A Return to Victorian Values

Everything is cyclical, don't you think? If there's one certainty other than death and taxes it's that crap long-dead trends will at some point inevitably be dredged up by a eager doe-eyed audience too young to remember how rubbish they were in the first place.

Examples. Flares. The Clangers. George Bush. Furry boots. Asymmetric haircuts. Socialist Worker's Party. Dungeons & Dragons.

But why not take the longer term view? Why not eschew the last few centuries of progress altogether and return to the days when Britannia ruled the waves; the era of Upstanding, Courageous and Morally Sound Gentlemen with Prodigous Facial Hair?

You could start by visiting The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Since 2003, this blog has been putting up a diary entry from Pepys' famous journals every day. How postmodern is that?

Hemingway Chimes In

The debate over the democratization of the media is nothing new. In fact, this kind of controversy has dogged writers since the days of quills and inkwells. Ernest Hemingway, were he alive today, might ask the blogging masses to consider his 'iceberg principle':

"If a writer of prose knows enough about what he is writing about he may omit things that he knows and the reader, will have a feeling of those things as strongly as though the writer had stated them. The dignity of movement of the iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. The writer who omits things because he does not know them only makes hollow places in his writing."

On the other hand, many of our literary greats were incredibly prolific and varied in their writing. Consider the output of Victorian heavyweights such as Charles Dickens and, er, Sir Richard Burton.

My two cents? I think my heart would love to fall for Iain Dale to be right, but my head can't help but side with Burton. The most interesting Blogs are the ones written from the inside: Salam Pax in Baghdad; The Captain Ed Blog, which broke a media gag order to show Canadians just how corrupt their (now defeated) government were; and our very own Guido Fawkes.

After all, if information is currency, then third-hand-information is the New Zealand Dollar.

Meadows, my Self and I

In the spirit of the Blogosphere, this post is entirely composed of things stolen from other sources.

I was going to write an intelligent, reasoned critique of Daniel Meadows' lecture on digital storytelling, but then I read Martin's post which said everything I was thinking in a more structured and eloquent way. If I tried to write up my own thoughts, Martin's words would end up coming from my keyboard. So instead, I will direct you to it.

On another note, the 'are blogs rubbish' debate: author and raconteur Will Self interviewed by our very own Alex Phillips. For Self, blogs are an "exacerbation of narcisstic tendencies within our culture" and responsible for the weakening of societal bonds. Have a listen.