Stealing surveys for fun and profit
1. How did you start blogging? Why do you keep at it?
Oh, I have to write or I go insane. Seriously, I have these long, complex, stream-of-consciousness dreams which cause me to wake up exhausted unless I tap them beforehand. If it’s not this drivel, it’s some verbalised, semi-cogent, ejaculatory tirade at a politician whose face just flashed across the tv news, a dark and disturbing work of fiction in a tattered scrapbook buried in my drawer. At least this way I don’t feel like the serial killer in Se7en.
2. What are your most important issues?
General current events basically, with a decidedly cynical, atheistic, existential slant (ie, reality). Issues of equality and discrimination, mainly gay rights since it seems to be the main issue on which many people are still around 250 years behind in their thinking. Science. Nerdy stuff. Some people would probably say religion, but I try to avoid it. I mean, come on, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. Basically whatever I think is interesting. I’m far too easily distracted to concentrate on a particular theme.
3. What’s the nicest recognition you’ve ever received from the media and/or the blogosphere?
Nothing specific, I just like stumbling across a quality blog and finding that I’m listed in their blogroll, despite having never known of their existence previously. That’s cool.
4. Who is your audience? What is unique about your blog?
My audience? Umm, the chronically bored? Incurable insomniacs? Sado-masochists? Those who can put up with hurculean quantities of pseudo-intellectual ranting, juvenile Christian-baiting, gratuitous self-deprecation and an incredibly foul mouth? I think I’m kinda unique in that it’s an Australian blog which focuses fairly regularly on Americana and how it relates to the rest of the world. Most non-specialised blogs tend to focus on their own backyard and therefore have a fairly narrow appeal, but the US is a haven for the absurd, so there’s practically unlimited material to work with. I know that when I write an in-depth report on the nature of Australian politics, I’m not going to get a dozen comments, but that’s OK because I’m not writing for an Australian audience. I don’t even read other Australian blogs, I’ve generally found them to be fairly bland. It’s the apathy.
5. Most frustrating aspect of blogging?
Lack of inspiration (read: slow news days). Egos of the popular. The thought that it’s a statistical possibility that there are 2,000 blogs out there which are largely identical to your own. I’m lucky in that I haven’t been affected by trolls or spammers yet.
6. What’s the one point you’d like a reader to take away from your blog- the one thing for them to really “get”?
Existence is essentially meaningless, but that doesn’t mean it’s a waste of time. Umm, oh you are just as likely to win the lottery with consecutive numbers than you are with randomly selected numbers or carefully researched “most-often drawn” numbers. I think the fact that the previous sentence is so counter-intuitive is an indication of what we’re really like as a species. Don’t take life too seriously, live and let live, and try not to turn into a moron along the way. That’s about it. My worldwide inspirational speaking tour starts in January.
