I don't really want to keep blogging about the act of blogging as that will make this whole thing a bit redundant, but it appears that just as I was having my own crisis of confidence about this blog this week a friend of mine was going through the same thing:
http://gerdarcy.livejournal.com/
While I think his latest post is perhaps the best and most insightful blog post I've read to date, I generally disagree with the sentiment. Okay, all the facts are true - the internet is jammed full of idiots who think their opinion matters over anyone else's. And if I'm pushed I probably couldn't justify the existence of my own blog in the grand scheme of things - as I stated in the last post most of my reasons for doing it are selfish ones and at the moment I'm not really sure of the value of my own contribution to the vast stockpile of internet 'content'. But that's precisely why I think blogs like Geraint's are important.
The fact is, despite calling myself a writer I'm not too good with words. That's why I quickly gave up writing prose and moved onto screenplays. I like to think I'm good at storytelling and structure and I'm starting to develop a fairly decent ear for dialogue (although all of the above still need improving) but a master of the English language I am not. To be honest, even my grammar is pretty poor so I can't even say I know how it works properly. Geraint is not a screenwriter, or a blogger or a participant in any of the new and wonderful ways technology has allowed us to tell each other how great we think we are. He's a genuine writer and poet and someone who really does understand how the English language works and how to use it to good effect. This is something we should be celebrating - this is an example of the very people who should be writing blogs and filling the internet with content! If not; if it's left to me and a good majority of the rest of us, the blogs of the future will all be written in text speak and we'll lose everything that's great about language forever.
So I urge everyone reading this to go check out Geraint's blog, firstly because it's a great read, and secondly to leave him a comment of support. Because one day when we're all rambling in nonsensical abbreviations and random numbers we'll need bloggers like him to teach us how to truly express ourselves again.
In other, completely unrelated news, I went to a midnight screening of The Dark Knight last night. It was a brilliant experience - loads of people dressed up and it was great to sit with a full audience who were all just as excited as each other about seeing the film. The film is kind of like the Godfather 2 of super-hero films, but as I'm not a fan of the Godfather films that's not a comparison I should really use. Anyway, Ledger's performance does need to be seen to be believed, but he's on a par with Bale, Oldman and Eckart who are all fantastic in the film. Nice to see Eric Roberts in a proper film too. What I would say, as I doubt it will get much of a mention in the mainstream reviews, is that the script is excellent throughout, and though credit should definitely go to the actors it should also be shared with the Nolan brothers who crafted an excellent character piece from a film that really should be rather silly.
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2 comments:
The only blogs I read are from other writers who write about their careers or views on writing. I do this because I believe in learning from others and it can be quite eye-opening as well as give you a bit of a background to the industry.
I write mine because we all do it differently and it's also is a good exercise to warm-up my writing mind. So you keep at it too
Thanks for your support Chris. Your blog is excellent and always uplifting even when it's not aimed at bouying me.
I should just remember the rules: "Never eat a windfall apple, never stray from the path and never trust a man who has hairs on the palms of his hands". Internet or creepy magic-realist forest, the rules always must be obeyed.
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