Just Like Starting Over

It feels good to be blogging again.

I'm getting ahead of myself. I should begin at the beginning.

My name is Clark Provence... er, Clark Douglas. Whichever you prefer. It's complicated. That's a story for another day.

I began blogging on Xanga years ago, back in June of 2005. I began my Xanga blog as a way to promote my young radio program, The Sounds and Sights of Cinema. The emphasis was initially on movies and movie music, and it remained that way for quite some time. Eventually, I started blogging about other things from time to time: news items of interest, things which had been weighing on my mind, various anecdotes and so on. Even so, there were two things about the Xanga blog which bothered me.

First, it was clear that Xanga was all but dead. Only a couple of loyal friends read the site with any regularity (Gavin and David, your support is eternally appreciated), and there was little chance of attracting any new readers. Second, the blog had certainly betrayed its origins as a page to promote the radio show - a fact the large banner reading "The Sounds and Sights of Cinema!" reminded me of every day. I suppose I could have simply changed it, but for some silly reason I just couldn't convince myself to do that.

Then work started getting a little busier, the hits started disappearing and I stopped putting so much effort into keeping the blog updated. The pace of my posts slowed until they finally just stopped. The last time I updated the blog was in March of 2011. It was time for a change.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting a flood of new readers. For all I know, the activity on this blog will be as minimal as it was on the previous one. Even so, starting over from scratch has renewed my enthusiasm for blogging. It's a chance to establish something new rather than an effort to revive something old. I'm excited about it.

"Geez, Clark, enough with the blogging about why you're blogging. What are you planning to do here, anyway?"

Fair enough. If you read the old blog, you can expect some similar topics to be covered here. Movies and other forms of entertainment will be covered frequently enough that it could technically be considered an entertainment blog, but I'm also leaving plenty of room to wander down other rabbit trails.

"Isn't that a little vague and self-indulgent?"

Sure, I suppose so. Blogs are generally self-indulgent, because they're a platform for people to write about the things that interest them. I'll be writing about the things that interest me, and I certainly can't promise that they'll always interest you. However, this isn't just going to be a free-flowing onslaught of everything which happens to cross my mind. I'll make an effort to keep my writing engaging and focused.

"So when are you actually going to write about something instead of just writing about writing about something?"

Very shortly. The Oscar nominations were announced this morning, so this afternoon I'll offer some thoughts on those. Sound good?

"Oscar nomination coverage? Who are you, Billy Bush?"

I mean, I hope it will be at least a little more substantial than...

"Pssshhh. This is boring. I'm out."

Wait, I can write about other stuff! Uh... politics? Homemade cookware? The meaning of life? Hello?

Ah, well. Anyway, I do hope some of you will stick around a while, check out a few posts and maybe consider commenting and contributing your own thoughts here and there. While I love writing, I'm not doing this just so I can admire my own wordsmithery. I'm ultimately hoping to engage in a conversation with you - whoever you are - and to get your thoughts on the assorted topics which come up. Sound good? Let's go.

Back at ya later