Andy Warhol Plunging a Toilet
All posts by Splotchy
Interview: Birding and Impeachment Dreams
Splotchy: What is your blog?
Impeachment Birding: Impeachment and Other Dreams, though I had another blog about birding.
S: When and why did you start blogging?
IB: I started blogging about a year after George W. Bush won re-election in a shady way. So I started to dream of impeachment, and just went from there.
S: Did you stop blogging?
IB: Yes.
S: When did you stop blogging?
IB: When Obama was elected in 2008, it felt thing would be different—no more war crimes, no more outright robbery by war profiteers, and so forth. We finally had a president who could actually put words together in ways that made sense. It had been so long—8 years under the moron. I continued for a bit, changing the name in my banner to Other Dreams. But it wasn’t the same.
S: What were any factors that contributed to stopping?
IB: There wasn’t an endless stream of political bullshit like there had been under bush. I was happy with the young new president.
S: Do you ever miss it?
IB: Yes and no—it took a lot of time to craft posts. Lots of reading and research. In those days, I had this easy job in which I could have all my work done by around 10 a.m., so I just blogged and read other blogs until it was time to go home.
S: Do you think you’ll ever pick it up again? Why or why not?
IB: I don’t think I’d have time. Certainly not to do a political blog. I’d probably resurrect my birding blog first. But even that would be hard; I’m married with two young children now—Mateo, age 5, and Carina, who just turned 3. Plus my job for the last 10+ years keeps me incredibly busy most days.
S: How do you feel about social media? Does it give you the same feelings as blogging? Why or why not?
IB: No, not really. A lot of the old bloggers are on Facebook, but we kinda post short things, pictures from our lives. I don’t think any of us does research or anything; we just post fun stuff that’s going on. Or not so fun stuff. I feel like there’s so much noise on social media. You get more and more friends or you follow this or that person, and then you get this highly curated (and algorithm-determined) feed of friends’ posts and a ton of crap and advertising.
S: How do you feel about the state of the Internet in general? This is a very broad question, so feel free how to answer as you see fit.
IB: It seemed so interesting and fun in the early days. Now it’s just a shitshow, mostly. The “vast wasteland” that guy Newton Minow called TV. There are good things. If you like certain things like DIY or woodworking or blacksmithing, you can find YouTube channels, Reddit subs, or Instagram feeds to follow and not get that much garbage like you do on Facebook. And I won’t even talk about Twitter. Musk can go up in one of his rockets and stay there.
*****************
Thank you so much for these answers! I hope you are continuing your birding, and hope you never stop getting more lifers!! 🐦 ❤️
The Long, Forgotten History of the Brog
Blogs used to be everywhere. There are still pockets of them around, of course, but in the late 90s there were thousands. Have you ever wondered where they came from? Who was writing them, and why? And what’s the word “blog” even mean?
Despite the ubiquity of information in our modern age, it’s virtually impossible to uncover the genesis of the blog online. I hope to remedy that today.
First, they weren’t originally called “blogs”. The term “blog” is actually a bastardization of the word “brog”, which itself is an abbreviation of the word Balrog.
The above image is a very famous painting by the Brothers Hildebrandt, which accompanied the first known instance of slash fiction, Gandalf and the Balrog Go Mining. There were only 500 copies of this book printed by Grove Press in 1972. The author is uncredited and remains unknown to this day.
The story depicts a torrid, violent relationship between the Balrog and Gandalf the Grey in the Mines of Moria. The explosion depicted above is not a result of magic or fire, but, well, let’s just say the Balrog is having a great time.
As the Internet became a more active place, fans of the original slashfic began writing their own serialized stories online — as a community, they organically began calling them “Balrogs”, or “brogs” for short.
No detailed statistics are available regarding these “brogs”, but it’s widely agreed that these were the more common storylines:
- Frodo and Sam
- Aragorn and Legolas
- Gandalf and the Balrog (of course)
- Merry and Sam
- Gimli and Frodo
- Gimli and Aragorn
- Gimli and Sam
- Gimli and Legolas
- Gimli and Gollum
- Sam and Gollum
- Tom Bombadil and a tree
- Tom Bombadil and a tree that turns out to be an Ent
- All the Nazgûl
- Pippin and Beorn
- Gollum and Smeagol (time-travel)
- King Théoden and Wormtongue
- Gandalf and Saruman
- Gandalf and Saruman and Wormtongue
- Gandalf and Saruman and Wormtongue and King Théoden
- Boromir
There are many less-common slashfic stories, but they are mostly from The Silmarillion and are not considered essential.
