Gladly one of my resolutions this year w...

Gladly one of my resolutions this year was not to blog more. If it had been I would have failed in a massive way already.Blogging still bores me somewhat right now. I honestly don't know if I am going to recover sufficiently to allow myself to actually maintain 2 blogs and a lifestream (nicharalambous.me). I'm over it. I'm over talking, writing, opinions, publishing and the bollocks that goes along with it.I'm frustrated and fed up. When is the next big thing getting here? I'm bored.

How many posts do you have on your blog?

I've just surpassed (with this very blog post) my 1000th article on this blog.I am very interested to know how many blog posts people have on their blogs.Bloggers seem to have been around for ages and ages and I think I'd be surprised how many of them have actually written a boat load of posts. I'd love to know how many the likes of Mike, Matt, Vince, Cherryflava, coda, Justin, Keo, Paul, Charl, Rafiq, Elan, Gino, Tyler, Vinny, Quirk, Ideate, Tertia, Ray, Chris and Mark have written.If you have a count, pop it in the comments.

Let's all blog about blogging about blogging

Bored. That is what us bloggers must be. Why? Because we seem to be so preoccupied recently (a phenomenon that has coincided with some interesting arrivals of late) with who is who and doing what and how often in our wondrously massive local blogging community.Those who are mentioned "seem to not care" but care enough to blog about themselves being blogged about. I have been mentioned a fair amount and I am now partaking in my own condemnation (oh the irony). I am blogging about blogs by bloggers on blogging and bloggers and who's the bestest of the best and whose daddy is bigger than whose mommy and who has the nicest fanciest shmanciest housiest home or rather, blog, and who is more influential than who and how often they influence those that influence others.Can I just chime in here and say that I actually think it's a load of rubbish. In spite of my participation in Mandy's "Top Ten bloggers" post over at MoneyWeb I honestly think it's irrelevant. Mandy asked on twitter yesterday: "Who has more influece?" and listed three bloggers for others to compare. Link. Bait. It's link baiting. Not journalism. It's irrelevant in my opinion (and only in my opinion). What does matter is that its time we refocus our energy on relevant content for the every day reader. Not the bloggers who blog about blogging.Has content become so drab and non existent that we have turned to each other, looked one another in the blog and decided that we are the only content relevant enough to blog about? Are you kidding me?I reiterate that I grasp the fact that I am doing the same thing right now that I am condemning, do not point it out in the comments, I get it, I know that I am doing it but occasionally it is unavoidable.What I am getting at is that people like to stir the pot, we like to back rub, we like to have our backs rubbed, we all do and we all know it, we just can't help ourselves. It's the old adage that people like to see themselves on TV, look at America's Funniest Home Videos. That show has never gone away and it's because there are regular people focusing on people like themselves. That doesn't make it good content though. It just makes it long-lasting.Maybe it's time I shift my focus to writing for readers, not bloggers. Writing for people and writing about things that people like to read. In my opinion readers don't like to read about bloggers blogging about blogs and other bloggers egos and ranks and pages and pageranks and technorati and lists and links... see I'm bored already.

I've blogged myself in to circles

If you blog you might be read but there is also chance that you might not be. But one thing is certain, if you don't blog you will never be read.The past week or so I have not blogged at all. I think it was a necessary break for me. I have been suffering from over-exposure to blogging, online bubbles, "inner-circles" and circular debates, discussions and topics. I think I've saturated my interests and lost some semblance of relevance recently.I'm happy to admit that.Stii said it the other day on twitter and I think I'm willing to reiterate it here; "If you have nothing good to say then rather don't say anything at all." And I haven't.However, I've been taken to task, not literally but in my rankings, stats and anylitics on both this blog and SA Rocks.That basic premise is that when I blog, people read. Not always or every time but there is a greater chance that people read what I write when I actually get around to writing. I've been relentless with SA Rocks, blogging every week day for almost an entire year straight. This can take its toll and I think it has taken its toll on me.At this point blogging becomes a chore that one is obligated to complete. I don't want that to be the case and nor do my readers.I personally feel like publishers of blogs in SA have become a bit stagnant of late, nit-picky and petty on various issues (myself included) and this has thrown me out of whack and left me with little colleague-initiated inspiration or motivation.There's nothing wrong with that, ebbs and flows I think, ebbs and flows. These things take place and then bounce back and get better or worse. For now though I think that my recent illness which prompted a tactical break from blogging has helped me to realise the mutually beneficial relationship I share with my readers and fellow bloggers in SA. I need them to inspire me and keep me on my toes and they read what I write. Without one the other suffers.In the end, if you never write, you'll never be read but if I write myself in to a circle it's sometimes better not to write at all.

