Blog Party
Origins: July 2005

Everything began with this post, which went a little like this:

"I ran into Dave at the Underpass as I was heading back to work and he, well... I didn't ask. Small talk irritates me on some days. Anyways, we fell into conversation about the recent Arcade Fire show, after which fucking heaps and stacks of bloggers we knew who had attended posted their reflections afterwards in quick succession. Everyone had a different slant on the show - review, social commentary, inane banter... the works.

Springboarding off this phenomenon, we thought it would be cool if someone threw a Blog Party in Waterloo (where many bloggers are known to mate and gambol), and everyone who attended went home and wrote about their experience - or reflected upon it in their own particular way. One might think "holy shit, a bunch of internet geeks at a party... great idea," but I thought it would be really neat to build a consensus description of the event by compiling everybody's thoughts and images together. 30+ bloggers, each with their own distinctive voice. The whole dealie would likely come off as a bizarro-surreal narrative, a rainbow painted by many fragmented, tinted lenses and eclectic perspectives. It could be an exercise in defining individuality or psychoanalysis or God-knows-what for theorists. It would be Hella-Interesting."

After a bit of consultation, I decided that this idea could indeed work. People were interested - perhaps not in the blog party idea itself, but at least in the possibility to get good and drunk. I drafted up a nerdy looking web poster:

Time raced past and I finalized the party details one day before the event itself. I also itemized all the things in my house that would be given away:

Holy shit that was a lot of itemizing!

Response

People wrote about the party, as requested:

Nicki - reflecting faeries: here, here

Corwin - Crazy Going Slowly Am I: here, here

Carly - Carly's OK: here, here

Shirley - I never learned to swim: here

Sra - La Bricket Blog: here, here

Laura - Sshhh...they might hear us: here

Dan - whine rack dot com: here

Kristen - Tango Passion Berry: here

Tanya - Small Potatoes: here

Blair - Left of Center, Right of Nowhere: here

Dave Alexander - Read Everything: here

Amy - The Chicken Coop: here

The Social Committee: here

Aaaaaand me.

Pictures

Finally, there were my pictures!

Amy blowing up one of the ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE balloons that blanketed our living room (until people started popping them...)

Dave and Hoodie in a tree, hiding movies where the eye can't see. Actually, the movies were fairly EASY to see and some fell out when it got windy.

Carly opens her eyes wide in a finally-successful effort to be photogenic! Oh yes, I know her pain.

Hags gets sensual with Diablo, pursing his lips in preparation for sweet devillovin'. WWRAARRR!

A terrified Laura liberates VHS films such as American Pie 2 from their lofty prisons.

FINALLY, a place to wear a party hat that doesn't look ultra-retarded!

Neon green artwork on my face? No thanxxx lol!

Here in my basement, the good times roll.

Shirley and Kristen get drunk and model their goodness on our kitchen stove and fridge. Dbo? He's here for the jollies!

The girls proudly redecorated the kitchen with strips of wallpaper, spelling out contemporary political slogans such as "JEN", (heart) and =).

Rob leads a wallpaper Jihad...

But not until every terrorist is properly wrapped.

Morris shows Dave Alexander the wicked-sweet action shot of Dave's flying Dragon Kick, which had previously been delivered to the poor punching bag in the background with great precision.

The porch is rammed to capacity! That's really all I have to say about this picture, which is too bad because I really need this caption to be four lines long so it balances the page. There we go!

Cameras were everywhere... photo nerds we were.

What are we talking about? Theory! Blog theory.

What?

Unnnnnnnnnnnnghhhh!

Epoch.

Creepy Guitar Guy rocks out with Mechanical Hand!

Perhaps these photos can serve as my Real Real wrap-up post. At this point I feel that the whole meme is finished... for now. Muahahaha!