Life in the blogosphere

There is such a thing as the “blogosphere”. I’m not entirely certain what it is, exactly, but it is referred to, so it must exist. As a blogger (which I am), I am part of this blogosphere. I’m not an important or famous member of this world, something like a New Caledonia or a São Tome & Principe.

I don’t really know how it works, but it seems that bloggers link together and read each other’s work. Frankly, I have no idea, but I do know that of late bloggers have started to contact me, and even, on occasion, link to this page. Recently, for example, a bloke called Deek Deekster (possibly not his real name) linked to my diatribe about the Tory party’s racist electioneering, on his UK election blog. I don’t know if there’s some kind of reciprocity arrangement, but in order not to be rude, here’s a link to him. I have no idea how he came across it, unless there’s some kind of advanced blogosphere search tool of which I am unaware. I have also been contacted by a woman in South Africa who writes a blog entitled “My Life as a Carrot”. She was nice enough to tell me that she likes my writing style, and that is good enough for me to recommend her in return. I think of these as the blogosphere’s equivalent to bilateral agreements. I‘m not really in favour of bilateral agreements in the real world as they tend to be used to avoid signing on to genuine international agreements (yes, USA, I’m looking at you), but for a small and insignificant player such as myself they make a certain kind of sense. If I were someone with an ounce of gumption I’d probably attempt to form a non-aligned movement for the blogosphere, but who really has the time?

I think to be a serious player in the blogosphere, to have a permanent seat on the Security Council if you will, you have to have an angle. Like you have to devote your blog to exposing the Bush administration’s vile activities, or to delving into the world of grime music (for those not in the know, grime music is very much a genre de nos jours and is taking music critics and the world -or London at least- by storm. I don’t know what it is either, but from the descriptions it sounds like people making recordings of their digital alarm clocks and mixing them with a rhythm tapped out on a stylophone . Here, in case I have piqued your interest, is the grime blog of a friend). Since mine is just a load of ego-driven ramblings on any subject which takes my fancy, it’s too “eclectic” (in the sense of random and directionless) to really build a following. Still, I’m not desperately bothered by that, as I’m not sure what I’d do if I suddenly found I had followers. Possibly explode in a cloud of self-regard.

Well, just to cement my place on the far fringe of the blogosphere, here are a couple of other ones that I have been alerted to:

Baghdad Blog - a bloke who had a Blog in Baghdad all through the invasion and subsequent occupation
Iraq Dispatches: Another (brilliant) Iraq one
I fucked Ann Coulter in the Ass, Hard. – Hilarious, but you possibly have to know who Ann Coulter is (an extreme right wing US media whore)

And some people who I vaguely know who also have Blogs:
A Sassenach Soliloquy
The Scope

So, you see, if you too have a blog, and wish to enter into some kind of mutual admiration agreement, you too can be linked to on "Csikszereda Musings" the most visited English language site originating in Csikszereda. Don't miss out.