If you listen hard enough, you can actually hear me thinking

Fuck the haters, I adore my friend Emily Gould's New York Times Magazine cover story, "Exposed." At the very least, it is a self-conscious achievement in emotional thoroughness. But it's more than that to me, at least. Among the several bits that I related to and/or flat-out loved, this one seems the most apropos right now:

The will to blog is a complicated thing, somewhere between inspiration and compulsion. It can feel almost like a biological impulse. You see something, or an idea occurs to you, and you have to share it with the Internet as soon as possible. What I didn’t realize was that those ideas and that urgency — and the sense of self-importance that made me think anyone would be interested in hearing what went on in my head — could just disappear.

I've been bad this week. I'll be better next. (Nothing is permanent). In the meantime:

1. Read Emily's article and argue about it with your Buddy List.

2. Visit Videogum because it is what happens when two of the funniest, most awesome people that I know are allowed to let their minds run rampant and stomp all over the Internet (containing it, of course, to one spot).

3. Watch this video that Tracie uploaded. I'm so happy to have this back in my life (you know I love me some Schappell twins). This remake of Reba McEntire's "Fear of Being Alone" (oh, irony, I do love you!) highlights the fact that Lori and Dori Reba George Schappell are never less than a simultaneous triumph and train wreck. Fucking amazing. Among their dualities, that might be the greatest.

4. Rejoice, because it's summertime, motherfuckers! (Unofficially, I know, but here. I'll make it official.)

Better next week. For real. Promise.

Comments

[stompie]

duh-RUMS, PLEAZE!

yeah it was 83 here today - i think i will sit back and unwind, thank you very much.

[bigpikchur.blogspot.com]

Number 4 is one of the few things that has made me grin from ear to ear in the past couple of weeks. Thanks Rich!
Jules
House of Jules

[HereIambaby]

Nice video. It is worthy to be watched twice. I will recommended it to my friends on blackcentury.com which is a niche dating service. Many singles there.

[spazmo]

Aw, the last shot of the Twins' video, where all the clappers vansish and it's just the two of them standing under the trees - alone - was quite touching.

*sniff*...damn you summer allergies.

[spazmo]

Sorry, that's vanish. Vansish? Geez!

Damn you too, Claritin.

[CdnLuv4Winston]

That videogum website is great! I don't have sound on the computer here at work but there's some great reads on that page =)

[Georgia]

I loved Emily's article as well. I wasn't familiar with her before reading it, but I found her vulnerability, despite the fact that she leaves her self totally open to criticism on a regular basis, inspiring.

[barby]

Loved Emily's article. There's a fine line when blogging between making it personal for the reader, sharing too much, and opening yourself up for attacks. We all tread it, I suppose, but some more publicly than others.

Well-written, and it certainly hit home with me. Shit, I'm still waiting for my parents to find my blog. Horrors....

[christian]

It sounds like Emily's dream job is getting her own reality TV show so she can drown in her own self-absorption. Basically, she just wants to gossip n'shit. She's genuine twit and a product of watching way too much Sex and the City.

[Amber]

rich...you're invited to a barbeque that starts at 4! (are you doing the hand gesture to that part in your head)?

emily's article is on point...but you are my favorite blogger <3

[sonny]

i went to high school with her and she was a bitch.

[Terry]

Rich, I actually thought of you as a counterpoint when I was reading the story yesterday. You share a bit, but not compulsively, and you don't come near throwing anybody under the bus. She's young, and she'll learn, I'm sure, but really, it's a story about immaturity and narcissism. I'm sure she'd accept the immaturity part; I don't see much to indicate that she sees the narcissism.

[hal]

The whole point of Emily's article is the self-absorption and over sharing that goes on in today's internet society. I think she owns up to that pretty handily.

[sean]

Bloggin is kinda like being a foster parent - you're not really supposed to ditch the kid...but no-one's gonna stop you.

[Bill G]

Fuck the haters indeed. I loved it too. Why can't people just see her for what she is: a good writer? No wonder she gets under people's skin. If Heartbreak Soup were a novel instead of a blog people would be all like "it spoke to me" and shit.

[Parker]

I've heard about the Gould piece so many times but cannot get myself to read a piece written by a blogger about her experience being a blogger who dated a blogger who worked at the same blogging site she did..which she has done already through her blog because that was the nature of it? I guess it's just too meta and it being in print doesn't make a difference. Even more meta is that blogging sites are blogging about the blogger blogging about her experience blogging about a blogger she dated while working at a blogging site. What I'm trying to say is I wish I were popular enough to blog about my blogging blogness and have it blogged about. She no doubt will now have to blog about the bloggers blogging her blogged experience blogging. Or she could turn her skill into good use?

[Parker]

*make good use of her skill

[Kirsten]

Bill G: I could see a book by Emily being a hit, if only because of all of the self-absorbed sociopaths who read Eat Pray Love and thought it was "really deep".

[e.i.j.]

That article was a great read. I worry about how much to share on the internet. I've been debating with myself for months just about whether or not to have a myspace page. I want to connect with a few old friends (maybe make some new). I'd like to be safe, but if I make a private page, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a page, takes away a little of the thrill of "exposure".

[Bourgeois Nerd]

As a Gawker reader, I know waaaay more about the whole saga than is probably healthy, and have heard every argument from "She's a narcissistic twit and the AntiChrist!" to "Emily rules! Y'all just jealous!" Frankly, I'm disinclined to like her simply because she reminds me of people I know that I don't like, and Josh reminds me of people I do like, but that's totally unfair on my part and I know it, and Rich likes her so that's something, but overall I just don't care.

What gets me about the article, besides the "blogging about bloggers blogging about blogging on blogs" ouroboros that makes your eyes cross with its meta-referentiality, is I honestly don't know what the point of the article is. That she learned to keep some stuff to herself? That people are mean? Twenty-some years and ten pages to figure THAT out?

[joyce]

Rich, you are a great friend to defend Emily, but the NYT story was a monument to self-absorbed navel gazing. This whole drama has made me sick to death of both Emily AND Josh, and most of all their endless post-breakup analysis of each other.

Most bloggers gain an audience because they have something funny/unique/thoughtful to share - and if they include their personal experiences, it helps your audience bond to you. But when your blog because solely about yourself? Sorry, you've regressed to treating your blog like a junior-high journal. It may be fun in a trainwreck-type way, but it's not helping you grow as a writer. Maybe Emily & Josh need to examine whether they're more interested in writing, or continuing this "he said/she said" routine.

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