The Lives of Others: Blog Discoveries

Turn on cable and you're bound to be sucked into or assualted by one reality show or another, all screaming for your attention. It's easy to be pulled into the lives and suffering of others. I'm grateful I don't know them. I also wonder if these people exist in the same form when the cameras are off: do they really wear heels and miniskirts all the time. It must be exhausting sucking your stomach in for months of filming. I also wonder what happens to them when their fifteen minutes of fame's over. The news of late show that people will do almost anything to get on tv or stay on tv. It's as if they don't exist unless on camera.

This reminds me of when Warren Beatty, in absolute exasperation, asks Madonna if she exists when the camera's are turned off in her reality film, True Lies. As for Madonna, can you imagine a world where she's not reinventing herself on film? And what about us, the veiwers? Why are we watching and watching? Yes, we experience catharsis watching these programs, but I'm finding blogs far more interesting. It's as if I've been given the key to the front door of a stranger's home while they're at work and I get to puruse the bookshelves and look inside kitchen cupboards, or better yet, I've been FedExed the diary of a someone I'l never meet, and I can thumb throw it at my leisure and piece together a life from the entries.

Blogs let us enter the lives of ordinary people living ordinary lives. This is extraordinary. I still write my secret thoughts in my journals, record my dreams, (which incidentially focused on "bindi" or "lindi" last night), and still make my to- do and to-don't lists, which I will never post on my blog because my journal and my blog are two very different beasts. My blog posts are random, but much less discursive and rambling as my journals. I'm still figuring out the medium.

I found these blogs today, and I'm getting acquainted with these bloggers. Here they are. Go ahead. Enter.

Cool Travel Guide
Features great travel photos and commentary.

Strawberry Kittens
This blogger photographs herself in outfits she wears to the dentist, doctor, etc..

Mrs. Blandings
Has an interior design slant and provides great links.

Zeichenn Press
Features letterpress cards and lots of amusing ramblings.

Stephanie Friedman Photography
Great eye and aesthetic. Lots of interesting photographs.

Beyond Words
Mixed-media art and politics.

London Still
Musing of a real drama queen.

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