Just Off Center

When I was a music student I was introduced to all manner of classical composers. Many of these great men lived in the same countries, in the same cities, and in the same time periods. Sure we’ve never heard of most of them, but that doesn’t mean that they weren’t musical virtuosos.

One of the interesting things that we learned is just how often these musicians befriended one another and composed variations are each other’s themes. True, these were rarely, if ever, concert compositions. But it seems that the saying “imitation is the highest form of flattery” held true even then, among geniuses. So I got to thinking about our little cliques we have here. We all have blogs that we read regularly, some more frequently than others. Certainly we’ve come to expect a certain style in the daily ramblings of our favorite journals. We know sarcasm when we see it. We can sense when an opinion written down is one that the author is not completely convinced of.

Game time motherfuckers!

So what’s the game? Well it’s simple. Everyone who’s interested participating emails me. Or I might ask one or more of the more popular blogs to publish a similar post explaining the rules. Then, once all the names are in, I’ll throw them in a hat. And by hat I mean a computer randomizer program. Then each one of us gets a name of a fellow blogger. Then we each write a post in the writing style of that person. For example, if Grace wants in, she writes me to say so. Then supposing she gets my name, she has to write a post trying as best she can to replicate my writing style. Then everyone chimes in to try and guess who she’s imitating.

Here are the rules:

1. Posts must be published within 24 hours of being assigned. Any longer and I’m sending Lena to eat your soul.
2. Posts must be written in the assigned blogger’s style, but the post must remain relavant to the true author’s life. For example, if Grace gets me, she can’t write about Nina. She’d write about Steve, but she’d do so in my writing style.
3. No dropping out if you don’t like who you get or Mel crushes your skull with her thighs.
4. No refusals
5. No swapping
6. No telling anyone who you are. Let everyone guess in the comments section and then after a few days I’ll publish the pairings. Everyone can link to it or copy and paste. Then we all have hearty belly laughs
7. In order to identify your imitation, all imitation posts must be entitled “What Blogger Am I?”
8. Other than 1 through 7 the sky’s the limit!

Some of us get easier bloggers to imitate. For example, Grace and Larry have very noticeable formats and writing styles. Others will take more time and research because the unique qualities of that blogger’s style are subtler, like Lena or Nina. Heh. Lena and Nina. Hehehe. Plus, you may get a blogger that you never really read anyway. Then you’ll have to do some research. But keep it light and fun. I think this will be a hoot.

So who’s in? If you are let me know. I’d appreciate spreading the word by linking to this post or just writing a mock up of it on your blog. Once I have everyone’s names, I’ll send out emails to you telling you who you are. And then it’s 24 hours to completion. If you finish in one hour, take a few more and tweak it for accuracy. I can’t think of any prizes to be had here. But then, the knowledge by the general blogging public that you are an adaptable, skilled author with the ability to transition styles so fluidly should be prize enough. So let’s go. Any takers?

# posted by Mike @ 2:05 PM