2014 : Whither Composing?

I know I'm asking questions rather than making predictions this new year. But here is a prediction : Google are going to keep folding Blogger into Google Plus.

This blog has been a significant writing space for me for over 10 years. It's even survived a major name change (though not change of URL).

But I think Google have little incentive to work on advancing the art of blogging. That work is going on over at WordPress and Ghost etc. All Google's innovation here is going to be integrating it more tightly into G+ (everything I post here is already automatically forwarded there). Comments are optionally integrated (G+ becomes the white-list, a useful anti-spam feature).

In 2014 I have a desire to become less dependent on Google. And I believe serious writing needs a different kind of space from the hectic rapids of social media. And I'm delighted with the move of Smart Disorganized to my own WP. And I really liked my short-lived LinkBlogging experiment on Fargo. And I'm starting to get my head around putting stuff into ThoughtStorms again ...

And so ...

Well, listen. Seriously. I can't just dump this blog. That's really not an option. It's too established a URL. Too much history. And, ultimately, I like to keep an address somewhere at an address I don't own ... just in case my web-hosting and / or domain ownership suddenly collapses for some reason.

But I think Composing is going to change its role ... less writing here. More links to writing elsewhere. It's going to become more like the "social media" that Google obviously want it to be. An interface to G+ (with RSS output). And list of pointers to my other activities.

That's what I think is going to happen, anyway.

BTW : there already seems to be a http://composing.blogspot.com/ ... but not in use.

I'll start reading "Composing Thoughts" though.

OK ... the reinvention of the blog formerly known as "blahsploitation" continues apace.

I toyed with some crazy names like "Carnival vs. Lent : One man can declare war on the entire world ... and win" and "Carnival vs. Lent : Man's new dialogue with nature" ... before finally opting for the more sober "Composing" and the Gaping Void quote. I've still kept "Carnival's quarrel with Lent" in the header graphic though ...

er ... all this probably doesn't make much sense at the moment, does it?

It will if you've read the final chapter of Jacques Attali's "Noise" or at least, my interpretation of it.

Update : now here

If you missed it : why I decided to change.

... name change ...

Black is the new ... huh????!!!!

Don't worry, just playing here ... blahsploitation is in transition ... but this isn't what's coming next ... still have to work that out ...

Here's a little secret. I don't actually like the name "Blahsploitation".

In general I think I'm pretty good at coming up with or appropriating names for things.

"Platform Wars" is a decent chunk of generic namespace I'm happy to have grabbed. I increasingly like "Smart Disorganized" and even though the original "SdiDesk" sounds clunky it's one of those clunky things that has proved solid enough. (Even if the original pun on CityDesk is lost on people.)

"ThoughtStorms" sounded fantastic when I came up with it as a chapter-title for an unfinished novel I was writing back in around 91. And it proved an extremely felicitous name for a personal wiki. "OPTIMAES", though I say it myself, is a damned fine acronym : saying and sounding everything I want. "Synaesmedia" is beautiful; a classic, even if I don't have quite the right "thing" to hang it on. I am not Synaesmedia. But Synaesmedia.net has ended up as my personal homepage. Hmmm ...

NooRanch is very good as long as you know to pronounce it "noo-o" as in noosphere and not "noo" as in "new" in certain US regional accents.

"GeekWeaver" I like. It's a little bit gangly but captures the idea. And I believe it will grow to fit the programming language I'm working on. Gbloink! ... not sure what I can say ... come on, it works! Interstar was the name of a javascript and dynamic HTML game I wrote back in 1997. It was right for that. How it ended up being my generic email and login nick-name I'm not sure, but it's too comfortable to throw away.

Oh, and I have some real kicking names for a couple of below-the-radar projects I'm working on : names that are exotic, daring, memorable. Names that may make you gasp with surprise and admiration at their sheer reckless, exuberance. ;-)

And then there's "Blahsploitation". Frankly "Blahsploitation" sucks. I find it horrible. I'd never read a blog called Blahsploitation. I wouldn't link to it. Or recommend it to my friends. Ugh!

How the hell did I manage to end up with this name for my main, personal, blog? Do I look like someone who was down with the Blaxploitation revival scene of the early 90s? Do I listen to the theme from Shaft and S'Express's "Superfly Guy" (er, well actually, now you mention it ... NO! )

Really, basically, the answer is "None of the above."

"Blahsploitation" is a really dumb name ... sometime around 2003 I decided to transition my previous blog "BlahBlahWorld" (which *is* quite a good name for a blog, I think) from EditThisPage.com to Blogspot.com. Somehow it seemed like I needed a new name, but one which had continuity with the old. "blahsploitation" was all I could think of. But somehow I got stuck with it.

And yet ... is it possible, after 5 years to rename this blog? Obviously the URL is hard to change, but I could get another and forward it. I can change the title as it appears. Can I think of a name which could be better? And yet continuous? Is it starting from scratch? Would people miss the name? Lots of questions. Comments anyone?