Thursday 31 January 2008

A Little Rant

I have an old school friend, a veteran of many battles with Airfix figures, who remains cynical as to the value of these blogs of ours. It is at his request that I reveal the startling details of last night's tea: vegetable Lasagne.

There's an interesting post on The Duchy of Alzheim regarding blogs and their content. I'd like to see everyone using the comments section of that blog to give their own thoughts on the subject.

So I think I should start by apologising to any students of classic literature, or philosophy students, if I am unable to meet the standards that all bloggers are apparently required to reach. I forgive my friend because we have known each other for a long time, and I am hoping that he will be my opponent when I finally fight Blasthof Heath. As for the author of the magazine article referred to in the linked blog, I have no kind words at all: could one convenient way of filling an article (if you are unable to think of anything better) be to denigrate the efforts of others?

Watched TV lately? Its rubbish. Well, I'm not sure I have improved my content by going down this path

I write this blog because it gives me access to other people's ideas. I set down my (often muddled) thoughts, show what I am trying to do, and then my fellow bloggers sort things out for me in the comments section. Others are kind enough to offer encouragement. It seems strange to me that anyone would have a problem with that.

I could stop blogging. I could go next door for advice, but sadly the lady there has never expressed an interest in wargaming the 18th Century, I'm not sure she has many insights into modelling Frederick the Great's army. Blogs are a technology that allows us to converse with like minded individuals wherever in the world they may be.

And if anyone continues to fail to understand what I and fellows like me are about, I can only regret I cannot award him the order of the boot. I refer here to a picture in my first post.

3 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

I know that I get inspiration from many of the blogs.

We don't have a game store or club in my area so visiting blogs feeds my "gaming addiction". I enjoy seeing what others are doing around the world . . . and occasionally I can pass on some little tidbit that helps some other gamer.

Mark me down as very "pro-blog".


-- Jeff

WSTKS-FM Worldwide said...

Good Morning Andy,

I agree. Two words come immediately to mind where wargaming blogs are concerned -- inspiration and encouragement. We influence and learn from each other. We offer constructive critique and suggestions. And then, of course, there is the simple joy of looking at each other's growing collections, narratives, and etc. "Cross-pollination" is a term I often use with my composition students to explain why the discussion and dissemination of ideas is a vital early component of the writing/composing process. My admittedly subjective guess is that people who don't get the blogging side of things don't quite understand this. Just a thought. By the way, the boot picture is wonderful (again). Where did you find it?

Best Regards,

Stokes

Andy Mitchell said...

The boot picture is from 'Der Alte Fritz in 50 Bildern'. If you can't find a copy of the original, then this link has quite a few of its prints:

http://www.historicalimagebank.com/gallery/main.php/v/album02/album31/?g2_page=10