I kind of long for the old days where you could toss a message on a BBS and it would go away, but it would still be read by a bunch of your friends. I'm not really sure where the magic of it all was, but there was something to the idea of putting down a load of feelings onto a message board somewhere, knowing that a controlled set of people would read it (with a slight risk of some outsider), and yet being perfectly ok with that message.
E2 comes somewhat close, but the community is far larger than anything that existed within my modest little BBS community. I used to be able to write complete garbage and completely get away with it. There was always a bit of smalltalk that preceded a good conversation. E2's "large community" frowns upon wasted space, it makes you a lot more critical of what you spew forth.
So, my little ramblings that are mainly caused by wanting to say something "deep and meaningful," which is brought on primarily because its 6am and I don't know why I'm still awake, are an exception, rather than a rule to my writing here. On the BBS, I would toss down "deep and meaningful" drivel daily, 6am, 2pm, or 8pm. The kind of drivel which many EXPECT to see in daylogs... but which I feel very self-conscious tossing down.
At about 2am, I knew I was in trouble. I had watched Run Lola Run for the third time (once in original German, once with English dubbing, and once with director/actress comentary). Then because I am me, I went to IMDB to see what else Franka Potente has done. Then I dashed over to the mud that I adminstrate. Then I read two months of stored, but unread, mailing lists. Then I got sidetracked, and read a particular user's livejournal entry. It's 6am, and I feel very deep and meaningful. All I can do is post my activities for the last few hours.
Partially because I'm terrified that I might say something "insightful" to me, but find out that my radical ideas concerning X have already occurred to others. Partially because I know that the anonymity of e2 is totally destroyed by the fact that I've advertised it, so my wife (Hi nyxie_stix!) and friends know of this site (don't YOU advertise it, too?). And finally, because I really have nothing useful to say. I keep thinking of Seymour Glass, and A Perfect Day for Bananafish, I have something I want to say, but it's not coming out.
And I know for a fact that I can't sleep -- even though my roommate just walked out the door to go to work. I think I do better when I'm not inflicted with week-long vacations.
As I just achieved one of my lowest rated nodes ever, I am reminded of what I wrote above. So, I'm going to toss that node onto this daylog, and let it exist somewhere a little friendlier to this sorta thing.
Title: Your radical ideas about...oh, to hell with it
You know, I had a very similar discussion about "There's nothing new under the sun " sort of thing, concerning music in particular. It occured to me that this idea that everything has been done, everything has been thought of, every story has been told extends backwards into the past.
If honestly, there is nothing that I can think of that hasn't already occured to someone else, then why the heck has William Shakespeare gotten the easy end of things? I'm sure that his ancestors had thought and done everything that possibly could have been thought of and done. And extend this back thousands of years.
If you can point me to someone who has honestly thought of something new, I can (given time, and energy, and care) probably find someone that either thought of it first, thought of some variation of the idea, or been the basis which that work is merely the distillation of.
When it comes down to music, pop sometimes is worthwhile. For philosophy and literature, well, things age... And aged pop literature can eventually become respected literature. And when it comes to just idle conversation: One of us, somewhere here on e2, will become a respected author, musician, or something of note (or perhaps one of us already is). When that time comes, their posts here on e2 will show up as quote nodes on e5.