Too much information: Vanity thy name is blogger

Krabbe K. Piting, Contributor, Jakarta

Woke up late at 8 today. Still reeling from last night's Sex and the City season 5 marathon and felt absolutely bloated from all those tubs of Ben & Jerry's. Had a quick shower, caught a cab to work. Couldn't concentrate on work. Discussed Carrie's choice of outfit with Susan from finance.

Yada, yada, yada. Welcome to the world of blogs, where you get to peek at a complete stranger's daily life and where free speech reign supreme, for better or worse.

A weblog is usually described as a personal or noncommercial website that uses a dated log format (usually with the most recent addition at the top of the page) and contains links to other sites along with commentary about those sites. A weblog is updated frequently and sometimes groups links by specific subjects, such as politics, news, pop culture, or computer issues.

But mostly it's just self-important drivel, recording one's daily antics and deepest thoughts ("Even in a time which is frequently so very ugly, beauty can still astound us with it's heart stopping splendor, and beauty -- be it everlasting or fleeting -- deserves our acknowledgement. Beautiful things deserve to be noted and held onto." Yawn).

Are we so vain as to think that others will actually care what we eat for breakfast or what we think of hot pink leotards? Well, think again. In a world where reality shows abound, this notion is not so farfetched after all.

There's something perverse in watching real people interact and getting about their daily lives, hoping to catch them off guard to reveal their truest nature. We are modern day Peeping Toms. And with blogs, you can actually interact with these real people, telling them what you think of the topic du jour by leaving messages in their blog.

Aside from friends' blogs, I've accidentally stumbled unto other people's when searching for subjects as mundane as "greyhound" or "portfolio". Some are too painful to read: dull, or so twee they choke on their own self-righteous pretentiousness. Some serve up newsworthy conspiracy theories, some serve up simply that, news.

But some blogs are very interesting, indeed. One blog recorded the culinary wanderings of a Thai girl named Pim, whom I wouldn't have known existed a few months ago but now I can recite from heart her mini biography (she's foreign-educated, came from an affluent Thai family, works in Silicon Valley).

Her food reviews are actually very good, eloquent and detailed. They also include pictures and recipes. But when it comes to her personal musings on life in general or current events, although at times thoughtful and witty, they pale in comparison to her food blogs. Nevertheless, her comments on the refusniks (Israelis who continue to do their reserve duty wherever and whenever they are summoned, but refuse to serve in the occupied territories) prompted a blog war between fellow bloggers.

Some argue that blogs are a new form of journalism, a David with an independent view to the more established media conglomerate's Goliath, if you like. But as with other media forms, you have to wade through a whole lot of rubbish and bile before getting to the good stuff. Happy surfing.