There are some who strongly argue that Star Trek slashfic pre-dates Gandalf and the Balrog Go Mining, and point to the contemporaneous popularity of Star Trek slashfic online as a more culturally significant phenomena.
However, there is no known published slashfic of Star Trek that pre-dates Gandalf and the Balrog Go Mining. Admittedly, It is a fact that there was much Star Trek slashfic in the mid- to late-90s, but these stories were limited to LiveJournal and did not have the cultural reach of the brog.
***************
So, the next time you see a post you like on one of the few blogs remaining on the Internet, thank Gandalf, thank the Balrog, and thank the dark, hot Mines of Moria.
Excelsior!
Middle Earth Modernities
Interview: My Old Friend Andy
This one is a two-fer interview. Andy has a personal blog as well as a music blog.
I have known Andy for a ridiculous number of years. We’ve never personally met, but we’ve been in contact since the mid-90s! Our online relationship pre-dates my first marriage, my first blog, my first personal webpage, my first email address.
Andy had a mailing list dedicated to Galaxie 500 and its offshoot bands, Luna and Damon & Naomi. I have no memory how I found him or his list.
In the previous century, I was temping at a law school. I can’t remember if the person whose job I was doing was on leave or had left permanently, but it was so early in the Internet that the law school had me use her email address for any communications rather than give me my own.
I, uhhh… signed up for the G500 mailing list as her. If you somehow figure out how to look for the old Usenet group alt.fan.galaxie500 (or was it alt.fan.galaxie-500, can’t remember) you can see some posts from a Ms. Ivy W., aka me.
So, I have known Andy for as long as I’ve been on the Internet, which is crazy.
So, onto the interviews. First, his personal blog.
꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜꩜
Splotchy: What is your blog?
Andy: Everything’s Swirling
S: When and why did you start blogging?
A:
WHEN: The first post is from June 2003, it started in Blogger (I think I had some earlier short-lived attempts but this is the one that caught), spent a few years in WordPress and then moved into Jekyll in 2015.
WHY: It was the thing to do, it was really an online diary – I expect I’m the only one who reads it much!
S: Did you stop blogging?
A: No.
S: Do you feel part of a larger community when writing your blog?
A: No community at all, there never was, I’d occasionally get some feedback, comments, but this was more about individual posts rather than the blog itself. It probably didn’t help that its subject matter was so broad, so having long series of posts about Buffy The Vampire Slayer, or an obsession with musicians’ footwear, or Alfred Hitchcock films, probably made it difficult to generate any sort of community – removing the ability to comment/feedback probably contributed to this lack of connection – but the comment spam became intolerable and tiresome … and the only comments I was getting anyway!
S: Do you have people you regularly interact with? How large a group is it? Are they also bloggers?
A: A bit of reaction on social media, but very little – it has basically become me and my partner blogging at each other!!
S: What keeps you motivated to post?
A: To be honest my posting has tailed off of late – I have little sporadic flurries of posting but it’s pretty quiet (from 70 to 150 posts a few years ago to 38 last year (and most of those were a Christmas thing), 7 this year – there was only 1 in 2020 – I’ll blame COVID!! I keep posting because every so often I think I should … the ongoing Hitchcock series needs to finish and given how slow I’m getting through that it’ll keep things going for a few more years.
♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬
Splotchy: What is your blog?
Andy: A Head Full of Wishes (AHFoW)
S: When and why did you start blogging?
A:
WHEN: A Head Full of Wishes didn’t really start out as a blog, but it’s pretty much what it has become – up until the late 90s it had been mostly news and information and only very occasional opinion – the first foray into blogging for AHFoW was one I created for Luna’s farewell in 2005 – Luna’s Last Waltz was a multi-user blog (although mostly me) and only ran for three months or so – it was never intended to be a long-term thing. In 2006/7 I moved AHFoW into WordPress which is the time at which I guess it became closer to a traditional blog.
