Wednesday, April 27, 2005
TIA-gged
Mick Arran (the prodigious author of many blogs and the founder of Blog Tower e-zine for bloggers) has reached across the ether to tag me in the latest blog version of the open source chain letter. In this little experiment, we are asked to pick any five persons, living or dead, that we would like to blog with. Unfortunately for me, Mick already took Mark Twain and Nelson Mandela, so I have to really find seven - with those two being a given. So here goes:
David Sedaris: I thought my first choice should reflect a step in a different direction so I went with comedy. Enough politics already anyway. Lord knows we could all use a laugh these days, and Sedaris' brief vignettes would be perfect for the blog format. Don't get me wrong, I love Fafblog, Norbizness, and Jesus' General, but there's room for non-political humor as well. The upside is that his sister Amy could step in when he needs a breather. As an extra perk, the fact that he is openly gay would be sure to enrage the Dobson set - especially when he generates attention grabbing traffic.
Albert Einstein: How could I resist the urge to enlist such a brilliant and visionary scientific mind to aid us here in the 'Sphere. I dabbled in a couple of theoretical physics courses in college, and was most appreciative of the book The Evolution of Physics by Einstein and Leopold Infeld. Albert goes out of his way to explain esoteric concepts to the near-layman, and through this he lets the reader in on an entire branch of cutting edge science. His insights on posthumous developments like string theory alone would be worth the daily read. That is, assuming he stays at the level of Evolution and doesn't get all super-genius on us, but even when he does people like Coturnix would still get a kick out of it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Perhaps an obvious choice, but so what. If you've ever heard him speak, or read his work, you will appreciate the man's eloquence and intelligence. Imagine such beauty in a daily blog. As a rhetorician, he has a knack for cutting to the heart of the matter, and framing issues in a way that creates broad consensus. His religious bona fides would bring a built in response to the attempted monopolization of God by the GOP. Further, it would be riveting to watch the fulfillment of his evolution in thought, a process that was occurring around the time he was assassinated. At that period, King began to talk of getting past mere racism to begin discussing classism and the commonality of struggles for the working poor regardless of color. That, and he began speaking out against the Vietnam war. What would he say today?
William Shakespeare: I'm not sure how he would take to the short-form blog style, but my guess is he would adapt just fine. In the alternative, he would make me feel a lot better about my verbosity. Imagine the pleasure of getting a daily dose of new Shakespeare. How could I deprive my fellow bloggers of this joy? The writer from whence all others flow, the one who basically said it all, leaving it to those who came after to work tirelessly at coming up with new ways to write his words. And now, the undisputed blogger paragon. On second thought....
Nikos Kazantzakis: The author of Zorba The Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ, amongst others, Kazantzakis is a scholar after my own heart. His life work centered around an exploration of the work of Friedrich Nietzsche as well as the Buddhist religion - against the backdrop of his attempt to come to terms with his Christian faith. In addition to that intellectual pedigree, he is a brilliant writer capable of conjuring sensuality out of thin air. His unique perspective would allow me to scratch a philosophical/theological itch that nags me from time to time, and he would be a valuable resource to have in the midst of the religious revival occurring in the United States at this time. Beware false prophets.
*honorable mentions: Jesus Christ - but I figured everything he blogged would become scripture, and that his blog could end up dominating...well, the world (or at least the Western world). Still, I think it would be great to have him around to issue smack downs to all the so-called Christians sowing hate, violence, and death in his name. Besides, what's so funny bout peace, love and understanding? Also, Thoreau and Gandhi for obvious reasons.
My turn to do some tagging, and I have to pick three: First I'll tag the blogger that makes be occasionally burn with envy at her erudition, Nadezhda (okay, more than occasionally). Besides, I expect her to tag Praktike so I can kill two bloggers with one link. Next, Publius at Legal Fiction mostly because he's one of my favorites, but also because I already took Shakespeare, so he'll have to come up with six. Finally, and not in any way the least, Tim Dunlop at The Road To Surfdom for the view from Oz. You're all it.
