It seems to me that the Internet is becoming far more of a social interaction tool rather than a world wide library of information as it once was. Looking at the Rondo ballot it's evidence toward the trend away from the classic website, like a book or an encyclopedia containing resource information catalogued to share with the world, to the blog, more like a periodical. Always new, always changing with last weeks offerings sitting quietly in the recycling box on the curb. Web design is no longer about making your information that coffee table book, but rather marketing someone else's products.
Where websites were once books on a library shelf, they are now just full page adds in the magazines on the convenience store rack, and the blogs are the articles we buy that periodical for.
Now don't get me wrong I'm not knocking blogs, I love blogs. The best writing on the internet is found on blogs. We have online communities like this, social networks like Facebook and Myspace, blogs and advertising. Are formal websites a thing of the past?
Seems like blogs are often about websites, so....
You raise an interesting point Gary. There's no denying that blogs and forums have come to the forefront of people's interest in the internet. As you said, blogs are ever evolving, and by their very nature remain more current than a static web site can. I can appreciate an informative web site much like an encyclopedia or dictionary for the information it brings. But when it comes to a blog or a forum, I tend to feel more of a sense of "information as it happens" as opposed to when a webmaster last updated his or her forum. Of course, I post this with some personal bias too.
I never read any blogs, but I do read a lot of websites.
Blog just feel like someone's diary sometimes.
An interesting discussion.
The blog format originally was designed as a journal; you add a daily "my thoughts" on whatever topic floated your boat. That format, however, is no longer the predominant or desired one: look at NowPublic, Blogcritics, Zimbio, etc, websites which amalgamate blogs from around the world into a continuing assemblage of news and reviews from professionals, semi-professionals, and beginners.
The blog format is timely, but restricted. That daily addition, or post often ability tends to kill long-time readability. On the plus side, you can now accommodate posts that tie together, or categorize your posts into a more searchable and magazine-like reading experience. But the format is still limited, whereas a website using full html can be created with more extensive readability and interactivity. Updating a website, however, is more time-consuming; blogs are built to be updated as often as you like.
Now, both have their pluses and minuses, but with many websites augmenting their output by using blogs, the best of both worlds is creating a hybrid format that goes beyond each one alone.
How a website or blog is used is another matter entirely. I've seen an annoying trend toward commercialism that can overwhelm the look and feel of a blog or website. As a fairly credible reviewer of horror, I've been approached to do promotions and reviews for movies that were godawful, or add banners, etc to push this or that. While I use Amazon widgets and other devices to highlight those things I myself enjoy reading and watching, I have not taken on a business model that promotes stuff I don't feel worthy of promotion. I also don't make any money from the Amazon widgets: but they look cool, so I use them to spice up my blogsite look and feel.
I can tell you that the blog format has made a person's ability to share their thoughts on the web much easier, and it has also fostered an incredible sense of newsy timeliness, that has made the more traditional newspapers resort to blogs to stay one step ahead, or at least in the running.
It seems like most people who read blogs a lot and are into them are people who also write blogs themselves... for the most part. That may be a mistaken perception...
Is there anyone reading this thread who reads blogs regularly (daily, for the most part) but does not have a blog of their own?
I don't have one but I read a few daily.
Tom
I read Max's blog because it's Max's blog. Other than that, I don't read blogs unless they come up in a Google search for something I'm researching.
I never understood the point of having a blog in the first place. Max's blog isn't really "blog-like" mainly because it's actually interesting & fun. Most other blogs are just empty rantings (mostly by teenagers) that tend to be long, boring, & full of text abbreveations. ::) KWIM? (know what I mean?). Let me leave before this post turns into a rant... Oops, too late! :-\
I'm about the same, Ray. I rarely read blogs unless they're somehow relevant to a topic I'm searching on. I much prefer the consistency of websites over the ever-changing nature of blogs and forums. I think Max's blog may be the very first one I've ever read just because I like it.