WHY: I’m not sure why, it was probably because by then the Galaxie 500 Mailing List was tailing off (more on that later) and it was an attempt to keep the community of Galaxie 500 etc. fans going. Ironically I guess it struggles a bit in that respect – but I can’t imagine not doing it. In 2015 I moved from WordPress to Jekyll – which didn’t handle comments by default and since, commenting had been pretty low, and mostly spam it didn’t seem to matter, although it was a nail in the coffin of the community I was hoping for,
S: Did you stop blogging?
A: No.
S: Do you feel part of a larger community when writing your blog?
A: Not part of a blogging community – but the community around the bands does exist, although community happens elsewhere (on social media… so more of that below too).
S: Do you have people you regularly interact with? How large a group is it? Are they also bloggers?
A: I have tried to foster community around AHFoW (using many different platforms, Reddit, BBS, Guestbooks, etc.) but it has really struggled. There are a few other music blogs that still seem to be around – but I’m not interacting with them particularly – so I guess I’m part of the problem. Most interaction around the blog is done via social media (1,700 followers on Twitter/X, 720 followers on Instagram, 1,700 followers on Facebook, 1,900 in FB group)
S: What keeps you motivated to post?
A: The bit of community there is is part of the motivation, but mostly I guess force of habit. The website first started in 1994 — so almost 30 years – I can’t imagine not doing it.
♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬♩♪♬
S: A couple general questions, around social media and the Internet. How do you feel about social media? Does it give you the same feelings as blogging? Why or why not?
A: Social Media has become a scourge, it should have been the saviour, but because it is RUN by people whose values are different from mine it’s become something we’re stuck with (see Cory Doctorow’s The Enshittification of TikTok). It is also USED by people who have a different agenda – which is mostly at odds with my own.
I am stuck with Facebook and Twitter because it is the main reach for AHFoW – and without them it would have no audience at all – so I’m stuck there – and users don’t leave Facebook’s walled garden, so it ends up with me posting (almost) full posts there otherwise people wouldn’t read what I write at all (and I do like to think I am being read). But it’s not blogging – it has different motivations and it very rarely has the depth or thought that goes into blogging.
But worse that that, social media has become an unpleasant place to be and because it has become so broken, I am somewhat losing the skill of “social” and “community”. It’s become a marketing platform for everyone… and sadly that’s all it has become for me (and I hate that). I miss the past. Social media has made it harder for me to be social.
I never really embraced Facebook – but I did love Twitter, in the earlier days it did feel genuinely communal – but it was taken over by commerce, journalism, citizen journalism, and knee-jerk haters looking for arguments – people behave appallingly on there now, so much disrespectful and careless behaviour that I tend to be a pusher these days rather than a part of it.
S: How do you feel about the state of the Internet in general? This is a very broad question, so feel free how to answer as you see fit.
A: I think my last paragraph above about social media applies to the Internet in general but here goes:
I love:
- That I am never lost.
- That I can find restaurants and cafes when I need to.
- That I know when the next train or bus will be, and if it’s been delayed.
- The bit of community that I can still find.
- Finding and discovering music and old films.
- Wikipedia and The Internet Archive and Musicbrainz …
- Some bloggers still managing on to the past.
- That I can identify that flower or bird or bit of music.
I hate:
- The death of the fan website 🙂 – and the community that existed around it.
- Capitalism – so many adverts.
- The hate and the disrespect.
- That so much is broken by advertising and capitalism (most search results are infected with advertising).
- The platform it gives to bad people.
- The misinformation and lies that are spread and treated as fact.
- The noise (and the lack of signal)
**********************
Thanks so much for these very thoughtful answers, Andy. I know the Internet can be a sad, lonely place, but I’m so happy we found each other. You are special. ❤️
Some Kinda Listening Party
First, let me start off by saying “SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”
Holy crap, it’s a Velvet Underground covers record by my favorite band! I had no idea it was coming until they released a few singles. I think I might have seen that they played an all-covers show (this is a live album), but I try not to pay too close attention to live shows they play on the East Coast, because it makes me bummed I’m not nearby to see them.
They had a recent show where their alter-ego band The Willies opened. I seriously talked with my wife about buying a ticket to see them. I didn’t, though. [sad face]
Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah. Squeeeeeee!! This isn’t a review so much as a celebration, and me just talking about songs I love being played by a band that I love. SO LET’S GO!
Track 1 – “Sunday Morning” – from The Velvet Underground & Nico
Ahh, “Sunday Morning”. First song off the first album. I’m assuming Dave is playing the xylophone. One of those uncommon songs where Lou Reed sang in super-tender mode. The guitar solo near the end is great.
