Beginnings of semesters are a wonderful thing. I'm getting plenty of sleep, staying on top of the tiniest of workloads, and finding time to do lots of random and corolarry things...namely, cruise the internet. My latest find is a site that makes music based on a scale and the digits of pi. pi10k is worth a shot if you have some spare time and are interested in such things.
I know I'm way off the pace lately in terms of social commentary, and I'm not sure why that is. In my BlogThis! browsing this morning I noticed that (among the minority of blogs written in English) the average blogger must post about 2-300 words per entry, much of which can be slopped loosely into the categories called "Randy Moss Mooning Packer Fans" or "US Foriegn Policy." But are so many opinions shaping any other opinions, really? In my experience an unknown independent news outlet (not to be confused with news source) has a pretty low rate of trust and influence. Think back to high school....where'd your gossip come from? Was it the cutest most popular junior girl or was it the sophomore boy across the hall who's locker had pictures of Lamborghinis in it? Maybe he was cognizant and had an interesting opinion, but his sphere of influence was negligible. So it is with bloggers.
One area where a blog can have influence though, is on soft media - pop culture especially. My musings on the appropriateness of having someone with a judicial background as Homeland Security Director (DOH!) have limited effect, but if I come out and announce that Scorcese's The Aviator is a great portrayal of a forgotten and misrepresented pillar of our industrial rise, I think people will lend an ear. Or they'll go see Meet the Fockers like everybody else, it's a total crapshoot.

posted at 1:43 PM - comments