Wednesday, May 9, 2012

It's Wednesday ... still no ideas?


It's the last refuge of the desperate blogger to write a post about how he has nothing to write about.

I don't intend to be a seven-day-a-week blogger. My goodness, you guys need a break from my long-windedness from time to time. But over my nearly three-and-a-half years writing this blog, I've probably averaged something like five days a week. Actually, I can be more exact than that: 790 posts divided by about 173 weeks, which comes out to 4.56 posts a week. Round up and you've got five.

Lately I haven't been writing much over the weekend -- just too busy with family stuff. But in the last couple weeks I've also missed Monday, just because work has been really busy in my first day back from the weekend. But I've always managed to at least crank something out by Tuesday. 

So when the length of time since my last post stretches out to five days, I feel compelled to say something about it. In fact, without saying something about it today, it would have run to at least six tomorrow -- and possibly a full week, since the next post I'm sure I'm going to write will be this Friday. (Besides, having denigrated The Avengers and then seen it make $200 million in its first weekend, I can't leave last Friday's post up on the front of my blog forever.)

So yeah, this is one of those "I'm writing to say I don't have anything to write about" posts. (Plus, I've got an unexpected bout of insomnia so I'm writing it at 2 in the morning.)

And as much as I like to think ideas for things to write about can come to me out of thin air, the truth is, they are largely a function of me seeing new things. Which I have not done a lot of lately. It's been six days now since the last new movie I saw, Rob Reiner's Flipped -- a nice little movie, but not something I feel inspired to write anything about. I'm not entirely clear when I'll see my next movie, either -- though Friday seems like a safe bet, since my wife will be away for the night and I'll have the TV all to myself.

Why haven't I been seeing anything? Well for one, I was in Vegas this past weekend. Whereas I usually take down at least one and probably more like three new movies in a given weekend, this past weekend I saw nothing.

But it's also been a stressful time around here. Not only has work been crazy, but we are in escrow on a house, as I mentioned in my Getting Acquainted post from last week. Since many of you skip that series, this may be the first time you're hearing that little tidbit of news. We close on May 24th and hope to move in a week after that.

Let's just say that when your life is full, it can sometimes be easier just to squeeze in a 30-minute sitcom on your DVR as a form of mental escapism. Sometimes a movie requires too much thought and attention, which you can't spare or simply don't have at the time.

But being busy doesn't necessarily mean I don't have ideas -- it could be that I'm bursting at the seams with things to write about, only I can't find the time. In this case, though, I'm also operating from an idea deficit. And it makes me ponder the fact that blogging can be a feast or famine proposition. Sometimes I have so many things I want to write about that I need to jot them down so I don't forget about them. (One of my hard and fast rules: no more than one post a day.)

Then there are times like now. Where if I'm not careful, a whole week will slip away without me writing anything.

Well, with this post, I guess I dodged that bullet. Even if the thing I wrote about was the fact that I had nothing to write about.

And this is about as many words as I want to spend on that particular circular endeavor.

Back soon, I hope, with some actual ideas ...

4 comments:

Thaddeus said...

My friend, this happens to all of us. I've been keeping a blog almost as long, and have not kept such a pace. However, I have some ideas

I know you haven't checked my blog in a bit (I thanked you in my 3 year anniversary post, sniff), but I added a "Question of the Week" feature that allows me to do something short or long whenever I need to. Rather than searching for topics or movies that inspire me to write, I can just say "why the hell did Luke toss his lightsaber at the end of RotJ?" This new feature, I thought, was a good way to "blog smarter."

Don't feel bad for slagging off The Avengers, especially not because it's making tons of moneys. The positive response is one thing, but not $ - Transformers made tons of that. I myself wrote the review as soon as I left the theater last night.

But you took issue with a particular kind of movie "fan" who just wants to watch videogames on the big screen and totally ignores cinema's artistic capabilities. That's a fair gripe.

Unknown said...

The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman. Nor an empire. Discuss.

Derek Armstrong said...

Thaddeus,

Guilty as charged. I have barely been reading anyone's blog these days. Remember how in this post I said I was really busy? Yeah, it's true. Reciprocity has gone out the window lately, and I feel really bad about that. Please do point me to this three-year anniversary post, since I went back among the last couple weeks and did not recognize it by its title. I always do like being thanked! :-)

Since we're on the topic of your blog, however, can I be brutally honest in a way that probably won't offend you because it doesn't relate at all to the quality of your writing? Reading your blog can sometimes be hard on my eyes. It's all about the background. I feel like since I sit at a computer all day, my eyes are getting weaker and weaker, and I try to minimize the strain on them. Your background can make for a hard reading experience sometimes. Sorry man!

Travis,

I'm getting verklempt.

Thaddeus said...

NO worries, my man! I get busy as hell and I don't have a family unit to take care of.I don't want to post a link, because that feels kinda cheap. Open up the April section and it's the 5th post from the top, starts with Happy Anniversary.

Absolutely no offense taken! I had no idea, though. For my part, I find white backgrounds can bother my eyes no end, so I chose the one I used because it's distinct and it's got darker tones. However, it may be time for a site redesign! I will strongly consider and see what I can do!

Travis, I guess they chose that name because they had low self esteem.