How I ended up as 50quid bloke
One way or another, I’ve been keeping a blog of sorts for - I think - two and a bit years now.
As an ex-journalist, who these days tends to write mainly in excel and powerpoint it’s been a great way to have an outlet for a bit of writing without any of the discipline and restrictions imposed by my former career.
Being able to write however you much about whatever you want, whenever you want is a liberty that no journalist is ever really allowed; yet it is every blogger’s birthright.
Add to this the fact that you can show off your photography, and frankly: what’s not to like for the average repressed creative egomaniac?
I started writing about similar things I wrote about as a hack: media and new media stuff and various digital and gadgety things. Saying nothing particularly special, I have to admit.
Then in January 2003 I made a new years resolution to get active. I installed Moveable Type - which, once it was up and running, made the whole thing much, much easier.
I even had my 15 megabytes of online fame last summer when I stumbled across an old magazine with a Hello! style profile of Hitler and put the scans up on my site.
Anyway, with time I started to write about slightly more than me, me me and my various gadgets. Most mornings instead of breakfast I’d be sitting at the kitchen table tapping out my latest missive on everything from the fate of our local leisure centre, to Iraq and its aftermath and the growth of anti-semitism, .
I might have written lots of rubbish (a journalist friend hinted as much when he said I was very ‘brave’ to write on all these things) but the discipline of having to sit down and writing all these things made me engage with all these issues in a way I’d never done before. And I read and learned a lot.
However, I also really wanted to do a blog about music. I hadn’t really found a good one (now I know that’s because I hadn’t really looked); and also because, well, I like blogging, I like music - go figure.
Furthermore, over the last three or four years, I’ve had a real musical re-awakening: coming out of about 10 years of listening to dance music and dodgy Britpop to a world of genuinely exciting new talent. I’d even started reading music mags again - well Uncut and Word, which were both launched squarely at me.
I don’t want, and have never wanted to be a music journalist. I’m a terrible reviewer/ critic (I have two reactions to everything: don’t understand it, or love it) but the idea of a music blog seemed good. So good, in fact, that I did absolutely nothing about it.
It was late last year when I saw Dave Hepworth presenting Word magazine (which I was already a subscriber to - and had actually contributed a piece about my Hitler fiasco) and talking about the 50 quid bloke. I didn’t quite fit the bill (no kids, not yet 40, actually quite like Pop Idol), but yes: buying lots of music, books and DVD….at the same time as listening to Radio 4. That all fits.
A few months later, G2 covered the whole 50quid bloke thing, which gave it official imprimature as ‘a social phenomenon’
Earlier this year my generally blogging started to become rather rare. Work was busy. I was too tired to read Ha’aretz, the Guardian, the New York times and a couple of dozen blogs before breakfast. I’d said all I could about Iraq. Clissold Leisure centre had closed. I literally ground to a blogging halt.
So: I decided on my new blog. Originally, I was going to call it Cultural Consumption with the subtitle: “One man’s meanderings through music, TV, books, film and magzines” . In fact, that’s what it first appeared as. (I’ve got all the domain names, if you’re interested).
But, frankly that was a rubbish name. So cycling in one morning, I remembered the whole 50 quid thing: and decided shamelessly to steal the title. Domains were registered. Logos were made. Job done.
Most recently I set about sorting out the domain mapping - so the site really is http://www.50quid.org. Many thanks to the voice of sanity in the ether that is Jamie Jamison for helping me with this.
I’ve spoken to Dave Hepworth himself about stealing his name. I think he’s threatening to sue me unless I do this
SUBSCRIBE TO WORD | SUBSCRIBE TO WORD | SUBSCRIBE TO WORD |
Which you should anyway, because it’s very good.
Anyway, it’s still very early days, but I’m quite glad to have finally come up with a blog title that doesn’t have my name on. Although, I have a sense this particular rebranding exercise is going to take a while to weave it’s way through the net -and for a long time yet, I’ll still be pointed to as Words of Waldman.
If you’ve actually read this far - then you really are a kindred spirit. So many thanks. The thing I’d really like to do with this is actually turn it into 50 quid blokes ie have another few like minded people (not necessarily male) also contributing. If you’re interested get in touch via “waldo at oddpost dot com”.