20080626 blog snippets

Random Thought #1: Oh dear… I must be an utter, benighted nerd! (I store file records chronologically using YYYYMMDD and then a description, so that I can find all my stuff based on when I was working with it. Something I create today, for instance, might be called “20080626 blog snippets” and so on.)

Random Thought #2: Can’t write creatively on the computer? This blogger talks about how her poetry disappeared when she tried to compose it online… I’ve noticed that all my fiction and story thoughts get swept aside in a digital medium. There are too many other distractions; I don’t go into that world inside my head that I need to inhabit in order to tell a story. But writing longhand seems ridiculously slow and stilted; I wonder if there’s an easy compromise?

Personally, I find that I write outlines and bullet points much more easily on a computer than full sentences in paragraph form, at least when I’m writing “officially”. If I’m able to adapt a conversational tone, I write as a substitute for talking… it’s pretty much what I would say if I could sit down and plan out what I was going to talk about ahead of time. Interestingly, I find the conversational tone that I take in blogs and emails is increasingly pervading all my writing–it’s been more and more difficult to pull myself out of it and revert to “speaking from on high” in the way that you tend to do in formal essays and such things. I wonder if that will be another side effect of the rampant use of instant-access text tech?

Random Thought #3: Oooh! And (not being a complete tech geek) I just heard about Google’s Android phone system today… Wow, is that ever cool! I hope by the time I get back to the States (next summer), I’ll be able to buy a smartphone that conveniently uses it! I know that in some circles Google is the Big Bad Wolf, but I like their approach to things. (Hmmm, they’ve got a rep for approaching things in the math-nerdy way… maybe it’s like calling to like? Sigh.)

Random Thought #4: Last, I read all about our emerging hive mind(s?) today… I am quite fascinated that we individual humans may be unwittingly creating Borg-like collective intelligences out of ourselves just by banding together to solve frivolous puzzles. It’s interesting, though, because the common refrain that I see among the producers of this sort of entertainment is “we keep underestimating their capabilities!”. I’ve noticed that this adds to increasing complexity (and thus interest) in more traditional media–TV shows, for instance, have taken to having increasingly complex and intertwined story arcs over whole seasons or multiple seasons, and we keep crying for more… What an interesting time and place to be living in!