Wednesday, July 15, 2009

ON REMARKS

I like titles. And I enjoy titling things. In college, my reward for finishing a paper was to have the privilege of titiling it, and once I'd graduated I had a great time putting together titles for my husband's assignments. (My favorite was "Cooking Lono" for a paper on the apotheosis of Captain Cook. To those unfamliar with Hawaiian history, this won't make any sense at all, but at the time, for that class, the title was praised as perfect.)

So, loving dubbing as I do, when I fell upon the blogosphere and considered having my own blogspot, I gave the name of the thing a little more thought than the christening of a blog actually deserves.

I wanted something rhyming (si, I was that silly) for the sake of catch. I didn't want it to have anything to do with my own name, first, middle or last. And I wanted the title to have a personal connection.

As I was a new addition to Sparks and a blog seemed to be an entitiy comprised of remarks, I fell onto Remarks from Sparks. It had rhyme. It had naught to do with Megan Lynn Romo. And it had a narrow personal connection; you'll note that in every header I make for myself I always distinguish in some way the two Ms in "Remarks from Sparks," for both my husband's and my first name begin with an M. We are now, have ever been, and shall always remain M. & M. (There's even another personal connection in there that I'm not going to tell you about.) Thus, altough the name sounds trite, it encompassed everything I needed it to.

As I have continued to keep up the blog since its genesis I've come to apply more meaning to the title of the thing. Though it now irks me that I have a cheesy rhyming name (thought not as much as KnuckleHeaders bothers me), I have discovered more significance in the title of my space. Whereas many blogs are only a journal of personal experiences or a documentation of life events of the author's family, my blog has made itself into what the name say it is: a collection of remarks.

Initially the blog began as many do, a mishmash of images, anecdotes, trips, etc. But after a while I realized that such a space didn't suit me and my online needs (yes, I have needs for my online activity). Instead of being a blog of nothing but daily tidbits, I wanted my area to be less about the middling goings of of day-to-day and more about honest remarks, thinkings, critiques, evolutions, and admissions.

Really, I wanted my blog to become the title it already bore. Remarks. It's a blog where a girl in Sparks (a Sparkler, if you will) leaves remarks on life, living, the interesting, the boring and the in between. Remarks warranted and remarks otherwise. The definition of "remarks" above includes noting an opinion or judgement. That's what I do. It's what I use the blog for.

At times I weaponize Remarks, using my blog to slice through an issue or blast people and things that I think deserve critical attention. At times I make remarks that serve as therapy. Or I explain a thought process through words shaped around an event.

No matter what I choose to fashion my remarks into, they're always in line with the overarching theme of this being a blog made up of what I think. Not what anyone else thinks. Just what's running around in this mind.

Anything I should care to know about your blog's title?

21 comments:

Maria said...

I hate (yes hate) my blog title. At the time I created my blog, I did not know that I would be blogging so much, so I did not put much thought into the title. That was a mistake. Turns out I love my little old blog and regret my name of choice on a daily basis. Sadly, I can't change my blogspot address without making a big mess of things, so I just changed the name on my header. Still not sure I like what I chose. Seems choosing a blog title is not so easy.

Jaime Stephens said...

I wish I would have thought mine out, mine is stupid.. I didn't know better

Ashley Thalman said...

Bird (me) on the Lawn (my favorite place to be).

Shelby Lou said...

shelbylouwhoo is what my family called me when i was little. Somedays, when I am feeling "more mature" I want to change it, but then I realize. That it is catchy, and cute, and in reality... who I am. Which is what my bloggity blog is about. ME.

Anonymous said...

a friend of mine called me "the incredible julk" (pronounced yulk) years ago, and i kind of loved it. usually only he calls me that from time to time in real life, but on the interwebs it gave me the anonymity i wanted while still being personal. some people know i'm the incredible julk, or as i prefer, "julk, incroyable" but many do not. i used to run 2 blogs, the julk, and then my so-called "mormon blog" that was your typical family/personal updates--very little ranting. then i gave up on that, and figured if people didn't like my opinions on things, they didn't have to read me, so i stopped w/ the eversoboring "sneaksnorkery at it's finest" and moved everything to my happy home in incredible land.

repliderium.com said...

My blog title is a word a friend and I made up while playing a pseudo literary game- "construct a word with a meaning that doesn't yet exist in today's world." We came up with Replicatus Desderium (repliderium) I won't bother with the meaning because you would want to kill yourself with boredom. We were geeks.

The Fear Fam said...

I loathed my previous blog title, so when we had our fourth baby and the previous title no longer applied, I was happy to upgrade. My clever dad came up with the new one (A Sixpack of Fear), and clever Megan designed the background and header. Both the title and the design still make me smile every morning.

Julie said...

My blog needs a title.

[Morgan] said...

some people call me shmorg. some people call me morganza. neither were available so i went with shmorganza.
i don't love it, but i don't hate it either. in fact, i've never given it a second thought until now.
i love the way you title things. your titles in your archive make me smile every time skim past them.

