Smoke and Mirrors

2. 
   Though it's not so grand as some, I've always prided myself on the fact that the content on Cinema Nocturne is substantial. When I post, I usually have something to say, and while I occasionally repeat myself and have certain recurring themes, I don't have the sort of "This morning I had breakfast!" chaff you read on many blogs.
   
3. Ordinarily, it's not in my nature to be judgmental. But recently, while using the "Nexst Blog" tool here on Blogspot,I found that many blogs, maybe even most of them, don't really have much to offer. Graphically, many of these are astonishing. They've got wheels and whirligigs. They've got Roman candles. They've got ice cream snow and dancing iguanas. If you're new to the Web, and even if you're not, I can see how these would be diverting. Even though I don't see very well, I'm admittedly surprised by the styles that are possible and what can be accomplished through graphics and music. But the majority of these, I find, are smoke and mirrors. if they would put the dancing iguanas at the service of poetry, or a hard day at the plant, or their high schooler's funny graduation, that would be splendid. If, in other words, they were telling you something about their humanity, whether laughing or suffering, THAT would be worth my time.
4. 
   But as for these tricks? What they mostly reveal is that their employer can read an instruction manual and follow directions. Doesn't anyone in this webjoint feel the way I do?