Thursday, July 17, 2008
TAPPITTY CLACKETTY
Some comedian does a bit about the headache-inducing musical 42nd Street:
"Come and meet those dancing TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY
On the avenue I'm taking you to, Forty TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY"
The sound of a blogger convention, if not quite as loud.
Would one have dared show up at last year's Kos Convention without the newest most paper thin laptop? This year's Netroots Nation in Austin TX must have hundreds of people getting eyestrain as they attempt to input 300 word blogposts on tiny Blackberry keyboards & iPhone touch screens.
Typical political blogger types range from angry, egotistical blowhards who get about 200 unique visitors per day (most staying under 10 seconds) to modest, conscientious newshounds who get about 200 unique visitors per day. With threads at the Kos website commonly running to 500+ comments, the most insignificant matter is covered from every angle. It's impossible to claim an original insight, much less a scoop. & if by chance one stumbles upon originality, the odds of anyone noticing are infinitesimal. Being a blogger is similar to being a poet except one doesn't have to be concerned with economy & line breaks. Poets have a saying, "Publishing a book of poetry is like tossing a feather into the Grand Canyon & listening for a echo."
Did I ever mention that my favorite book of American prose is the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (popular abridged version)? Grant was a great prose writer because he reputedly wrote the clearest, most concise orders & battle reports of any General in the Civil War, tailored for telegraph. There was no misunderstanding them. Of course, many of his orders bordered on criminally insane, in effect, "Commencing at 6 am, charge up the treeless slope in your front against entrenched enemy positions at the crest & be slaughtered. Repeat until the enemy runs out of men, you run out of men, or I order you to stop." More words than Grant would have used. I highly recommend Grant's book to political bloggers, or The Haiku Handbook by William J. Higginson for those using handheld devices. Other bloggers can stick with Ulysses by James Joyce & The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
"Come and meet those dancing TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY
On the avenue I'm taking you to, Forty TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY TAPPITTY TAPPITTY CLACKETTY CLACKETTY"
The sound of a blogger convention, if not quite as loud.
Would one have dared show up at last year's Kos Convention without the newest most paper thin laptop? This year's Netroots Nation in Austin TX must have hundreds of people getting eyestrain as they attempt to input 300 word blogposts on tiny Blackberry keyboards & iPhone touch screens.
Typical political blogger types range from angry, egotistical blowhards who get about 200 unique visitors per day (most staying under 10 seconds) to modest, conscientious newshounds who get about 200 unique visitors per day. With threads at the Kos website commonly running to 500+ comments, the most insignificant matter is covered from every angle. It's impossible to claim an original insight, much less a scoop. & if by chance one stumbles upon originality, the odds of anyone noticing are infinitesimal. Being a blogger is similar to being a poet except one doesn't have to be concerned with economy & line breaks. Poets have a saying, "Publishing a book of poetry is like tossing a feather into the Grand Canyon & listening for a echo."
Did I ever mention that my favorite book of American prose is the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (popular abridged version)? Grant was a great prose writer because he reputedly wrote the clearest, most concise orders & battle reports of any General in the Civil War, tailored for telegraph. There was no misunderstanding them. Of course, many of his orders bordered on criminally insane, in effect, "Commencing at 6 am, charge up the treeless slope in your front against entrenched enemy positions at the crest & be slaughtered. Repeat until the enemy runs out of men, you run out of men, or I order you to stop." More words than Grant would have used. I highly recommend Grant's book to political bloggers, or The Haiku Handbook by William J. Higginson for those using handheld devices. Other bloggers can stick with Ulysses by James Joyce & The Complete Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson.
Labels: about writing
