I suppose they provide a sense of history. Of stability. Perhaps they help people to know themselves better. I've never read many blogs for very long, so I can't really know. I'm not sure if I really want to know. Maybe that's the fun of something like this. That it becomes whatever it needs to be.
Anyway, I'm rambling already, and this is supposed to be an introduction, so I'll try and get to some kind of central crux. But first, some brief and self-indulgent background.
I'm seventeen at the moment. I turn eighteen in a few days, and I think that I've had a good run so far. I don't know what the future has in store for me, or what I have in store for the future, but I see that as a good thing. I've just lived through my first whole decade. The thousands, the Naughties, the 2000s. Whatever you want to call them. And its a funny feeling. To be able to look back with clarity at a whole ten year block like that.
It was a weird decade. Not that any decade is normal. We had planes flying into buildings, and conspiracy theories and war. Nearly everywhere in the west had a reduction in official freedom the likes of which we had never seen before. At least not that I know of, from my extensive almost-eighteen years of experience.
Whatever it was that happened in that strange decade, there were good things as well. It became normal, at least where I live (Sydney, Australia), for people to ask other people about their sexuality, and for people to be honest about it. I hardly think that I hang about with the most normal of people (as if anyone is 'normal'), so I know that my experiences are very different from many others', but at the same time as all that irrational fear about terrorists lurking in the bushes, and those two useless wars (which are still going after eight years), a lot of society got a lot saner and really a lot freer. And that can only be a good thing.
Unfortunately, there's still plenty of work to be done in terms of breaking down gender roles, but its progressing nicely. Men are still 'players' for the same behaviour that gets women labelled 'sluts', but increasingly less so. The only worrying aspect is that the same ridiculous logic has been applied in reverse; We now have 'man-sluts' and female 'players', but I think that those terms will probably die out too.
In terms of music, it was pretty unfortunate. The auto-tuned, mass produced, soft rock, pop punk nonsense of the late 90s continued with little variation. But there were signs of hope. Even if the alternative rock goodness of the early 90s had faded, real authenticity was still there. In anti-folk, the better parts of electro, a new non-Gang$ta wave of hip-hop. Even pop-punk had its antithesis in the resurgence of hardcore and crust. Most wonderfully, boy bands and girl bands died off.
Like always, its been the best of times and the worst of times. For all the mass stupidity that dominated the swing to social conservatism, the appreciation of irony and the normality of real scepticism, not knee-jerk pessimism, has become far more widespread than at the turn of the millennium. Its gone so far that there's even been a reaction against it. 'Hipster' has turned into an insult for those who try to be cool and ironic, and attempts to shock are dismissed as 'edgy' in the sarcastic tone of those so bored with supposedly transgressive behaviour that only paedophilia manages to horrify any more.
Look at that. One side point about the novelty of living through a decade stretches out into five paragraphs. In case you hadn't guessed, I'm writing this thing Jack Keroac style. No going back. Just a long stream of conscious and the faith that if it doesn't turn out well, it will at least turn out interesting. And interesting probably counts more to me, and to you. I hope that it comes off as writing, not just typing.
To get back on track, let me tell you about the title of this blog. Sound Advice and Well Reasoned Analysis. Two of the rarest and most important things in the world. I'll admit that the title is partially a product of the widespread irony that I mentioned earlier, considering that I'm almost equally a fan of rotten advice and illogical ideas. But those are way overdone, and I'd like to contribute to restoring the balance. How quasi-mystical.
Basically, I want you to write me, comment me, message me, your questions. And then I'll elaborate on them. I'll reply to them. It'll be up to you to decide whether I'm giving you the Sound Advice and Well Reasoned Analysis suggested, but we should both enjoy the process.
As well as answering the better of your questions, I'll write about whatever I feel like writing about. I love writing, for its own sake. Its a terrific feeling to know that you've made something new, and with the possibility that this will get a readership, to affect other peoples' lives in any significant way.
I'm not a good writer yet. I want to learn. And this seems like a good way to do it. To tell you a bit more about myself, I like politics, philosophy, people, and art, and those are most likely going to be the topics that I write about. I'm smart, but not I'm that smart. I'm fairly knowledgeable, but I still have a lot to learn, and I'd like you to be part of that process. Oooh, post-modern.
That's all for now. I guess I'll write more soon. All the best, whoever you are. Lets hope that this decade and this blog turn into something wonderful.
As a final note, I just read a tip on blog writing that says that you should put pictures in. I'll do that now.
This is a photograph off my old deviant art. I left that evil place a long time ago, but the computer I had this photo on died a while back, so it was the only way to retrieve it for you. Aren't I good to you, unknown reader? I took this in late 2006 or early 2007, in Colorado.
So there's one post done. I hope that you enjoyed reading it.
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