The Empire Strikes…second?

[Insert “First blog post!” type exclamation here.]

Cue the applause. I’ve finally placed my own foot inside the warm, wet and slippery world of digital media. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration. I’ve been using what the Web 2.0 has to offer, to a certain degree, at least. I use RSS feeds to keep a steady stream of news filling my Firefox sidebar. I look up videos on YouTube to satiate desires for laughter, excitement, curiosity, musical fulfillment, etc. And now, at long last, I’m going to let the thoughts I have about things like news articles and YouTube videos, among other things, materialize onto a blog – this blog. Go figure.

Firstly, in response to what Vincent, my esteemed colleague, wrote in his post earlier today (and this is with the utmost sarcasm) – thank you, I am an upstanding gentleman. Secondly, I share in his discomfort with the term “blog”. The format itself isn’t all that new or unfamiliar, but it certainly does carry along with it certain negative connotations that I think we will attempt to avoid.

This isn’t a LiveJournal – we won’t be discussing who, within our personal circles, did or said what. We will not discuss personal feelings; feelings are for pussies, no offense intended. Of course, if personal feelings involve relevant subject matter – readers can expect that at some point I will gush over this guitar player or that.

That said, this is a place to criticize. This is a place where I can flex my writing muscles without fear, as Vinny put it, of constant submission and revision. That is something I can leave for my graduate writing workshop classes, where I’m allowed, and even encouraged to get high and mighty about craft, plot threads and stories about my drunken ex-roommates. Here, I can write some good old fashioned, in-your-face articles, posts, rants, criticisms, reviews – whatever you want to call them, for the sake of writing them. And if I’m lucky, you might even be entertained.

Tune in next time, when we begin the figurative pummeling (or perhaps praising) of something someone else likes.

~Alex