2009.01.27
A few weeks ago I mentioned toying with a new format for this site. Weirdly, it was so much on my mind that I almost wrote the exact same article again, forgetting I had already posted it.
Recently Kate showed me her tumbleblog. The Tumbleblog is an interesting format, Project.ion.st is a decent example, as is trivium. It's not just the content, there's kind of a distinctive look and feel that's emerged for it.
The appeal for me would be to return to a more spontaneous type of flow, to do less piling on to backlogs that just build up and up, and better reflect my online journey through life - kind of what I had on the Palm.
But I still am drawn to the idea of doing one "big" thing a day; one thing that deserves a title, and that has either a strong visual element (a photo or a video) or is a longer form ramble. So maybe I'd call the result a "slantwise tumbleblog", with an anchor piece every day, and then a daily twitter-like sidebar.
I've been using a "one big thing, plus a sidebar" format a bit lately. I worry though about the waxing and waning of feedback on the site, if getting fewer comments mean I'm doing fundamentally less interesting stuff, if fewer people find it worthy of the semi-daily click, or if I'm just not creating an interesting space (content-wise) for dialog. (Loveblender is kind of in the same boat.)
Movie Dialog of the Moment
Mystery Woman: So for me, for my mother, my grandmother, my father, my uncle, and for the common good, I must now kill you, and your brother.I was trying to pinpoint what Blagojevich in comparing himself to Gandhi, King, Mandela, and a cowboy about to be hanged by a mob, reminded me of - and it was fellow-Illinoisian Belushi begging for his life to Carrie Fischer covered with mud from the tunnel floor in Blues Brothers.
[Jake falls to his knees]
Jake: Oh, please, don't kill us. Please, please don't kill us. You know I love you baby. I wouldn't leave ya. It wasn't my fault.
Mystery Woman: You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.
Jake: No I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.
[Elwood covers his head in anticipation of more gunfire, Jake removes his sunglasses to make a wordless appeal, and the Mystery Woman visibly softens]
Mystery Woman: Oh, Jake... Jake, honey...
[Jake embraces the Mystery Woman and they kiss]
Jake: [to Elwood, before dropping Mystery Woman] Let's go.
"plbbt plbbt plbbt"
"what, you pretending to be some kind of poop monster?"
"uh, sure, something like that"
"I wish you had just said sure"
Blago's crazy defense, comparing himself to Mandela, like Belushi in Blues Bros, begging Fischer "It wasn't my fault!! I swear to God!!"
for 6 months I didn't see I was confuzilating the front door lock for everyone- myself included- by not turning the key back. Pay attention!
http://balsamiq.com/ - very nifty web-based app mockup tool. Love the handcrafted look of it.
http://tinyurl.com/afyb3g - on "candy land" - the original article probably misses the point, but good followup comments.
http://www.graphviz.org/ - Kate mentioned this, neat language for going from ASCII to graphs...