Track 2 – “Who Loves the Sun” – from Loaded
Love “Who Loves The Sun” coming right after “Sunday Morning”. Love the backup vocals. This is my favorite VU song sung by Doug Yule.
Track 3 – “There She Goes Again” – from The Velvet Underground & Nico
Kind of weird to hear this, as the R.E.M. cover has been the dominant “There She Goes Again” cover for me for decades. A lot closer to the original, but Glenn doesn’t sing “Better hit her!”. It takes a lot of the (misogynistic) snarl out of the song, and I don’t know how I feel about that. I know I very well might not sing it either – maybe I’d sing “Better hit her – [gesturing broadly to the audience] BUT YOU KNOW, THOSE WERE DIFFERENT TIMES.”
Either way, it’s better than Michael Stipe’s indecipherable treatment of that line. What the heck was he saying, anyways?
Another great guitar solo in this cover. The song has wonderful momentum.
Track 4 – “What Goes On” – from The Velvet Underground
SO different than the more sped-up, march-like version on Only Life. This has more of the irresistible swing of the original. And that two-guitar solo is [chef’s kiss emoji]! I know they have played this song live with Lou on at least one occasion, wondering which version it was closer to.
Track 5 – “Sweet Jane” – from Loaded
I wasn’t watching the tracklist, and didn’t realize what the song was with the intro. After they kicked in, I realized they were doing the intro from Loaded. If there is a groove that is perfectly made for the Feelies, it’s this song.
I noticed they stuck with the original, non deluxe boxed-set version, which doesn’t have the restored “Heavenly wine and roses” part. Admittedly, that bridge fits better with the slower rendition of the song found on 1969, as well as the Cowboy Junkies cover (which I assume is covering the 1969 version).
I think the “Heavenly” bridge does kind of detract from the faster version, though I love when they kick into the “La La La La” part on the VU original. Still, the “La La La” part might not be good enough to warrant the slower bridge [shrugs]. Why am I still talking about this? It’s not in the Feelies version. MOVE ON.
Track 6 – “Head Held High” – from Loaded
“Head Held High” has never been one of favorite Velvets songs, but the Feelies make it into a nice barn-burner.
Track 7 – “I’m Waiting For The Man” – from The Velvet Underground & Nico
This cover of “I’m Waiting For The Man” is more frantic than the original, like the singer is waiting for his speed dealer instead of weed. Wait, Wikipedia says the man was a heroin dealer. What the hell? I was sure it was about a weed dealer – I thought I read that in an interview somewhere. This recording is an interesting contrast to the pounding-piano version on the first Velvets album, and the much looser and languid one found on 1969.
Side note: Why did Lou Reed never record a song called “Wikipedia Says”?
Track 8 – “White Light/White Heat” – from White Light/White Heat
I never really liked the song “White Light/White Heat”! Yes, I’m a monster. I like this version better than the Velvets’ one. Did I mention I’m a monster? Because I am.
Track 9 – “I Heard Her Call My Name” – from White Light/White Heat
I didn’t hear Glenn sing “And then my mind split open” which is my favorite part of the original. Still, the mind-splitting guitar in this cover was lovely.
Track 10 – “New Age” – from Loaded
I’ve always thought “New Age” was kinda corny. Didn’t change my mind with this cover. I think a buddy of mine might have made me embarrassed to like this song many years ago and I never recovered. (see also “Like the Weather” by 10,000 Maniacs)
Track 11 – “That’s the Story of My Life” – from The Velvet Underground
Oh man, I love this song so much. Every band should cover this. Okay, maybe not Coldplay. Coldplay, you stay away from this song.
Track 12 – “All Tomorrow’s Parties” – from The Velvet Underground & Nico
So happy they covered this. So great. Wasn’t surprised they hit it so hard, it’s in the same vein as “Tomorrow Today” off The Good Earth. If I could take a brief detour from this listening party to direct you to another awesome cover of this song by the under-mentioned Athens, GA band The Method Actors, it’s here for the listening.
Track 13 – “Rock and Roll” – from Loaded
Love to hear a fast version of “Rock and Roll”!!!!
Track 14 – “We’re Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together” – from Another View
I’ve seen them do this live before! For whatever reason, in previous posts I’ve written about seeing The Feelies live, I’d use a cover they played that night as the post title. Love the original, love this cover.