Megan and Keli'i said...

Nope. Hate my title. Need something better. Have a suggestion?

chiarajulieann said...

i struggle with my blog titles but i enjoy deciding on them. i usually try out and change them a few times but i make sure it goes with everything else on the blog - content of posts, design, etc.

Sue said...

Well you already explained mine (http://www.remarksfromsparks.com/2009/07/making-difference.html), so there goes MY thunder.

rabidrunner said...

Love my title for various reasons. One of which is the alliterative that resides therein. Before I ditched the maiden to become Mrs. Spouse, my first and last name were an alliteration. Rabidrunner fills that void (although technically it's not an alliteration because it's only one word, but this is blogland and there are no rules!)

The word rabid has very ugly undertones. Of madness, gnashing of teeth, of loony. Fits. I'm not afraid to be ugly.

The word runner is just that. Moving the feets to get somewhere. In the beginning, I didn't want to use "runner" because I didn't want a blog that was all about running. (Running conversations can be horribly dull.) But, as mentioned before, this is blogland and there are no rules. Running and Rabid do not have to be about marathons and rabies. (I believe they call that a figure of speech, symbol, a metaphor, or foreshadowing or ....?)

Jena said...

Good grief. Titles are hard, yet so important. I got mine from my journal. I've been journaling my "cogitations" so I just used it as my title. "Cogitations of a momife". I like to pretend that I'm thinking. Wish I were more profound and witty, so I pretend. I feel that the term "housewife" or "homemaker" gets a bad rap at times so I call myself a "momife". Mom/wife. I thought it made me sound like a superhero...which I'm not. Wow. I'm a nerd. Embrace it.

Megan said...

Shelby, I really like that you're happy with your title 'cause it's you. Could that be a sign that you're happy with yourself as well? If that's the case, you need to write a self-help book, for no one else is.

Errin, a realization I too have reached, "and figured if people didn't like my opinions on things, they didn't have to read me." You and me, we're inspired geniuses (or is it geniuii?).

Megan, how about "Freaking Hot Mom with Insanely Tall Hawaiian Husband?" No? Maybe" the MAKER Mark" (Megan, Aiken, Keli'i, Eva, and Rowan)? Or perhaps "the Life and Times of a Mom Who is Way Smarter than Most Moms?" Not that one either, huh? Hmmm, I guess then I'm going to have to suggest "Naihe. Hey, ho." Not that one either? Geez, you're so picky!

chiarajulieann, bless you for seeking cohesion. It's such a tough thing to find that I think throwing in the towel is a way to win the battle without even suiting up. You're doing better than so many with that effort. (And welcome, by the way, for I don't think we've met before.)

Rabid, I don't know what's wrong with you. No rules in Blogland? There are totally rules. Or at least there will be when I write them. Thanks for the post idea.

FlanMom, I love that you went for a superhero-sounding title. Every mom should feel more like a superhero, even if it's only in her blog title.

Kami said...

My blog is called The Fence referring to the fence that working moms straddle. I like the title but it doesn't seem to be web-worthy because when I google search it, fence hardware comes up...

Alia said...

Mine is a quote from The Simpsons.
I love the show and that particular quote is one that comes up very often within my circle of friends. It's a touch longer than I would like it to be and I feel like the quote itself (Hey look, a blue car!) restricts my blog design colours to, well, blue, but I still like it.

Besides, I'm far too lazy to go through the blog switch again so it's stays.

Unknown said...

I love my title. It hits the right note in more ways than one. I think I got lucky from the jump.

whitneyingram said...

Mine is okay. I like Rookie Cookie, but I think it is safe to say that I am not a rookie. So it's kind of lying. There it is, I am a liar. A lying blogger. A logger.

There is also issue that Rookie Cookie has been used in other places already. Like there is a cookbook from years ago called Rookie Cookie. And some newspaper a long time ago had a column called Rookie Cookie. How do I know that? Because occasionally I get random e-mails from people saying, "Hello there. Back in 1987 in your column you had a recipe for corn muffins. Do you still have it?" I finally gave up on answering those. I almost feel like they are writing me from a typewriter.

lindsey v said...

I really like your title. I like the rhyme-yness and what it means.

I started out my blog as a family blog because, well, that's the only blogs I knew when I started. I slowly started realizing that it is more just me. Yeah, my family shows up in a lot of it but it's mostly just my crazy thoughts.

I changed my title from the family nickname to Writ by Lindsey but I still am not so sure that it sounds good, if I should change it to Lindsey's Writ or Linds Writ. I don't know, maybe they all sound silly. Maybe I'll change it when I find something better.

aezra noell said...

I love mine, i thought it through. It is what it is. sry, im just now catching up on like the last THREE weeks! Terrible i know, vaycay can do that to a person. tchao!