Thursday, December 07, 2006

It's my Blogiversary!

I started this Second Effort at blogging one year ago today. I raise my virtual champagne glass in a toast: Here's all of you who've stopped by in the past year... and, particularly, here's to all of you who've come back! Thanks.

Since I'm feeling nostalgic (and because I couldn't get on Blogger for 30 minutes this morning and I have to get ready for court in a few mintues) I thought I'd go back and re-post my first post:


I've been reading again. George Burns. Bob Hope. Jack Benny.

Chances are, if you can access a blog, these names are foreign to you. This is your misfortune.

But each wrote about how they developed their characters -- or, rather, how their audiences developed their characters for them. The audience laughed harder at Benny's cheap jokes. So Benny became, well, the tight-fisted Benny we knew. George Burns said he started off making the jokes -- but the audience laughed at anything Gracie said. So he stopped making jokes.

They did their development in vaudeville and in radio, while it was still a new medium. They had the luxury to experiment.

No such experimentation is permitted in the modern media. Not as near as I can tell. You hit -- or you miss -- mostly you miss -- and I can't afford to miss. I can barely afford the fare home.

So I can't hear you laugh. Or boo. Or heckle (this last seems to me a great advantage, now that I think about it). But I can see if there's traffic. I can read comments, should any be made. I can develop a "style" here, in obscurity, and maybe, over time, develop a following, too.

Who knows? I could be that next Internet hundred-aire....

I choose to remain anonymous. This way I can say what I want, how I want to, without having to worry about what others may think of me. Without embarrassing my family. Without worrying about telling the abosolute, unvarnished truth at all times because, you know, comedy is about exaggeration, not about careful reporting.

Anyway, I shall begin this Second Effort at blogging with this little manifesto and see what develops from here. I reserve the right to comment on affairs local and otherwise. I will not always be funny (like, so far, for instance) -- but I will not always try to be funny either.

And we'll see what develops together. So far "we" is me and the mouse next to my keyboard. (How's that for updating an old chestnut?)

It's amazing I didn't develop an instant following, isn't it? Well, next year may be better....

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

i don't drink champagne, but a diet pepsi in a champagne glass will do...happy blogversary !

Anonymous said...

Well congratulations, and you deserve that glass of bubbly. My anniversay is next February.

I have posed another legal question which would benefit from your expertise, a situtuation regarding the rape of women in the UK which is not taken seriously if they are drunk. Is that the same in the US?

Anonymous said...

Happy blogiversary! Glad you hung around til I found you, of course, now you know that since I enjoy your blog tremendously, something major will happen to make you discontinue it...

Anonymous said...

oh congratulations curmy! a year! that is eons in the blogesphere i think.... i have only been around a few months. i recently had my 100th post and didn't notice it untill it was too late! sigh.... things slip by me sometimes, anyway, keep blogging, we love you out here..... bee

Anonymous said...

well curmy i am no longer able to post comments on Captain Picard's. i wander around the ship looking for chocolate, deanna will not help! she broke her heel and tore her dress and is all in a snit. sigh.... anyway, please let him know that i am an EMPRESS and i demand the respect i deserve at the chocolate fountain....i know it is in there somewhere. i even had a fainting spell and no one helped me up at all. just because i don't have pointy ears and a small waist. hrumpf.... the midnight buffet was good though. thanks, bee

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the Blogiversy, Mr Curmudgeon, but you are not 100% correct, I have learned to access a blog and I know who George, Bob, and Jack are.

I have only been at this since October 27, when Miss Bee thought I should have a blog so she set it up. Little did she know what a monster she was creating. I am now obsessed with the notion that I need stories in the hopper, so to speak.

For a blog-o-vet like you to make a comment on my blog just “makes my day” as my friend, Clent would say.

I did finish my current story and I will shamelessly ask that you read and comment. Some day I too will be a “blog-o-vet.”

The old sarge

sari said...

Raising my coffee to you this morning, you're one of my favorite reads!

And yes, I know who George, Bob and Jack are. ;-)

(and yes, I use emoticons, ha ha).

Happy Blogiversary!

landgirl said...

Happy anniversary. I got back just in time, didn't I? I have been in Glasgow and then playing catch up on the farm and now in the throes of packing for US. Best wishes, and, since I wasn't around the first time. let me add that I remember George Burns andJack Benny fondly.
Best, landgirl

Anonymous said...

Happy anniversary.

Lois Lane said...

Happy anniversary! I love those guys! (is that showing my age? good!)
Actually I wrote tributes to Bob Hope and George Burns that found their way into a book a couple of months ago. Both were amazing but the thing about George Burns that gets me the most was, he was only six when he stared working. His earnings helped his mom raise her 12 children after their father died. How cool is that? My stinking 6 year olds only played with toys and went to first grade. :)

Mother Jones RN said...

Happy blogiversary! I look forward to more posts in the years to come.

MJ

Anonymous said...

Hi again,

Thanks for your great comments. Here's another question for you, 2 prostitutes have been murdered in a small town, they want police to have an amnesty on arresting them and their clients during the murder hunt. It seems fair to me, what do you think? Hope you don't mind me asking.

http://elleeseymour.com/2006/12/08/prostitutes-plead-to-police-for-amnesty-after-second-death/

Anonymous said...

Happy Blogiversary!

I always enjoy your posts. :-)

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a good post! Happy anniversary :)

Dr. A said...

Sorry I'm late. Happy blogiversary. Keep on blogging!