“NAH, NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH, NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH!“
Track 15 – “Run, Run, Run” – from The Velvet Underground & Nico
Not one of my favs on the first album, but it’s got so much kinetic energy here, a nice rave-up,
Track 16 – “I Can’t Stand It” – from VU
Probably my favorite opening song to any Velvets record, and it’s not even a real studio release. They could do this for 20 minutes and I wouldn’t get tired of it.
I was trying to work out how the Feelies did the chorus different than the original. It was driving me a little crazy.
The “I can’t stand it any more more” chorus of the Feelies’ cover and the original both last for 6 measures of 4/4. For sanity’s sake, let’s divide the chorus into 3 musical phrases of 8 beats each. “I can’t stand it any more more” is sung in each of the 3 musical phrases.
The chorus of the Feelies cover is sung on the second beat of every 8 beat phrase. It’s pretty straightforward and easy to keep time with.
The rhythm of the chorus sounds way different in the VU original. Lou Reed does something in the original that always knocks me off balance. WAIT. Holy crap. He sings it in the exact same places as the cover – he starts on the second beat of each 8-beat phrase.
I think it’s the guitars that throw me off in the original — they stop doing a steady 4/4-based strumming and just kinda go crazy. Wait, it’s the guitars AND the bass too. The bass has solid hits on beats 5 and 6 of the 8 beat phrase. That’s what always me throws me off. I catch myself trying to count out a time signature like 6/4 because of the juxtaposition of the vocals on beat 2/8 with the bass notes on beats 5/8 and 6/8.
Oh, while writing this post, I realized Lou Reed covered this himself on his first solo album. I knew he had re-recorded VU songs that never made it onto studio releases, but I hadn’t sought them out, and I honestly am not familiar with all his catalog (I know Transformer/The Blue Mask/New York really well, the others less so or not at all).
His solo version of the song starts like they are going to rip into Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild”. He sings the chorus in the same place as the other versions, but there are drum hits on beats 7/8 and 8/8 which make it really easy to follow and not get your ears scrambled.
Wow, that was a digression. Well it’s one of my favorite songs, I like talking about it.
Oh, one more thing! I notice the Feelies say “it’s hard being a man/living in a garbage can”, while on the original and Lou’s cover it’s “garbage pail”. I always loved how they didn’t go for the obvious rhyme, but when the hell did people ever call anything a garbage pail? Okay, there’s at least one I can think of.
Track 17 – “After Hours” – from The Velvet Underground
“After Hours”. Ahhhhh. Lovely. I like this song a lot. Who doesn’t? Happy to have it here, but also happy that it’s not the last song.
Track 18 – “Oh! Sweet Nuthin'” – from Loaded
I always kinda thought this original song wasn’t the best. Unlike “Who Loves The Sun”, I didn’t like Doug Yule’s vocal performance nearly as much here. Kinda maudlin. I liked the cover version a lot better, and loved it as a closer to this completely (by me) unexpected record.
********************
Not to look a gift record in the mouth, but here are a few covers I’d love to have seen:
From the Velvet Undergound & Nico:
Nothing, you got ’em all covered for me!
From White Light/White Heat:
“Here She Comes Now”
From the The Velvet Underground:
“Beginning To See The Light”
“Pale Blue Eyes” (Mostly because Dead Letter Office had a cover of this too, I could take it or leave it otherwise)
“Some Kinda Love” (It’s right there in the album title fer cryin’ out loud!)
From Loaded:
“Cool It Down” (this is my probably favorite song off the album, even more than “Sweet Jane “or “Rock and Roll”!)
From VU:
“Foggy Notion”
“Andy’s Chest” (THIS WOULD BE SOOO DAMN FAST)
From Another View:
Nothing really from here. Luna covered “Ride Into The Sun” on their first EP. I didn’t really see the charm in the original that it needed to be covered, but what do I know. Their cover of Beat Happening’s “Indian Summer” on the same EP is one of my all-time favorites.
From Squeeze:
I do not know this album! HOWEVER: I was in a prog rock band in college (I’m sorry), and there was this guitarist in my band whose absolute favorite band was Yes. He was trying to relate to my slightly different music tastes and was showing me some of his vinyl collection. He said, “Hey, you like the Velvet Underground, right? I have one of their albums right here!” [holds up Squeeze]
********************
To conclude this listening party, I want to leave you with two things.