I obviously have my traditional coffee table book (or perhaps more pop-up book) website that is taking up my free time. And no I don't have any blog of my own. But I do read a few. Like I said there are some wonderful blogs by excellent writers. Zombo's Closet is a good example, as is Rondo winning Videowatchblog. In fact if it's Rondo Nominated it's a pretty safe bet it's not just a mindless diary entry from a teenager. But there are only so many movie review blogs one can handle. Frankensteinia is also a good blog about all things Frankenstein, kind of like a blog version of theFrankensteinMonster.com. Which I like as I have no desire to write a blog for the site, and would rather spend my time with the images and HTML than trying to regularly write a blog entry.
Gary,
Thanks very much for the mention. I do my best. You bring up a very good point about there's just "so many movie review blogs you can handle." Part of my thinking when starting a blog was to have some angle that would be a value-add to bolster up just doing a review. Being a writer of sorts, I decided to take a horror host approach and create a fictional frame set to put around my reviews. Hence, Zombos and the gang, and the weird stuff that happens. I also realized that too many sites focus on film, while ignoring the literary side, both fiction and non-fiction. So I've worked on that side of things, too.
You mention some superlative blogs that do give a value-add beyond the typical three beers out of four approach rampant on many horror blogsites (and websites). What I'm seeing is the merging of both blog and website into a sustainable experience, that offers timely information, as well as well crafted content.
In regard to the purpose of a blog: it's really mostly ego. My thoughts, my tastes, my everything, rant, rant, rant (or in my case, Zombos' rant, rant, rant, with pratfall, rant, rant, rant). But for serious bloggers, the weblog is a way to communicate news in an immediate manner, or tout some product, book, movie, etc. It's become quite a marketing tool outside of it's immediate news positioning. For writers, it's a natural extension of their usual job of writing. It's an empowering tool, simply put. Anybody can do it (not always the best thing!), but it's pretty amazing when you think of it.
Max's excellent blog is what I call the conversational blog. He brings people together to comment on the funky stuff he brings to light, and creates a wonderful tone with his observations and thoughts. He has a natural flow that makes reading his posts a fun experience.
Blogs I'd recommend, aside from the super ones you mentioned, are Groovy Age of Horror, The Horrors of It All, Theofantastique, The Cobwebbed Room, etc. Check my links column and you'll find some super blog and websites that I enjoy reading. There's a whole world of horror out there, and much of it is now found on blogsites that cover a wealth of fun stuff, like collectibles, horror comics, magazines, as well as films.
Thanks to everyone here who spoke honeyed words about my blog! I deeply appreciate it. Many, many air kisses.
Iloz, Raymond, SpankRamen and Nichole-- I shall buy you a drink when next we meet! Name your poison.
Hot body for me. Er, I meant Hot Toddy. Or rum and coke. I'm easy.
The website vs. blog question!
I feel that one keenly, since websites, blogs, and message boards are all lumped together in one category in the Rondo Awards. Done for practical reasons, it is still a bit like lumping horses, bicycles and planes together in one "transportation" category, seems to me. (Speaking of the Rondos, my dream is to lose to the UMA, Frankensteinia, Zombos' Closet of Horror, E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts, Secret Fun Spot, and Unimonster's Crypt. (I guess I want ties in 1rst, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place!)
Many of the best sites, IMHO, incorporate blogs. The cable channel AMC, for example, has a "Monsterfest" site that incorporates a blog, and part of the considerable value and charm of the sites Video Watchdog, Secret Fun Spot and John Rozum are their associated blogs.
For my blog, I wanted to avoid a meandering, steady stream of "what I did today" (that sort of blog is interesting only to one's family and closest friends.) And I wanted to avoid writing the "constant ranting" style of blog, where you visit to savor strong snarkiness. I can enjoy that sort of blog in short spurts, but the fun wears thin quickly (at least for me) and it takes me a long while before I want to visit again.
