This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera cellphone (which I bought in 2004). This blog is one of the transitions for the new year. I've started it This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera cellphone (which I bought in 2004). This blog is one This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004 sounds (already), old, scratched, a little battered, like my camera This is a weird time of year. Here in Berkeley it's a gorgeous day, sunny, though chilly. The magnolias are already blooming. It's not spring yet, not even winter. The looming New Year makes a guy think about transitions, the passage of time, new stuff—the usual. The numeral 2005 sounds new—shiny and pristine, just out of the box, wheareas 2004

[About]


[Blogroll]

Anders Fagerjord
Bay Area Bloggers
Berkeley Blogs
Bloggerdydoc
Doug Miller
Jill's Definition of Weblog
Jonas Luster
Laughing Squid
Mark Bernstein
Moleskinerie
Tant Mieux
The Dynamist
The Year of Coffee Blog

[Go]

Send Me Email

Other Berkeley Blogs






<< #
Blogs That Flickr
? >>
Blogcritics: news and reviews
Who Links Here

Go: [ Home | Previous | Archive | Gods & Myths | Cafes | Coffee | People | Arts ]

Cold Start

2:54 PM Friday, June 10, 2005

[Frankly, Scarlett, I DO give a damn]

It's been six days since I posted the last article to the Coffeblog, and I don't have a clue about what I'm going to write about. This time, I decided, I'm going to start with a blank slate (a blank brain?) and see what comes out.

I suppose that this is some kind of blogger's block, a subject about which I've written before. I also suppose that it's part of some kind of cycle of creativity which has its dry spells. Perhaps it has to do with a cyclic waning of interest in the topics I've covered before.

Another thing that comes up are the blogger's questions how long? and how often? Up to now I've been writing roughly twice a week and long items as blogs go. [Pause briefly here as latte-fueled neurotransmitters reconnect neural networks.]

Aha! I suddenly realize what's going on here. The part I haven't told you yet is that I've been reading a lot more blog headlines than previously during the past week, especially super-popular blogs such as Technorati's Top 100. My head is spinning. What I've taken into my brain is not simply headlines or news items or opinions, or Flickr images, but a whole way of processing complex information. It's like watching the final Star Wars episode, which I saw about ten days ago. It's not just Jedi and hero myths. It's a way of using the human brain, qualitatively and quantitatively different from Gone with the Wind. An example: what has more ultimate cultural significance in Sith? The dialog between Anakin and Padme during their tender moments together, or the little flying creatures (robots?) that buzzed around on the lava planet, with apparent total irrelevance to the duel being fought between good and evil. My vote is for the flying creatures.

Terry Teachout, an established 20th Century arts journalist who has not only made the transition from print media to blogger, but has written about the importance of the transition, has much to say about the impact that blogs are having on culture. To which I will add: don't ignore the little flying creatures.

| Technorati tags:

Go: [ Home | Previous | Archive | Gods & Myths | Cafes | Coffee | People | Arts ]

Copyright ©2004-2005 Jonathan David Leavitt