- I am so, so thankful for this record. I’m so thankful that I have been able to see my favorite band multiple times, who for a long time I thought were broken up forever and had given up seeing live in any context, or getting any new material for that matter.
- Listen to how Siri pronounces “The Feelies”
Looking At The Pop Eye
Splotchy: What is your blog?
BeckEye: The Pop Eye
S: When and why did you start blogging?
B: I started blogging in June 2005. I always wanted to be a writer but I never had the discipline or patience to make a career of it. And I was always concerned that doing it for a living would suck the fun out of it. Blogging gave me an excuse to write everyday and the opportunity to have my ramblings seen by people other than me and my friends/family.
S: Did you stop blogging?
B: Yes.
S: When did you stop blogging?
B: My last post was May 23, 2012.
S: What were any factors that contributed to stopping?
B: Social media was an easier way for everyone to share their thoughts with the world. It felt like blogs (other than the biggies) weren’t really popular anymore. My readership and engagement had fallen quite a bit since the “glory days.” I used to do American Idol recaps that got a huge amount of attention. But by my blog’s final year, I was lucky to get one or two comments on a recap. It just felt like no one cared about any of my thoughts on pop culture anymore, and that includes me! I had been freelance writing/blogging for a couple of entertainment sites, one of which was a straight up gossip site. I remember one week having to write five or six different posts about the Sandra Bullock/Jesse James divorce scandal. Things like that really got under my skin and burned me out on the pop culture/entertainment world.
S: Do you ever miss it?
B: Yes, sometimes. I definitely miss that huge spike in traffic during AI season! There were some great things that came out of the experience, like getting to do a guest post for the official Project Runway blog, and covering the Walking Dead attraction at Halloween Horror Nights (that included a free trip to Florida and dinner with Greg Nicotero). I also miss the camaraderie between folks in the blogging community.
S: Do you think you’ll ever pick it up again? Why or why not?
B: I doubt it. For one, I lost nearly all of the Photoshops I created for my posts in a Google/Blogger syncing debacle. I’m still not over that! I lost some of the artwork for my template too, so if you look at my blog now it’s in a generic format and all the pictures are missing. I suppose I could fix that if I really wanted to, but I just don’t see the point. It’s a lot easier to communicate with people and put stuff out there on social media. And most of the friends I met through blogging are Facebook and/or real life friends now, so I don’t feel the need to keep doing it to keep that sense of community alive.
S: How do you feel about social media? Does it give you the same feelings as blogging? Why or why not?
B: I don’t think sharing on social media gives me the SAME feeling as blogging. Pretty much everyone uses social media but not everyone had a blog. It took a little more effort and attention for someone to seek out and read a blog, whereas it’s the easiest thing in the world to scroll through your FB or Twitter feed to see what everyone’s thinking. But I think social media’s daily presence in our lives actually can help create a tighter-knit community.
S: How do you feel about the state of the Internet in general? This is a very broad question, so feel free how to answer as you see fit.
B: The Internet is just the best and the worst, isn’t it? It’s so great to be able to have information on demand, connect with people, discover new things, see all the amazing content that people create, or just waste an entire day watching dog videos. But the flip side of that is the proliferation of “fake news,” “alternative facts,” and all of the arguing and division that comes along with that. Everyone thinks they’re an expert. Everyone thinks they’re a content creator. You used to have to have an original thought in your head to attract an audience. Stealing material used to be considered bad. But no one cares about originality or talent anymore. Nothing is real. Everything is recorded. Everyone is performing. It’s frustrating, but if you can navigate through all the nonsense and know which platforms to avoid, the pros of being online outweigh the cons.
***************
Thank you, BeckEye, for these wonderful answers!!
Jonathan Richman Dressed as a Wizard
Flannery Alden: The Interview
Splotchy: What is your blog?
Flannery Alden: Prone to Whimsy
S: When and why did you start blogging?
