Sam Eagle: Do you have an invention you'd like to patent?
Marty Feldman (as Orville AND Wilbur Wright): I've invented the flying carpet! (pulls out model airplane)
Sam Eagle: That, sir, is an airplane.
Marty Feldman: Oh, the flying carpet's inside.
The point I'm trying to make with the above sample of dialogue from a classic episode of The Muppet Show (which I had only dead reckoning to draw upon, so I apologize for any potential butchering or paraphrasing of the original script) has to do with the notion of perceived originality. Have you ever thought that you'd just had an extraordinary idea, only to find that not only had someone already beaten you to it already, and quite awhile ago, but also that you were in fact surrounded by that very thing you thought you'd just conceived of on your own? I'm told it happened to George Harrison once (unconscious appropriation, I believe it was called). So, I suppose if it can happen to my favorite Beatle, I guess I shouldn't feel so stupid about it happening to me.
It started like this: Most cellular phones have a feature called "voice notes". Voice notes allows a user to record (usually for only one minute) an audio message which they can then send as a Multimedia Message (which are normally picture messages, that sort of thing). I had been using this feature on my phone when my brother and I were having a bit of a rough time and didn't really want to talk to each other directly. It was nice because we didn't have to worry about our written words being misinterpreted by the other (projection, anyone?). Later on, I learned that the mobile phone company I work for has a site called "MyAlbum," a sort of "mini-Flickr" where, instead of picture and multimedia messages being sent to other mobile numbers or e-mail addresses, they're uploaded to an online storage site with variable privacy controls for sharing. A sort of sub-feature of this was a site called "MyJournal" which works just the same way as "MyAlbum" only the uploaded messages are tagged with the date and time of upload and even arranged on a convenient calendar.
I thought, "Well, that's cool, it's like a little family travelogue." And that's when it hit me (the seemingly novel idea to which I ended up giving a very stupid-sounding name), "I bet no one's ever used this as a public weblog like dear 360. (thinks back to "voice notes" feature) Ah-Ha! That's it, an audio-weblog, I'll call it (campy drum roll) A-'Blogging! (cymbal crash) It's just like V-'Blogging, but with audio! Aw, that'd be cool!"
Then, I realized, "Mat, you idiot, there's already a name for that. It's called Podcasting. You just listened to one earlier today!" It's times like that I'm really glad I don't think aloud as much as I used to, or at least that I don't tell every little idea I have to others around me. Similarly, I was once driving around when I passed by a jewelry store that had a sign saying, "WATCH BATTERIES WHILE YOU WAIT" and I honestly, truly, genuinely, asked out loud, "Why would I want to look at batteries?" Only fifteen minutes later did I realize what the sign really meant, and I was very glad no one else was in the car with me at that time. Did I mention I have a college education? Yeah, I don't believe me, either.
But just because I didn't come up with an idea doesn't mean it isn't a good one, and I think that's what I'm going to do very soon. It's not going to be anything special, just a kind of sample. I figured since now I've finally posted a color photo of myself (which quite a few people had been asking me for) I may as well let people hear what I sound like (and thus dispel any illusions pertaining to my perceived personality). I have a recording I made on one of my many voice recorders when I was writing a fantasy story meant to do away with many preconceived notions of fantasy literature, namely the typical depiction of elves and the presence of magic. Actually, the recording is me talking about giant rats and what a useful device they turned out to be despite them not being mentioned in any great detail. Anyway, it kind of turned into a roundabout meditation on veganism, and indeed our own concept of humanity inherent within. All in all, I suppose it's a pretty decent depiction of how my mind works when I sit down to create something.