Like John (Iloz Zoc), I didn't want to be too narrowly focused-- i.e., "The Coolness Of 1960s Monster Models"-- that'd discourage repeat visits. And I didn't want to just be a "Hey, I'm Max Cheney and I AM HERE, I'm COOL!" sort of blog. (Even if that is a message I hope to see someday universally believed.) But Max as a drunken severed head who looks at different things-- well, then you got something! (That is, you got something for people with low standards and no taste-- but fortunately there seems to be gobs of such folks! My kind of people!)
The best blogs are created by people who make something they'd want to see online themselves. Fortunately, there are enough people in the vast blogosphere that everyone can find a blog, or an audience, that they like.
That's a good thing.
Quote from: The Drunken Severed Head on March 06, 2008, 04:00:51 AM
But Max as a drunken severed head who looks at different things-- well, then you got something! (That is, you got something for people with low standards and no taste-- but fortunately there seems to be gobs of such folks! My kind of people!).
I am not ashamed to say that I am one of those people with low standards & bad taste. These are qualities one must possess in order to watch "America's Next Top Model" & "Flavor Of Love" (all 3 seasons of hood rats & scalliwags). :D
Quote from: The Drunken Severed Head on March 06, 2008, 04:00:51 AM
The best blogs are created by people who make something they'd want to see online themselves. Fortunately, there are enough people in the vast blogosphere that everyone can find a blog, or an audience, that they like. That's a good thing.
You know, I never realized that there were so many different
kinds of blogs out there. My younger cousins, my neice, & their friends all blog about the same rubbish. I guess I just never thought about the people who have a deep passion for the topics that are on their blogs or livejournals. :-\
Quote from: SpankRamen on March 06, 2008, 08:53:35 AM
I am not ashamed to say that I am one of those people with low standards & bad taste. These are qualities one must possess in order to watch "America's Next Top Model" & "Flavor Of Love" (all 3 seasons of hood rats & scalliwags). :D
How low can you go Spank? What about Nip & Tuck and Dirt? Late night television never had it so good (or bad).
Quote from: fmofmpls on March 06, 2008, 06:50:09 PM
How low can you go Spank?
How low? Well, tonight's "Celebrity Apprentice" night! :D Plus, I must see my girl, Awesome Kong, & my boy, Booker T, on TNA Impact! Tomorrow night... SMACKDOWN!!! 8) YEAH!!!
Beauty and the Geek does it for me. My son forces me to watch America's Next Top Model, though. HE loves it. I can't believe all they do is bitch and cry over how hard their hair is being teased.
And Max, I'll be the first (but certainly not the last) to say you're there and you're cool. I'll stop short of sexy (way short), but I'll say you're cool.
Did anybody see that episode of America's Top Model where the gals went to Italy and the one who started out as a nerdy Walgreen's cashier (I think her name was something like "Shawnee" or something) SLEPT with some Italian guy and then CALLED HER BOYFRIEND back home crying about it?!
Dudes! Here's what her boyfriend SHOULD'VE done. He should've told her that he understood she was under a lot of stress and that of course he could forgive her so don't think about it again and just focus on the contest. THEN when she got home he could've told her HELL NO he wasn't forgiving her and that he only said that stuff so she could focus on the contest BUT THEY WERE THROUGH!
Why? Because that would be being, like, the biggest man ever. But not being a chump. Hell to the niz-oh!
Yeah, I got mighty super pissed watching that episode.
Quote from: Grape on March 10, 2008, 12:13:29 AM
Yeah, I got mighty super pissed watching that episode.
Um... Okay? :-\
Quote from: SpankRamen on March 10, 2008, 12:57:24 AM
Um... Okay? :-\
Oh, sure, I'm okay now. I got over it.
But as long as this thread has wandered so far off topic let me ask this: Has anybody seen any of the 17 part Korean soap opera "Coffee Prince"?
Unless a Korean Soap is anything like a Japanese game show with a story...