Currently pushing: The Bechdel Test. I thought I was late to the party on this one but I found out about it a few months ago and have been asking around to see who else knew it. Very few people in my circle apparently. So here it is: The Bechdel Rule states that a film must follow these three rules: (1) It includes at least two women (2) who at some point talk to each other (3) about something other than a man.
Alison Bechdel, the creator of the rule, said this during an io9 interview from 2008, "For me, the Rule is kind of like feminism in a bottle -- applied theory, quick and easy. I think whatever name one gives it, the rule should be applied to everything everywhere, including real life." Here's the comic in which the rule originally appeared, written in 1985.
Holy crap, I somehow missed my ten year blogoversary. I started blogging in October of 2000 and whiffed on the big date last year by four months. That must mean something. There was no party or confetti like I thought there would be. Maybe I can plan something with pizza and laptops. But that might infringe on my dream bachelor party scenario. Well, either way, happy tenth blogging anniversary to me!
I started my first blog while interning at A.Magazine, which is now defunct and a distant memory. It was my first job out of college and many of my posts described office life. Like the time Curtis from Big Brother Season 1 used my desk to participate in an online chat. That was a brush with famousness. Throughout the decade, my blog has basically been my best friend. Or at least the friend I've been most dedicated to. I mean, I have thrown hundreds of thousands of words at it, it's always been there for me, and it's led directly to my writing career. What else can I ask for? "His best friend was his blog," would actually make for a pretty pathetic epitaph actually. I better work on fixing that.
Sometimes people ask me what's the point of having such a long running blog. Well, just the other day a friend told me about how her family still has her (great?) grandmother's diaries. By reading them, my friend found out about stuff like their shared love of films and how her grandmother would trek into town to see the latest movies. That's pretty rad right? One day my great nephews/nieces or something will find out that we share the same passion for Wizard of Oz. Except the version they're familiar with would have starred CGI versions of Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. Or I guess Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus?
I keep reading about the death of blogging and even if the naysayers are correct, I refuse to believe it. Okay, fine, almost everyone I used to follow has stopped blogging. And among my friends, maybe ten percent remain committed bloggers from our heyday ten years ago. Now it's all about Facebook and Twitter or nothing at all. People are over the novelty of sharing, and blogging is now a thing that sucks away time and energy. I can't even say I'm sad because these days I'm just happy when anyone posts. The other day my friend mentioned that he might resurrect his blog -- defunct since 2006 -- and I wanted to reach across the country and give him a hug.
Lately I've been recommending that people start Tumblrs versus blogs. It's theoretically the same thing of course but the ease of use of Tumblr, and the simple way to follow and "like" things wins out for the casual user. Actually Tumblr isn't even for the casual user anymore as major magazines, professionals of all types, and celebrities are all Tumblr-ing away. I mean, check out Dianna Argon's Tumblr, which is all sorts of normal looking except for the Glee people and movie star stuff on it. Tumblr is the new coolness. But something will come along to take that away from Tumblr and Blogger will still remain. My loyalty for Blogger is pretty deep, and really, shouldn't Google be hiring me to say this over and over? Oh wait, I already do this, for free.
"This saturation of opinion dripped into the personal blogging sphere as well, with Tumblr, Facebook and Twitter becoming the preferred mode for oversharing, the sharing sort of being the point, and aggregation.
To establish the very basics, the personal blog took the form of a passive Web site that offered a glimpse into one's inner life to anyone interested, whereas these networks broadcast these thoughts to friends, who would presumably be best suited to receive them, and who in turn used these networks over the others, without having to trudge through, say, Wordpress."
-The End of Blogging-
