You are browsing the Blog for blog.

New Media Is Not A Battle Of The Sexes

April 15, 2013 in Gender, Society

Recently I’ve had some people make some strange and unexpected comments about blogging and new media. When I mention that I blog and write articles for websites, some people have said things like, but isn’t that something women do? This really took me by surprise. When did blogging become a gender role? Why should blogging even be assigned a gender role in the first place? One of the major themes of feminism is the dismantling of artificial gender roles so that women and men have the freedom to be whatever they want to be. No one should be excluded from a group or profession because [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
6 Comments »

I’m Not Unpopular. I’m Inpopular!

April 4, 2013 in Friendship, People, Relationships, Self, Society

All my life, I’ve suffered from being inpopular… no, that’s not a typo… I didn’t mean unpopular… I meant inpopular. What is inpopular? Well, think of the difference between being famous or infamous… or the difference between visible or invisible even. Or flammable or inflammable. What is the difference between flammable or inflammable anyway? I seem to have gone off topic for a moment… So, back to inpopular. It’s a word I’ve made up for people like me who are generally well-liked, but never seem to be able to cross the popularity event-horizon. What is the popularity event-horizon? It’s an invisible line in the sand [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
3 Comments »

This Week: Internet Outrage, and Germicidal Kids With Cupcakes

February 8, 2013 in Health, Society

Here’s JJ & T with another weekly chat about life, the universe…and well, anything… JJ: So, T – what happened to last week’s chat! T: Um… A frog stole my shoes. JJ: My dog ate mine…oh, and we forgot… T: I blame the coyotes. JJ: Totes! T: I’ve been asked to stop saying that, even if I am saying it ironically… Oh, the shame. JJ: I’m 46…it’s totes ironic if I say it. T: Oh that’s how it works, is it? I see how it is… Haha. So what’s on your mind this week? JJ: The Internet…or more specifically, INTERNET OUTRAAAAAGE (ECHO Echo echo) [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
5 Comments »

May You (Not) Live In Interesting Times

January 17, 2013 in Lifestyle, Mental Health, People

You’ve probably all heard of that expression “May you live in interesting times”. It is purported to be an ancient Chinese curse (though there is no proof of this at all) used ironically to mean that living a peaceful but boring life may be better for you than an interesting one. Well, tell that to someone who likes to blog…because let me tell you, having a boring life is a curse for the would-be blogger. I’ve been suffering from a lot of blog envy at the moment. Everywhere I see heaps of people with lots of things to blog about…their kids, their hobbies, their [...]

Tags: , , , , ,
8 Comments »

Blogging: There Are No Rules

December 5, 2012 in Fiction, Technology

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Conference of Fictional Bloggers at the Area 51 Conference Centre in Atlantis. It was hosted by Dr John Watson, and I saw presentations from many of my favourite fictional bloggers, including everyone’s favourite fictional blogger, Mary Mary. True to form, she delivered a fantastic presentation, and as always, spoke in that strange third-person narrative style that she prefers. (She even mentioned me in her speech!) Here is a transcript of her speech (with thanks to the conference organisers.) Mary Mary is pleased to be here today. She thanks the conference organisers, and [...]

Tags: , , , , , ,
2 Comments »

Online Support Group: I’m Breaking Up With You

September 10, 2012 in Health, Lifestyle, Self, Technology, Work

Dear illness specific online support group: I am breaking up with you. Calling things off. Walking out. Taking my records and changing my number. It’s not me it is you. I have dabbled in the world of online support groups ever since the Internet became available, back in 1996. My school librarian thought a good way to spend my time while not participating in PE classes was to research my condition (Ichthyosis) on the Internet. Maybe contact some people who also have it. And so I did. It beat doing cross country runs. (Though I spent more time researching Savage [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
6 Comments »

Why Are There So Many Open Letters on the Internet?

May 17, 2012 in Entertainment, People, Society, Technology

Has anyone noticed the number of “open letters” floating around the internet lately? It seems every second blog post/magazine website/news website has an open letter written to someone who has caused offence to the writer either directly or through some careless comments. I must admit, I have always found them odd and never really understood the term “open letter”? Isn’t that an oxymoron, like “dry ocean” or “delicious brocolli”? Are they a relatively new phenomenon because of the internet, I wondered? I Googled. According to the Macmillan dictionary, an open letter is “a letter that is addressed to a particular person or organization but is published in a newspaper so that everyone can read it“.  That definition, combined with the fact [...]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
10 Comments »