"Lost" copied blog-time

I love films and TV shows that play around with the flow of time. Memento, 21 grams, 24, Lost, etc,. It took me a while to pin down the reason why Lost appeals so much and then I realized it's because you get to know the characters in the same way you get to understand people in real life.

You learn about (the) others in two ways - by direct experience and though anecdote. Direct experience is chronological and can mislead you into thinking you know someone and what makes them tick. That is, until a surprising flashback fills you in. This is Lost's secret sauce. It correlates with real life.

For instance, I thought I understood the central father-son relationship until the recent episode (spoiler ahead!) where it emerged that Jack's paranoia had driven his father back to the bottle. That was a dramatic revelation that greatly explained the Doc's guilt complex.

Russell Beattie was for a long time my favourite blogger, until he sadly penned his final post last April. The guy has attitude in spades and a finely tuned vision of where mobile technology is heading. Those were the qualities that first engaged me but it was the personal stories that secured my subscription. Memories of living in Spain, recollections from family outings and the sad breakup then happy reunion with his wife. It was riveting stuff. A true blog-opera.

And it's a quality shared by the most interesting bloggers - they let their shields down by sharing not just their opinions but their lives. Whether it's Russell taking you on an excited photo tour of his new house, Dave Winer recording a joyful thundercast or Bernie Goldbach reliving the harrowing experience of an airshow disaster, personality and humanity come shining through. Whether you're in tune with that personality or not you can't help but care. These are lives lived in blog-time - forward looking, with flashbacks.

Too many bloggers are cardboard cutouts, sewn from a template like the software we publish with. So much so that it's hard to recognize a splog anymore! C'mon folks, flesh out those personalities, make it more real, be 'forward looking, with flashbacks'.

Comments

[haydn]

Hello james, and first thanks for the kind words about wripe and mydietfriends.

You're making an important point about how the immediacy and flow of blogging affects our appreciation of drama, and an important point abuot blogs too of course.

I would be one of those bloggers who is too much of the cardboard cut-out on mediangler. Illogical really but I suppose some of us start believing there's half an income in it.

Rose and I are trying to explore how to tell a dramatic story over on onebreastless.com. I'm not sure if that will feed over into other blogs/sites I am involved with but you've raised some important issues which we'll bear in mind.