Behind The Blog: Working on the imperfect time machine

Hold on to spinning around, dear readers.

Long Live
Long Live

I haven’t written one of these in a while. I wasn’t sure it this was going to end up being a Weekly Rant. To be honest, it might end up being exactly that. In case you’ve never read one of these, this is basically me ranting about what direction the blog is headed and why that looks like an iceberg up ahead and doesn’t anybody know how to drive this thing.

I was inspired to write this by Taylor saying two things to NME. Number two, she might take a break. Number one, she might just change everything.  Not many caught #1 but sure as hell a lot of people are coming up with all sorts of conclusions from the “taking a break” phrase (which was followed with “I don’t know” just to give it the right context).

A long time ago, I gave up on trying to deliver the news first. I would let the fast updaters in Twitter sound off. Then I’d wait for the mainstream media to pick up the breaking story and then wait until a reliable news hub posted the news with sources to follow. That being said, a lot of people have told me they don’t believe breaking news until I confirm them. To those few, I want to thank you very much for your trust. I will inevitably follow up with a post, unless the news are either a) untrue b) unconfirmed c) impossible to confirm (there’s a lot of these) and d) simply irrelevant (almost an infinite amount of “man names his boat after Taylor, blames singer when it capsizes” kind of filler).

But to try to get back to the topic, I’ve revised what the blog is/does through the years. I’ve already found that I tend to be selective with the news that I print (well, “print” figuratively). So, I’ve become more of a curator, filtering out non-news. After the NME interview, a lot of other sites have taken one or more of the answers to create an article of their own. Celebrity sites do this a lot. Taylor Swift is bound to give big name magazines like Rolling Stone a much more introspective interview. Each answer or quirky comment will turn into its own article on celebrity sites for weeks. Sometimes you will even see them talking about it a month later like it’s a new thing.

Let me get straight to the point (instead of going around in circles because I got to break the habit sometime), there’s a second time in which I hope this blog is useful to enduring Taylor Swift fans. That is, when it’s been a day, a week, even a year since something happened and Taylor said or did something and you can’t quite recall what the exact quote was, or who she told or you just want to relive it again. That’s when you browse back here and search through the site and probably I have something for you. For example, let’s say when you are the talented team of TaylorTalk (hey guys!) who just gave me a shoutout (thank you!) because you think I might have the number of the secret guests at the 1989 World Tour. I keep a full list. I haven’t counted them but they’re all in there.

That’s the end goal. I wanted you to be able to travel back in Taylor’s timeline and relive the moment. The blog is supposed to work as a time machine – or more accurately a memory machine of sorts – that has captured and remembered the moment for posterity. A nostalgia archive, albeit still an imperfect one.

I do understand the nature of social media is an ever-changing one. There’s a lot more accounts than there were several years ago. I did notice lately my follower count going down (it’s normal, I don’t actively pursue followers). I actually have always been hesitant to step away from the written format because, and this might be a shock, I like writing. That being said, I wouldn’t mind experimenting with other media just to see how I like it.

You always go back to what you need, though. That’s always been writing for me. Thank you for being part of my readership.

Coming up in the Calendar!

  • October 17: The 1989 World Tour – Dallas, TX – AT&T Stadium.
  • October 20: The 1989 World Tour – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena.
  • October 21: The 1989 World Tour – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum Complex.
  • October 24: The 1989 World Tour – Atlanta, GA – Georgia Dome.
  • October 25: The MTV EMA 2015 take place in Milan, Italy. Taylor Swift is nominated for nine awards.

(Sources: TheSwiftAgency.com)