Twit(ter). Seriously? Perfect.

Mat Balez thinks Twitter faces a swift demise. I’m not so sure, but it would certainly provide me with hope for the future of the world if it were so.

I’ve only very recently heard about Twitter. Unsure of exactly what it was, I investigated — and quickly determined it was just another item for the list of wildly popular trends in which I find no appeal. But it doesn’t surprise me (If you’re not sure what it is, follow the link above, it will become all too obvious).

With the generation that makes up the vast majority of Twitter users, there is a bottomless well of narcissism and self-importance. Combined with the increasingly voyeuristic direction of entertainment and online social networks, you get hordes of people who believe their most mundane activities are worthy of record - and a group willing to feed these delusions.

I’m not suggesting that this is anything new or unique to the generation in question (nor am I by any stretch saying that it describes all of them - look at Mat’s Site) - there has been a notable increase in these tendencies for some time. The curve just accelerated with webcams, blogs, myspace pages, IM, and ubiquitious cell phones. Overlay a graph of free time, money and media access available to twentysomethings, and the picture is complete.

As for any hypocrisy about blogging - of course there are weblogs with equally inane and vapid commentary. Plenty. But there are also plenty which either share original and substantial thought, aggregation of information of common interest to readers, or other content of some weight. I hope to make this into such a substantial place eventually - I used to have a couple of content rich sites, but abandoned all web publishing activities for years. Any self-indulgence you find here is very likely just an opportunity for me to learn some of the new tools available.

Yes, I know. I’m old and I don’t get it. Really though, don’t get me wrong, I’m not angry or overwrought about this — just amused, and a little discouraged. Besides, maybe this is an opportunity for me to make a little cash in a friendly wager with Mat.

I might be able to maintain interest in the tedious and banal nature of Twitter for a couple of days — if there were creatures from other planets or dimensions talking about their activities. Otherwise, please kids — if you have that much free time, skip some stones. Watch a squirrel. Read a book.

(P)lenty (H)ave (P)erished

I’m spending the little time I have available for this site scrolling repeatedly through the same pages of code, trying to tweak a series of templates into the design I want. It’s not the fault of WordPress (WP) — it works really well at what it does after a simple installation. The problem, I’m beginning to see, is that you have to either be content to use a template (again, there are many great free templates available - but I want my own design), or know PHP, and understand the WP structure.

I seriously considered both WP and Movable Type (MT) initially. I went with WP because it seemed more configurable, had a great support community, an enthusiastic development team, extensive documentation, and was free. MT seems cool also, but the array of similar products the parent company has available, and the pricing structure (free, unless you want support, or multiple users) led me to choose WP.

I’m rethinking that, but I still like WP for all the same reasons - and if weren’t for wanting my own design, it would be a cinch. At any rate, please continue to excuse the frequent (and often unpleasant) changes to the site, and the infrequent posts until I’m able to muddle through this process.

This is the thing…

I’m in the process of teaching myself WordPress (WP),and consequently, PHP. Not to mention brushing up rusty HTML and CSS. I’ll begin to add posts about things other than the process of building the site in the near future. For now, that’s what is consuming much of my free time, so it’s what is on my mind. There are some really great WP themes, but art and design are my area, so I’ll be changing the look here frequently as I learn to incorporate my own visuals via the aforementioned WP/PHP.

Of course the design is just the presentation, and once that is settled, or perhaps before - the site should start to gel in terms of content and non-visual identity as well. So come back. Say hello.