FA: I started sometime in 2003. I was at a new job, in a new city, pregnant with my second child with my first child being a year and a half. I started blogging after attending a presentation on education technology at the training we provided. This guy (I cannot for the life of me remember his name) talked about “web logging” or “blogging” and it sounded super fun to me. I love to write but what I love more is to be read and to connect with others over things that I was interested in. I started in some goofy platform at first but then moved over to Blogspot or Blogger or whatever the google it is now. Big Orange (Frying Bacon in the Nude – Now private) and I have been friends since college and he also loves writing. It was really the best kind of adult engagement I could have at that stage of my life. Big Orange Doc (Shawn Shaw), my first husband, and I started up Social Zymurgy: A Culture of Beer, which is the kind of chewy title and ten dollar verbiage that Big Orange favored. Doc was also a writer and loved telling stories and enjoying their reaction. He eventually took it over completely. Content Warning: Doc’s suicide note was auto-posted there a couple of days after his death, which was both the kind of prank he enjoyed but also insanely cruel). Doc and I also participated in Flash Fiction Friday, which was a great outlet for creativity and taught me how to write stories well and that limitations make art better somehow.
S: Did you stop blogging?
FA: Yes, I believe so. This is not my last post, but probably the epilogue to the story of Prone To Whimsy, which stands as a testimony of my life as a parent.
S: When did you stop blogging?
FA: November 8, 2020 is my last post, however, I stopped once I left that job and Facebook emerged. It was probably more around 2011 when it was no longer a daily or weekly practice.
S: What were any factors that contributed to stopping?
FA: Oh, for sure Facebook did me in for blogging. I could get the kind of interaction and play I loved so much, but superpowered there. I was able to quickly find other bloggers and poke them. We were able to really kind of pull down the walls that blogging provided and start feeling more like we were in each other’s lives instead of just reading each other’s stories. I wanted to bring the blogging friendships into my life harder. I had found people who were my age and of my generation who had a lot of the same interests and perspectives that I have but have always felt absent in my life locally. As an only child, I crave the connection of common experience and maybe even a feeling of siblinghood.
When I started my job in 2007, I had to travel quite a bit and every time I hit the road, I’d reach out to the folks in the blog-o-sphere and see if anyone wanted to meet up. I was inspired by Some Guy, who went on a road trip to meet and interview bloggers in our circle. I’ve been to Colorado to meet Skyler’s Dad and Kristi Love, Atlanta for a Cup of Coffey, New York City to meet Coaster Punchman, Poor George, and Beckeye and then CP and PG in San Diego a couple of times and Beckeye in Pittsburgh, I got to meet VikkiTikkiTavi and Rick in Los Angeles shortly after Doc passed. I got to meet Cormac Brown in San Francisco and Bubs and Amanda a few times but never Frank Sirmarco in Chicago. I did get to meet Frank’s friend Guido at the famous Club Lago in Chicago. I also have met up with Dr. Monkey Muck and Sparky in Johnson City, Evil Genius and Red here at home. Each and every one of them is who they were on paper and then some. Most of these folks I found via Grant Miller Media (Blog Godfather), who I got to meet in Florida. When I first started blogging, I wanted to find other blogs, so I hit the “next blog” button on blogspot and found myself staring at the black and white photo of a very stern white man in a lab coat and thought I will love this. And I did. The rest has been magic, including having Skyler’s Dad marry my now partner, Dax, and I and Cup of Coffey be in the wedding party! I found Dax via a private facebook group that included a lot of Chris and Beth and lots of other blogger friends and their friends.
S: Do you ever miss it?
FA: I do but not in that yearning way of wanting to go back. Blogging took the loneliness out of my life. Reading about your lives and then having a lot of your stories literally coming to life was the fulfillment of every reader’s dream, or mine anyway. It was a good discipline and outlet for my life at the time which was full of stress and chaos. It was where I could go and be me and people liked that. I loved participating in the Green Monkey Music Project and Flash Fiction Friday. It was fun and collaborative and thoughtful.
S: Do you think you’ll ever pick it up again? Why or why not?
FA: I no longer feel the pull to blogging. I’m sitting here at 52, surrounded by the most precious diamonds of people, the finest kind. And I get to see their stories unfold and interact in those stories every day, more organically. There is no driving need at the moment to rekindle or retreat to blogging. For me, the connection was the most important piece of blogging. I do still enjoy writing, but I’m tired. I like sharing my life and thoughts in shorter doses and visually too. That’s not to say that if a blogger comes calling for a post, I won’t be there; I will…with bells on, as Vikki so taught me to do.
S: Did you feel part of a larger community when writing your blog?
FA: I did indeed. But they are still around me.
