churchill plus Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ] all led me to the precipice and then as one, pushed me off, laughing as I fell all the way down.
The bastards.
So what am I going on about?
Well you should start off by reading this.Done it? Are you sure because it really is important. And make sure you read all the comments. Go on, go back and do it properly.
Back already? I am impressed.
So now you know that the above bunch of bastards not only press-ganged me into this, but chose for me to ruin what little cred I had left, by ‘singing’ a song by German hard rock sensations, The Scorpions.
While ‘Winds Of Change’ was an obvious choice, I couldn’t do the whistling in a German accent [I did try] so instead I took on their ‘rock classic’ [ahem] ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE. [The version they did with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, not their usual balls-to-the-wall, hard core rock ‘n’ roll version]
Despite scaring the neighbours – and all of Singapore – early on a Saturday morning, I persevered and it gives me great shame to present to you my iPOD singing with a twist.
Twist?
Yes, a twist and to see it I suggest you just download the absolutely massive file [there’s over FIVE minutes of singing ‘action’] and watch the bloody thing.
I’ll be in the cellar. In shame. [I am so, so sorry Mum!]
Oh, and if for some reason you want to know what the ‘real’ version is like, click here … then watch it side-by-side with my ‘interpretation’ and see how synchronised I am. Ahem.
[Actually for total ‘sync’, you need to start them both at the opening ‘guitar solo’, as The Scorps version on youtube is shorter than the one I used from their CD. Why am I telling you this? Lets face it, who the hell has the time, let alone the inclination!? Mental!]
If you’re in Sydney between the 24th April and the 5th May … go to the Kudos Gallery in Paddington and check out the ‘He Said, She Said’ exhibition featuring work by our foul-mouthed lovely, Lauren.
I’ll be there as I’m in Sydney for a few days [2nd-5th May] … so if anyone fancies meeting up, drop me a line and I’ll buy you a coffee. [I know I need to offer bribes! Ha]
Filed under: Comment
There is an epidemic going on people … an epidemic that is striking indiscriminately and taking away people who we have learnt to care about dearly.
And what is that epidemic? Bloggers who give up blogging.
First NP needed a rest [but is gladly back] … then Russell started muttering he was going to back off blogging for a while and now Marucs/Sacrum has declared his intention to ‘pack it all in’. Hell, if it carries on at this rate, there’ll be no more blogs for me to read!
Now I can understand why the guys feel/felt this way … because blogging is like crack … it’s addictive, especially if you start getting abit popular and have people commenting on your site each and every day.
Before long, rather than using the blog to simply express your point of view [and damn who sees it] you feel a pressure to not only write something new each and every day, but to write something that you feel will be relevant to the people who you know are checking out your blog each and every day. Suddenly the focus is on number of comments rather than expression of personal opinion.
In a matter of weeks, you can turn into a character who is obsessively checking for comments, stats and links … seeing more and more of your time being taking up … ending with your loved ones feeling second best to a computer and a bunch of blog friends.
As NP said … blogging can quickly start to run you rather than the other way round.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Now I don’t know the reasons behind Russell and Marcus’ decision to stop … and maybe they have nothing to do with what I have written above … but I do hope it is only a temporary halt, because not only do I love reading/hearing/seeing their views, thoughts, comments, moments-of-madness [even if I disagree with them] but because I regard them – especially Marcus – as a mate and to have him ‘go away’ would be awfully sad.
It’s like that last day of school where you are excited and nervous about what the future will bring but also sad because you know – despite what everyone says – that you may never see again, some of the friends you’ve have spent the last few years of your life with.
Dramatic? Maybe but it’s how I feel.
Yes … yes … I know he said he’d still be around commenting on other people’s blogs but I don’t think that is good enough quite frankly.
He is a very smart, talented person … and while he may have fallen foul of trying to ‘entertain’ rather than be true to himself [and when he is, he is astoundingly good] … he has alot of very valuable and powerful things to say – things that are deeply important to him and if he stops doing this, then I think he is doing himself and the World a major dis-service.
Marcus, I hope you take this comment in the manner it is meant … your objectivity, experience, thoughts, opinions, talent, infectiousness and madness are fantastic … by all means get some perspective on how important blogging is versus other aspects of your life [and that goes for anyone else feeling this way], but for God’s sake don’t stop for good, it would be terrible … for us and for you.
[I genuinely worry how you would cope keeping quiet about things that you feel are wrong/right/important. Not sausages – though that was great fun – but real issues that bother you. Surely you can see how you have liberated other people to look at their own lives and question elements that have been restricting or creating happiness?]
I think we should all be like Rob M … a very talented guy who can express his views with wit, clarity and intelligence without the need to write each and every day. I am on my way there, I already have his bald head.
In all seriousness, I think blogging is great.
Sure it can get out of hand … hell, I have about 8 blogs on the go and have now been asked to be the main blog writer for Media Magazine … but as long as you are aware of the addictive and time consuming nature of it all [and I have my lovely Jill to keep-me-in-line, not to mention my partners who like me spending time on paying business, not just blog posts] you should be OK. [emphasis on should]
I started blogging for a number of reasons … some ego, some about personal expression and some about satisfying my curiosity.
And after about 12 months of doing it, I love that … [1] people stop by [2] express their relevant and not-so-relevant views and sometimes [3] passionately disagree with my viewpoint and aren’t afraid to say so [whilst still being decent, open and genuine]
However what I love most is that I have come into contact with some lovely, smart, genuine, talented and intelligent people … people who I would love to [and I absolutely mean this] work with in some way in the future.
George, Andy and myself were talking about this recently and all agreed that interms of finding potential new colleagues, blogging has been far, far effective than any headhunter we’ve used … and we sincerely hope that one day – if you are willing – there’s a chance we can move this ‘desire’ to some sort of ‘reality’. [For your sins, your names are already on our ‘DOUBLE D’ list … a list of people that one day we’d “like to get our hands on” Ha!]
So to wrap up …
Well, the first thing to say is that I have no intention to rest from blogging for the foreseeable future [bad luck] … I have too much to say and too much to learn … secondly, I hope people continue to forge friendships [as Age writes about in his great post about meeting swearalot Lauren!] because it helps celebrate and liberate the power and beauty of creativity [the seemingly common subject to us all, regardless how we manifest it] whilst also making us feel happier and more interested about life … and finally, I send out a personal plea to Russell, Marcus and anyone else thinking of stopping blogging for a considerable time or for all together …
Please don’t … it’s nice having you and your thoughts around [not just your odd comment on our odd post]
Thank you.
PS: NP … do you like the way I got a Queen reference into this? Bet you like the first photo you evil bastard, ha!