George Orwell is starting a blog!

Wait a minute, you're asking yourself, isn't Orwell dead? (At least I'm guessing that's what you're asking yourself...that's what I'd be asking myself...how am I supposed to know what you're asking yourselves? You expect too much of me.) But I digress...

The Orwell Prize is going to be publishing George Orwell's diaries, in blog form, starting August 9th. Originally written 9 August 1938 and continuing on until 1942, each diary entry will be published 70 years to the date after it was written.

For a long time I considered him to be my favourite writer (I still count Homage to Catalonia as one of my favourite books) so I for one am very excited to have this glimpse into his life and thoughts.

The blog can be read here.

Not an Apology.

I've been remiss lately with the whole "new blog entries" thing, particularly the "me writing new blog entries instead of just linking to something else" thing and while I should probably apologise to any loyal readers (do I have any?) I don't really care to. If I did care, I'd be writing more, wouldn't I? Seriously, what can you expect from a guy whose name is an anagram for Herb Pants Eh?

Anyhow, now that's out of the way, I'll continue on with letting other people provide the content...

Oh, forget it, I can't even be bothered to find something interesting right now.

Later.

One Year Old!

One year ago today I posted my first blog entry here. That means today is my blog's first birthday. Sing for it. Does that mean my blog will be entering the terrible twos? Sometime in the next year my blog should become whiny and oppositional or whatever else is supposed to happen then. Look forward to it.

Blogsistentialism!

Based on the dearth of new entries, you can probably tell that I haven't had much interest in writing here of late. For a number of reasons, I seem to be running out of steam with blogging. I'm not sure if it's seasonal or personal, but I just haven't felt like writing, like forcing myself to come up with new entries, interesting or otherwise. I'm far too careful and guarded a person to write openly and honestly about personal matters here and lately that's where my mind has been. And because that's where my mind has been, I haven't really been bothered about writing the usual trite fluff that ends up here, which in turn makes me ask myself, why bother at all? A couple of times in the past couple of weeks my finger has been hovering over the delete button, yet for whatever reason, I hesitate. It's only vanity to think that my blog actually matters, when there are roughly twelve million three hundred and forty two thousand, six hundred and eighty seven other blogs, many of them well and thoughtfully written and more deserving of your time, dealing with important issues and not just recycling humourous You Tube videos and funny stories I come across on the interweb. I realise that friends and family read this, and part of my original reason for writing a blog was so that people I'm not very good at staying in touch with would know what's going on in my life. But as I wrote earlier, I don't really write about personal issues here, so after reading this, they still won't really know what's going on in my life. Here's a novel idea: take the time I spend blogging and use that towards keeping in touch with the people that matter to me. Don't worry (there's that vanity again) I'm not going to do anything rash like delete it all right now. I'm going to think about it a bit, see if maybe it's just a phase or if my interest will reawaken. Who knows, maybe I'll be back stronger than ever. Maybe I'll even write about something that really matters to me or means something to me. But don't be too surprised if I don't either. Until then, muchachos, keep on keeping on.

Blocked!

If I write about not having anything to write about, does that then mean I am lying?

A Wee Break...

Sorry for the inconvenience. Normal service will resume presently...

Life's Big Questions #1

Why does the Blogger spell check always tell me that the word "blog" is misspelled?

Why Blog?

On the phone yesterday, my Mom told me that she and my brother had had a conversation about why someone would write a blog, or a diary or journal for that matter. Since then I've been thinking about it and this is what I've come up with. As with most endeavours there is more than one reason. I have friends scattered to the winds, friends that I don't do as good a job of keeping in touch with as I ought to, so this is one way for them to keep up with what's going on in my life, should they so desire. As well, I like writing and don't do as much as I'd like to, so by having a blog it forces me to be more disciplined and regular with my writing. Writing is a great way to analyze what is going on inside your head, though I'm not sure how applicable that is here, as I haven't been getting too personal.

On some level though, and this feels most important to me right now, keeping a blog is about having a voice. As my friend Clay says:

"It's like having your own magazine- your own incredibly boring magazine. Maybe it's actually more like a brochure. To me it's amazing though. I've never had a brochure. That's the web for you: a huge never-ending stack of brochures."

I think as individuals we are all pretty powerless and voiceless, so this is an avenue, however meagre and insignificant it may be, for me to say what's going on in my mind, should I so choose. The night I started this blog it was in the middle of the Danish cartoon debacle; I stood and watched baffled as people rioted and died because of some drawings. I just didn't get it, but writing what I did, again however meagre and insignificant, made me feel a little better. Like I'd said what I had to say. I have no illusions that by writing what I'm thinking I'm affecting or changing anything. It doesn't matter so much if anyone reads what I write, though obviously that is what I would like. More importantly for me, my two cents are there for anyone to read; my little brochure is out there in the ether.

So, Mom, Pete, that's why this someone might write a blog.

Einstein read my blog.