(PS: I also want to tag Jonny if he has the time, but I know he's been under the gun and not able to blog regularly, so I didn't want to add more to his full docket.)
David Sedaris: I thought my first choice should reflect a step in a different direction so I went with comedy. Enough politics already anyway. Lord knows we could all use a laugh these days, and Sedaris' brief vignettes would be perfect for the blog format. Don't get me wrong, I love Fafblog, Norbizness, and Jesus' General, but there's room for non-political humor as well. The upside is that his sister Amy could step in when he needs a breather. As an extra perk, the fact that he is openly gay would be sure to enrage the Dobson set - especially when he generates attention grabbing traffic.
Albert Einstein: How could I resist the urge to enlist such a brilliant and visionary scientific mind to aid us here in the 'Sphere. I dabbled in a couple of theoretical physics courses in college, and was most appreciative of the book The Evolution of Physics by Einstein and Leopold Infeld. Albert goes out of his way to explain esoteric concepts to the near-layman, and through this he lets the reader in on an entire branch of cutting edge science. His insights on posthumous developments like string theory alone would be worth the daily read. That is, assuming he stays at the level of Evolution and doesn't get all super-genius on us, but even when he does people like Coturnix would still get a kick out of it.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Perhaps an obvious choice, but so what. If you've ever heard him speak, or read his work, you will appreciate the man's eloquence and intelligence. Imagine such beauty in a daily blog. As a rhetorician, he has a knack for cutting to the heart of the matter, and framing issues in a way that creates broad consensus. His religious bona fides would bring a built in response to the attempted monopolization of God by the GOP. Further, it would be riveting to watch the fulfillment of his evolution in thought, a process that was occurring around the time he was assassinated. At that period, King began to talk of getting past mere racism to begin discussing classism and the commonality of struggles for the working poor regardless of color. That, and he began speaking out against the Vietnam war. What would he say today?
William Shakespeare: I'm not sure how he would take to the short-form blog style, but my guess is he would adapt just fine. In the alternative, he would make me feel a lot better about my verbosity. Imagine the pleasure of getting a daily dose of new Shakespeare. How could I deprive my fellow bloggers of this joy? The writer from whence all others flow, the one who basically said it all, leaving it to those who came after to work tirelessly at coming up with new ways to write his words. And now, the undisputed blogger paragon. On second thought....
Nikos Kazantzakis: The author of Zorba The Greek and The Last Temptation of Christ, amongst others, Kazantzakis is a scholar after my own heart. His life work centered around an exploration of the work of Friedrich Nietzsche as well as the Buddhist religion - against the backdrop of his attempt to come to terms with his Christian faith. In addition to that intellectual pedigree, he is a brilliant writer capable of conjuring sensuality out of thin air. His unique perspective would allow me to scratch a philosophical/theological itch that nags me from time to time, and he would be a valuable resource to have in the midst of the religious revival occurring in the United States at this time. Beware false prophets.
*honorable mentions: Jesus Christ - but I figured everything he blogged would become scripture, and that his blog could end up dominating...well, the world (or at least the Western world). Still, I think it would be great to have him around to issue smack downs to all the so-called Christians sowing hate, violence, and death in his name. Besides, what's so funny bout peace, love and understanding? Also, Thoreau and Gandhi for obvious reasons.
My turn to do some tagging, and I have to pick three: First I'll tag the blogger that makes be occasionally burn with envy at her erudition, Nadezhda (okay, more than occasionally). Besides, I expect her to tag Praktike so I can kill two bloggers with one link. Next, Publius at Legal Fiction mostly because he's one of my favorites, but also because I already took Shakespeare, so he'll have to come up with six. Finally, and not in any way the least, Tim Dunlop at The Road To Surfdom for the view from Oz. You're all it.
(PS: I also want to tag Jonny if he has the time, but I know he's been under the gun and not able to blog regularly, so I didn't want to add more to his full docket.)
