and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

Lecture 3 - Blogging Consistency

The thing with blogs is that they're a constantly evolving revolving revolting reviving mass. Like a pile of worms. Constant squirming like there be ants in your pants or you have the pee shivers or something. Blogs don't like where they are. They aren't happy being way off the beaten mass-media path.. they want to be right on the edge of it. Not in it - because that would destroy their street cred - but right there next to it. Sort of in a "Hey, I'm not Michael Jordan, but I play on his basketball team with him" way. Blogs want to be the Indie Underground Cult Classic Hit that everyone knows about - even Walmart employees - in the sort of way that Weezer pulled off for the longest time. Blogs just keep trying more and more.

So when it comes to writing your own blog you have to keep this constant evolution and progress in mind and update like a motherfucker. And I'm not even talking about writing every single day or posting piles of verbal diarrhea transposed onto the screen. I'm not talking about making a mission out of the numbers game. I'm talking about consistency. Post once a week? Okay, fine then. Post once a week. But just do it every week like you mean it. My favourite magazine only comes to my house once a month and I don't get whiny about that, right? So there is nothing wrong with setting a time frame and sticking to it. It gives people a feeling of security that they need oh-so-badly these days. Knowing they can hit up your site every month or week or day or hour or year for one good decent post of thoughtful verbage.. also knowing that they can visit too often - too soon - and be scolded for their impatience by seeing the exact same post they read before. People need these reassurances in life. You have no idea.

It's about consistently good entertainment. Consistent laugh factor or awwww factor or drama factor or information factor or all of them wrapped up together. And I'm not talking about consistency in a boring repetitive way. I mean in a creative expect-more sort of way. People need to know they're going to get quality. There is tons and tons of space in this world for crap but that doesn't mean you have to contribute to it. Take a stand. Be consistent. Be great.

I want to bring in a guest to class today. His name is Tony Pierce and he's probably one of the most well known bloggers out there, aside from the politicos who I personally recount as not true, real, bloggers (why? cause I said so, so sit down and shut up). Tony Pierce has been doing the blog thing for quite a long time so he's come to know what true consistency is about. He cranks shit out faster than a cat on castor oil. Post upon post upon post never really saying anything or telling any particular story but hitting you upside the head with some wisdom or other every single time. He's the Snoop Dogg of blogging. Anyhow, I wanted to bring him in as a guest today so that I could show you one particular thread of his that he started way back in 2002 on December the 13th. Friday the 13th. The day he died.

It starts here

Without giving much away I'll just say that after Tony dies he is approached by Kurt Cobain, who leads him through the first few days of the afterlife attempting to explain the way things work.

It's an awesome model in consistency, both for all of the post's timely nature and for all of the post's entertainment value. It's awesome for it's experimentative nature - it's really something that couldn't/wouldn't be done in a print magazine or on tv. It's what blogging really should be about - creating new media. Doing new things. Being consistently good about it.

So your homework for tonight is to sit down and read it all through. Take what you can from it.

Next class: Female Bloggers - The Way of the Women.