Blurt Blog: the bare mention of noteworthy, hyperlinked material, perhaps with its title/caption
Blurb Blog: pointing & linking, plus a couple of sentences of commentary or description
Bloat Blog: mini-essays that point and link, often as a pretext for opinion, pontification and prolixity
Pointer Blog
Point of View Blog
Pointillist Blog [many points, very particularized, possibly professorial]
Citation Blawg [Point, Link & Short, LLC]
Headnote Blawg
Full Opinion Blawg
Those postings got me thinking: with very few exceptions (e.g., the thoughtful Stuart Levine and Carolyn Elefant), the only blawggers who consistently write lengthy postings (at times, like my own, longwinded, preachy) are professors, retired guys, and law students. Or, put another way, persons actually practicing law only have time for very short posts, with an occasional full paragraph. Then, my twisted brain synapses wondered what to call those different formats, and this frivolous piece resulted. Please pass on your own suggestions for format nomenclature, as well as thoughts on other demographic differences that might account for the different formats (e.g.,children or spouse at home, starving/underemployed solo practice).
I guess it’s a good thing that most bloggers are pithy, because I’m running out of time to check out all the good ones. In fact, that’s one of the worst things about trying to keep a weblog timely and fresh — not much time to read the very weblogs that inspired your own, and not much time for other things that life has to offer. Despite tenure, I trust that Prof. Bainbridge’s other obligations will keep his blogging from becoming addictive, which apparently can readily happen to the unemployed.
Speaking of tangents, the initial spurt of output at the beginning of a weblog’s life is not too surprising. As Steven Stills (then of Buffalo Springfield and later CSN&Y fame) said a few decades ago, when asked why so many music groups have disappointing second albums: “You have your whole life to write the songs on your first album. If it’s a hit, you have to write the second albumful in just a few months, while on the road touring.” (quotation probably not exact, due to faulty memory chip; and, maybe it was Jackson Browne who said it right after “Saturate Before Using” was released.)
ethicalEsq?ethicalEsq?ethicalEsq?
Thanks to Madeleine Begun Kane for sharing her song, “That’s What the Law’s About,” with me by e-mail. It’s fun, and you can find it at MadKane.com . What Madeleine did not know when she wrote was that I had just visited her site, thanks to a pointer from the e-ubiquitous (and still huge-biquitous) Denise. I wanted to see if the MadKane song had a car-phoning stanza to go with my recent rant. Sadly, it does not and if Mad doesn’t add one soon, I shall. You see, I have not only been calling myself a “recovering lawyer” for many years, but while still a longsuffering attorney, I penned some nifty country song lyrics to help keep me sane. They included hit material, duly copyrighted but never recorded, such as
Twin Bed Blues (“when a man weds, he don’t want twin beds”,
If You’re Thinkin’ What I’m Thinkin’ (“then I think we’re halfway there” )
Good Memory (“she’s got a bad temper and a real good mem-o-ry”)
I better stop before this posting gets really silly.