Saturday, September 21, 2013

Anybody Want a Peanut? Closes

The blog Anybody Want a Peanut? announced it was winding down. After six years, he believed it had run its course. During that time, he was funny, insightful and had fun goofing around. The blog will be truly missed.

Quite a few long form blogs have ended their runs with some of the writers joining the 140 chararcter Twitter-verse. Others have simply faded away to do other things.

I like long form writing. I need long form writing.

I did actually learn what the bottom line was for Anybody Want A Peanut though. It was just last week that he looked at his bookshelves and saw the entire collection of Game Of Thrones box sets still sitting in plastic wrap unopened and unseen. He said to himself: Sonofabitch! and then promptly wrote his last blog post.

No more staring at the blank screen thinking profound things and struggling word by word to be clever. For him, the next weeks were going to be a bag of cheesies and dressed like a Stark, he said Winter is Coming.

Peanut is not the only blogger to realize that other things had been left to whither and die as they sat in front of a blank screen. In fact, there have been several.

One Man Committee took up smoking a pipe, wearing bow ties and reading the entire John Le Carre collection. Although he is loath to tell anyone, he has been working as an international spy for the last little while.

Endless Spin Cycle which ended a few years ago was just at the beginning of a hugely successful life as a champion video poker player. Said writer is now filthy rich and spends only a little bit of time in Winnipeg as he spends time learning to drive F1 racecars.

Progressive Winnipeg ended and the writer there has just completed a world tour of public chalk drawings as well as written as expose about how Putin is responsible for the death of bees around the world.

It is not all good for former bloggers. Waverley West's writer is still on the run. Last heard about a year ago knocking over a Piggly Wiggly in Armpit, Arkansas, he is apparently hiding out somewhere in the Ozarks where is investigative report is nearly complete. I just know it is going to be a blockbuster.

There has been treason amongst some bloggers. State of the City and Policy Frog said no pay, no play. Want to hear what they think, you must pay them. However, it must be working as they have moved to very large houses in southwest Winnipeg and both joined the Manitoba Club as movers and shakers. We should all be so lucky.

Fat Arse slowed his contributions because embarrassingly, he lost weight.  He now works out in the gym twice a day as is now known as Phat Arse.

Hacks and Wonks is no longer around but the writer there has become an accomplished yodeler. He still contributes to Twitter and if you have a great imagination, you can hear the yodels within his 140 characters.

I still write long form. The blog gets between 16,000 and 25,000 visits a month. I continue to write about various things and don't generally think it can be said in one or two sentences.

I am hoping more long form writing takes place but feel it might not unless something like a magazine like Spacing sets up shop in the city. An alternative newspaper would be good. I just don't see it happening anytime soon.

I miss the absent blogs terribly.

3 comments:

Scott MacNeil said...

"Phat"?... Me chuckling between push-ups.

Scott MacNeil said...

"Phat", good one. Me chuckling between push-ups.

cherenkov said...

I'm still on season 1 of Breaking Bad.