talking live and unplugged

Funny thing about blogs and voice, I mean, that we don't have any spoken voice here, but we talk our asses off. Recently, I've had a chance to talk to three popular bloggers--Chris Locke, Elaine, and Halley Suitt by phone.

Why these three? I'm not sure, really. They were destined in some way, so much parallel thinking and talking that we might have exploded if we didn't start sharing some inflection and affection in real time.

In each case, my time on the phone with these friends has amazed me. What have we done here among the blogs? Are we jumpstarting friendships that would have existed anyway, had we lived in the same town, run into each other at a conference, worked at the same company?

Is it deeper than that? The shortest talk I've had with a blogger has lasted about 1/2 hour, the longest well over an hour.

Our talks are conversation on the fast track. Formalities gone, veils dropped, history already shared, why not dig right into the present moment? Why not get real, and real quick? Let's tell it like it is--why not? I already have and you like me so far. Rejection isn't much of a possibility, or you would have tuned out long ago.

And isn't that so nice.

As Halley and I talked, we tried to figure out why it is that we'd go to the matt willingly for any of our blogger friends, take hits that we wouldn't take for most of our offline friends. Why so passionate over some words in a template? Why do I feel like I've known these friends all my life?

I think it's based, in part anyway, on what we ourselves let go on our blogs. Since I've shared most of my life, even if compressed and scattered, here on allied, I feel that somehow you all have lived it with me. Co-conspirators indeed. You *were* there when my dad died in 1969, even if only for the re-lived version; I was there when Halley's dad died recently, even though I live 1,000 miles away; And Chris's heart? Talk about living it.

The bonds of blogs are growing tighter in a way I certainly never imagined. The roles we have played in one another's online lives have reached critical mass, and now we are beginning to see leakage into the RealWorld. I am watching, amazed, as I find myself in the middle of this powerful web, reaching into the RealWorld, as strong lines of silk weave back to and among my blog selves.

Digital jumpstarting analog.
A universe unfolding.

This call may be recorded for training purposes

THANK YOU for the comments on fixing this place up. I'm still having trouble on one thing--getting my permalinks to work. What am I doing wrong?? I tried starvosthewonderchicken's suggestion, but I guess I didn't do it right--OR is it something with my archive page (which I guess I still have to skin). Remind me not to do this again. Help?

new canvas

one note--please don't ignore my cry for help below. archive trouble post-skinning.

Now. Wow. I'm in a new house and I'm all disoriented. Same shit laying all over the place, but this new blogskin feels funny. I'm sure I lost a box or two in the move.

Canvas. Look at it this way, I tell myself, it's like a new canvas, a new palatte.

We'll see how long it lasts.
Not that I loved my other template. it was stale.

but still

how do I write on this canvas?
Short bursts?
Golby-sized posts?

This is not my beautiful font...

Well, I'll play around with this. Any opinions at all, leave them in the comment box assuming it works, or email me.

night ya'll.

Send Skin Help

Where the fuck have my archives gone?

Does anyone know? Okay--here's what I'd LIKE this new skin to do. Let me copy the table that says "archives," paste it beneath the long "stuff" table, and have all my archives hang out down there, lower right netherregion, til they get long enough to care about, by which time I should be hosting my own blog, like I could ever figure that out.

So, what code do I copy, where do I paste it, and how do I get my archives to show up in the table?

Have these colors made anyone actually puke yet? Please, I'd love to know. I may add a scoreboard.

I liked it til I started adding in all my clutter.

God I wish I could design.

Ah well, we all have our gifts, eh?

Thank you for obliging me.

I would so appreciate your generous assistance.

jjjjjjjj.

Today

blogskinning in progress.... eeeeeeeeeee!

staying power

There in the midst of it,
so alive and alone
words support like bone.

Mercy street – peter gabriel

To me, there is an amazing link between consistency of idea and brilliance. Those who invent ideas and nurture them, staying the course while the world swirls around them--up economies, down economies, political upheaval, terror attacks, you name it--all the while their teeth clenched around a message that is fundamentally important and undeniably consistent. An idea that is sustained over time. Resonance carried across markets. Brilliant.

Few in business do this. Especially marketing types. Most of us attach to the latest theory—from chasms and tornadoes, to markets of one, to permission and viruses. We marketing types live our lives this way, blowing in the wind, hoping for a soft landing on a cushy pile of money at just the right moment, with the idea de jour as our parachute.

And then there’s Chris Locke, a case study in brilliance (and maybe two or three fascinating neuroses). A search on google groups will show you that Chris Locke has been delivering the news on the net and business since the net met business.

Thank you, Jack Schofield, whose article Rebel without a Pause today in The Guardian did Chris Locke justice. Schofield captures much of the man, the spirit, and the mind that is Chris Locke. Applause from me to you, Jack. I care about the guy. And the message.

In the article, Schofield describes the staying power of EGR this way:

“It was often very funny, sometimes intensely moving, full of ideas, and beautifully written. It was, in short, the sort of thing no conventional publication would allow, but it couldn't be stopped on the web.”

As the message and the medium, so goes the man.

Go to Hell

This blog from journalism focused poynter.org is tracking the sex abuse crimes in the Catholic church. More coming on this topic to a weblog near you--soon. In the mean time, feast your eyes on some of these revelations from the last few days:

"Few of the 51 sexual abuse complaints against Metro Detroit priests released to prosecutors last week are likely to result in charges because the cases are too old, two prosecutors said Monday."

"A former altar boy sued the Vatican, the Archdiocese of Miami and two Roman Catholic priests on Monday, saying he was forced to participate in orgies with priests as a teen-ager 30 years ago."

"The Rev. Paul Shanley traveled to Thailand in March and spent as much as a month in a vacation spot infamous for its child-sex trade, likely meeting up with fellow priest and longtime companion John J. White, according to Thai immigration documents."

Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I didn't put out in my last confession.