Modern-day poets

I watched an interesting movie recently that made me think about language, poetry, writing and the modern-day poet.I love language. It's part of the reason that I became a journalist initially. Language is the media that portrays a message, evokes an emotion, tells a story and more literally allows us to communicate with one another. However I have forgotten how to enjoy my obsession with language in the last four years or so. I went to varsity and language became a means to an end not the end result.What I mean by this is simple, poets make language their result. Yes the message exists but it is enhanced through the language they use, the words they choose and the sorts of construction that they decide to make use of.If you don't know anything about poetry and wondered what all the high-faluted hype was about do yourself a favour and read up about poetry a bit. Then go and read Frost, Thomas, Cummings, Blake and Eliot for a start. These are the greats of the past and the definitive poets of "our time". The reason I say "our time" is that these poets are not part of my time, my era or existence.Here are snippets of some of my favourite poet's writings:

The Road Not Takenby Robert FrostTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I couldTo where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,And having perhaps the better claim,Because it was grassy and wanted wear;Though as for that the passing thereHad worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally layIn leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way,I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sighSomewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.

And another:

why must itself up every of a parkby E. E. Cummingswhy must itself up every of a parkanus stick some quote statue unquote toprove that a hero equals any jerkwho was afraid to dare to answer "no"?

Now tell me something. Who are the the poets of my era? Who wrote the great words of my time? Who told the stories that would define the present-day history?I would like to suggest that musicians today have become the poets of yesteryear.Here are some examples:

There's always somebody taller with more of a witAnd he's equipped to enthrall her and her friends think he’s fitAnd you just can't measure up though, you don't have a prayerWishing that you'd made the most of her when she was thereThey've got engaged there's no intention of a weddingHe's pinched ya bird and he'd probably kick your head inBigger boys and stolen sweetheartsOh, you’re better off without her anywayYou said you wasn't sad to see her goYeah, but I know you were thoughNow you don't know what she's up to you can only assumeIf she's not in the front of the shops then they've gone to his roomBet she's gone 'round in her school stuff, bet that’s what he likesI know you thought she were different and you thought she were niceBut she's not nice, she's pretty fucking far from niceShe’s looking at you funny rarely looking at you twice

That is a band I love, the Arctic Monkeys. The writing above, without the music, is poetry to me. It might not be an iambic pentameter. But Poetry, it is.The next example is from Greenday, one of the definitive bands of my era and I think one of the definitive poetry sources of my time.

I'm the son of rage and loveThe Jesus of SuburbiaFrom the bible of none of the aboveOn a steady diet of soda pop and RitalinNo one ever died for my sins in hellAs far as I can tellAt least the ones I got away withAnd there's nothing wrong with meThis is how I'm supposed to beIn a land of make believeThat don't believe in meGet my television fix sitting on my crucifixThe living room or my private wombWhile the moms and brads are awayTo fall in love and fall in debtTo alcohol and cigarettes and Mary JaneTo keep me insane and doing someone else's cocaineAnd there's nothing wrong with meThis is how I'm supposed to beIn a land of make believeThat don't believe in me

Above is part 1 of "Jesus of Suburbia".Next is one of my favourite songs from the last 5 years, The Foo Fighters and "Best of You":

I’ve got another confession to makeI’m your foolEveryone’s got their chains to breakHoldin’ youWere you born to resist or be abused?Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?Are you gone and onto someone new?I needed somewhere to hang my headWithout your nooseYou gave me something that I didn’t haveBut had no useI was too weak to give inToo strong to loseMy heart is under arrest againBut I break looseMy head is giving me life or deathBut I can’t chooseI swear I’ll never give inNo, I refuseIs someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?Is someone getting the best, the best, the best, the best of you?Has someone taken your faith?Its real, the pain you feelYour trust, you mustConfess

So to answer my own question, where are the poets of today, the modern-day writers that define our present-day history, they are in music, in the popular form of communication today. Poetry is no longer in the mainstream as it was back in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, today it is music and the musicians, songwriters and definitive minds might just exist in our music.For more poets of today I suggest reading:LennonDylanMarleyStevensMatthewsAppleTaylorKingNirvana (Kurt Cobain)OasisTupac ShakurChapmanWho would you consider poets of your era? Which poets do you read? What would you classify as poetry?

Things that make me happy

It's been a tough year has 2008. Not in a bad way, in a trying, testing way. In a way that makes you fight for what makes you happy.I think I've started to lose that battle. I haven't slept a full night in a few weeks. I haven't played music (not on a sound system) of any kind in a long time. I think it's all tied together, I do.I passionately love my life and my job. But life has got to be about more than one passion hasn't it? I am struggling to separate my life from my work and my passion from both of those.Things need to be balanced and I don't think I'm doing a good job.Things that make me happy:Poker (playing live tournaments)Guitar (playing it)Writing musicReadingWriting (for myself)Listening to musicSpending time aloneTrainingI'm really not managing to do alot of the above things. It's tough as those of you with jobs, ambitions and busy lives will know and agree. I really can't understand how some of the people I know manage it. I struggle.This is probably the first post in a long time that I've blogged on here that has some sincerity about it. I've been extremely unmotivated to blog on here thanks to the demands of SA Rocks and Nudjit. This might not change too soon, but we can always hope!