I realise it takes a weird kind of hubris to want to write a blog. And I'm acutely conscious that in starting- and (hopefully) continuing- writing online I've ensnared myself in something of a contradiction: complaints made in the not-too-distant past about the navel-gazing nature of massive tranches of the internet (and, of course, blogs in particular) are now haunting me. This, as I'm sure you can imagine, is rather worrying: hypocrisy is never a pleasant thing, whether seen in oneself or another, and it's compounded by the fact that I-now still pretty much agree with me-then. But. There are a few things I think I should clarify, or at least try to clarify in my own mind. Hence the lofty 'mission statement' of the title.
In writing this, as infrequently as it'll probably be, a concerted attempt will be made to avoid minutiae and mundanity; I hereby promise to refrain from broadcasting my precise choice of breakfast.1,2 Instead, I want this to be a space... Well, if I wasn't so hobbled by self-awareness, I'd naively say "for the finer things in life" without quotation marks undermining my point. In short: books, music, film, art, and most likely philosophy, too. I'm not aiming towards untempered, insufferable 'pure art', or the like- it's more a collection of things that I think are interesting, and why they might be worth your time.3 And that those things just happen to cover a lot of different areas is just how it is, because interest isn't something bound by genre or medium- it just is...
So: a collection of pithy and not-so-pithy things. I'll attempt to be as illuminating and insightful as I can- and if you disagree, excellent. I expect this blog will be riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies, but that's how things are. Henceforth, onwards...4
1. I realise, of course, the huge temptation to do that kind of stuff- the internet often feels like shouting into a vacuum, and I'm not denying it can be the perfect space to vent. And I'm also not saying I don't often announce the trifling details of my daily routine, either- I'm as guilty as everyone else, but that doesn't make it right.
2. But I suppose one can take solace in the fact that this isn't A) the horrendously reductive twitter or B) the murky world of facebook statuses. Ever seen a really nuanced tweet? Q.E.D.
3. Or, conversely, things that aren't interesting though they ought to be, and why not. This is, of course, a tad simplistic, but I hope you get the general gist.
4. And if you were wondering, the name is a pretty shameless reference to a wonderful album. Look it up.
In writing this, as infrequently as it'll probably be, a concerted attempt will be made to avoid minutiae and mundanity; I hereby promise to refrain from broadcasting my precise choice of breakfast.1,2 Instead, I want this to be a space... Well, if I wasn't so hobbled by self-awareness, I'd naively say "for the finer things in life" without quotation marks undermining my point. In short: books, music, film, art, and most likely philosophy, too. I'm not aiming towards untempered, insufferable 'pure art', or the like- it's more a collection of things that I think are interesting, and why they might be worth your time.3 And that those things just happen to cover a lot of different areas is just how it is, because interest isn't something bound by genre or medium- it just is...
So: a collection of pithy and not-so-pithy things. I'll attempt to be as illuminating and insightful as I can- and if you disagree, excellent. I expect this blog will be riddled with contradictions and inconsistencies, but that's how things are. Henceforth, onwards...4
1. I realise, of course, the huge temptation to do that kind of stuff- the internet often feels like shouting into a vacuum, and I'm not denying it can be the perfect space to vent. And I'm also not saying I don't often announce the trifling details of my daily routine, either- I'm as guilty as everyone else, but that doesn't make it right.
2. But I suppose one can take solace in the fact that this isn't A) the horrendously reductive twitter or B) the murky world of facebook statuses. Ever seen a really nuanced tweet? Q.E.D.
3. Or, conversely, things that aren't interesting though they ought to be, and why not. This is, of course, a tad simplistic, but I hope you get the general gist.
4. And if you were wondering, the name is a pretty shameless reference to a wonderful album. Look it up.
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