For anyone who has yet to notice — and who missed this blog post on the subject — I have indeed joined the masses on Twitter. At the risk of sounding more narcissistic than any blogger is by default, I've encountered enough surprise at this development that I'd like to take a moment and explain just why I'm there.

Yes, it's probably a little bit crazy that I'm adding yet another source of activity to an already perversely overloaded schedule. But no matter how crowded my calendar becomes, no matter how much additional work is piled on at my day job, I still seem to have the need for a purely personal outlet.

While this blog now sits forlorn, untouched for days at a time, microblogging in fits and starts at something close to the speed of life is apparently something I can actually handle — especially since it's ridiculously easy to post from my iPhone. The five most recent Twitter posts also show up here now, over in the top-left corner.

Friends aware of my longstanding (and continuing) intense distaste for Facebook have asked what makes Twitter different, since my primary point of resistance to Facebook is the requisite blurring of boundaries between oneself and those individuals about whom one might be compelled to write with objectivity.

The biggest distinction, I think, is the notion of "friending" versus "following." That may seem like semantics; I disagree. Facebook is a social community that some folks use for professional communication; Twitter is a communications hub that some folks use to socialize. Or so I see it, anyway.

Plus, writing on walls? Snowballs? Zombie hugs? Thank you, but no.

Playlist:

Ingebrigt Håker Flaten & Håkon Kornstad – Elise (Compunctio)

DJ Envy & Tapemasters Inc. – Purple Codeine 22 (mixtape)

The Dead – Angel Orensanz Center and Blender Theater at Gramercy, March 30, 2009 (audience recordings)

Asher Roth – Asleep in the Bread Aisle (SRC/Universal Motown, due Apr. 20)

Richard Wagner – Götterdämmerung – Gré Brouwenstijn, Astrid Varnay, Ludwig Suthaus, Wolfgang Windgassen, Gustav Neidlinger, Josef Greindl, Hans Hotter, Bayreuth Festival Chorus and Orchestra/Hans Knappertsbusch (Music & Arts)

René Marie – Experiment in Truth (René Marie)

Ali Ahmad Hussain Khan – Shehnai (India Archive)

Bark Psychosis – Hex (Caroline)

Jang Sa-ik – Vol. 6 (Loen)

Live Skull – Live Skull (Massive)

Black Sabbath – Cleveland Public Hall, Cleveland, OH, March 21, 1986 (audience recording)

Kiss – Estádio Do Pacaembu, São Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 27, 1994 and Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, Irvine, CA, June 15, 1996 (VH1 Classic bonus DVDs)