S: Do you have people you regularly interact with? How large a group is it? Are they also bloggers?
FA: Every day! It’s a fairly large group, I feel like. Most of my core friends are bloggers, workmates, and theater people.
S: What keeps you motivated to post, whether on a blog or social media?
FA: I have always loved “a day in the life” kinds of content and that’s what motivates me to post. I don’t have the best memory and I always used to turn my nose up at nostalgia. But now, I want to remember the good things, mark them down for posterity. I love viewing the memories feature on Facebook that goes back 15 years or so and contain those little moments of my kids’ lives that I recorded. I also like to pass some of those moments along as I find them to my adult children now to give them back some of their childhood that was interrupted quite ruthlessly by their father’s suicide. I want them to see notions and events with me or their dad or with each other so they and I can have those memories reinforced. I know trauma erases a lot; I’m doing what I can to repair and refill those empty or misunderstood places. I’m grateful to have the old blogs, which will persist, where they can explore their life through their parents’ eyes if they want. But mainly, I want them to know how loved they always have been and how amazing they always will be. They were born that way.
S: How do you feel about social media? Does it give you the same feelings as blogging? Why or why not?
FA: Social media is a tool. It really should be the invisible vehicle that supports connection and creativity. I would say that I do have many of the same feelings, but more pint-sized and more frequent; maybe a microdose of the joy that blogging would give. I know people talk a lot of shit about social media, as they should, because that will make it better. I’m in the tech biz and I know that the makers of the platforms are watching every move we make, trying to make it work better for us or be more attractive, or, worse, habitual or addictive, so that they can keep us engaged with their advertising. These are free platforms and when the platforms are free, YOU are the product. I keep that in mind, knowing that this key tool is handing over the enduring legacy of my life and family as fodder for big business. So I don’t say too much that’s deep in my heart, but then I don’t need to; I can now afford therapy. The purpose of social media in my life is to maintain my network of beautiful and thoughtful people who love me and get me as much as I do them. If that means I tolerate ads that are targeted to me, then so be it. For once, this capitalistic relationship feels balanced. I get real value for the price of my information.
S: How do you feel about the state of the Internet in general? This is a very broad question, so feel free how to answer as you see fit.
FA: The state of the internet is really much the same as it was back in the glory days of blogging. People are looking ahead with trepidation about the powers of AI and what that means for us as humans and creators. From where I sit, a lot of this is machine learning, which isn’t as sophisticated as people fear it to be. However, it is starting to encroach on creative territory and being paid for good content is something that artists are no strangers to. Because the fine arts can be consumed by anyone, some people assume that it must also be easy to mass produce. I expect this isn’t the last time talented people will need to band together and strike out against those who do not value creative work as work. But I’m here for it. I make my living using it. It will never be perfect, but that’s what I kind of like about it, it’s absolute unruliness. But, really, we are its stewards and it’s up to us to remind the powers that be that from time to time. We also need to care for it and each other because the internet gives us super-powered fuel to be closer than ever.
*******************
Thanks so much for this interview, Flannery!
13 Days of Halloween Families
In November 2020 , my wife Carla left behind an unforgiving, brutal digital marketing job to focus on art. She started Thunder Moon Studio, selling watercolor art at local fairs and farmer markets. She recently branched out to teaching art as well.
Earlier this year she participated in a 100 day project, which was a very broad and general global art project where participants would commit to doing something artistic for 100 days straight. Some people learned a song, some people wrote poems, some people took photographs, etc. Carla made art.
In addition to making the art, inspired by meeting the warm and kind George Berlin, who described how he liked to leave tiny pieces of art around places he would visit, we also hid each of these hundred pieces in our hometown. I would typically hide the pieces and take a few photographs to give clues as to where to find them, and Carla would post about them on social media.
A lot of people ended up participating, and all the art was found (some were gone in minutes!).
That project ended in June. We had discussed doing something for Halloween. One day seemed a little short, so Carla suggested we do the thirteen days leading up to Halloween.
I had the idea to make multiple pieces for each day rather than one. Similar to the 100 day project, we would post clues on social media to find the first monster. The only way to find the monster’s family would be a clue we would include with the first picture.
I was really happy to be a small part in Carla’s project. This is what makes me happy — bringing some magic and joy into the world for no other reason than that — magic and joy.
Here are the monsters and their families.
Love, Splotchy (and Carla)
