Who in the Blazes...?

I've been going blind typing day after day on my minuscule netbook, working on press releases, freelance projects and pitch deadlines, and trying to come up with a blog entry. Just when I was about to give up and maybe chuck the entire blog concept, I find this news item online:

According to Deadline.com, Columbia Pictures which released Julie & Julia to a $94 million domestic box office (on a $40 million budget) has optioned the rights the Ree Drummond's life Who in blazes is Ree Drummond? A blogger. Just a city gal who met and married a cowboy, raised and home schooled a gaggle of gigglers and decided to create a blog and then wrote a cookbook. Reese Witherspoon is signed on to play the blogger.

So today I'll blog about blogging. And microblogging.

What's "microblogging"? Basically, a twenty-five cent word for Twitter. "Surely nothing good can come from Twitter," you say. Well I'm sure Justin Halpern would beg to differ. Who in blazes is Justin Halpern (are you detecting a theme yet?)? Just an under-30 who moved back in with his folks and started tweeting little ditties his septuagenarian father would spout. Little nuggets of wisdom like: "A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed" or "The dog is an outside dog. You want an inside dog, you go get your own inside." A few hundred F-bombs and over a million followers later, our young Mr. Halpern has a book deal and a CBS comedy in the works based on his 140-character-limit Dadisms. Of course, CBS will have to come up with a title to replace Halpern's Twitter name @ShitMyDadSays.

Now granted, Ree Drummond and Justin Halpern may be exceptions to the mostly mediocre bloggers and microbloggers out there. Most microblogs are muddled with mundane nonsense about what people are wearing, eating, drinking, watching or just did to other people in bed. And there's more about Justin Bieber than should be legally allowed. Who is blazes is Justin Bieber? (No, really, I'm asking). But there are treasures to be found...little snippets of comedic/political/satirical genius waiting to be read. Maybe you can add to them. If done right, microblogging is a great exercise in creativity and self-editing. There may not be millions of dollars in your future from it, but there may actually be job opportunities or new friends. I've found both. And a couple of lunatics, but I digress...

Same can be said for blogs. If you've got something to say about something you think people will want to read, then go for it and try your had at blogging. Even if it's just pictures. Whatever you need to get out, there's someone out there who will read it. Or if you just want to get glimpses into other people's minds, try reading other people's blogs for a while. Whatever you may be into, I guarantee there's a like-minded person blogging about it right now and you're missing something good by not looking for it. A caveat: Yes, we bloggers can also write a bunch of crap. Sometimes things seem interesting or funny in our heads but just don't translate in print. That's why I chose to not blog about this huge wart on my ring finger that's starting to look like an undeveloped twin. It just isn't that funny in print.