Reboot Angle #5 > The Stunt

This is part of my blog reboot process. For the origin of the thought of the motivation of the why and the why now, please click back here.

For the final possible route to the reboot, I want to consider the perennial PR favorite The Stunt. This is about getting attention, right, so why not do something sublimely ridiculous?

The first stunt that comes to mind is Charla Muller's 365 Nights: A Memoir of Intimacy.* Perhaps you've heard of this one- for her husband's 40th birthday present, Charla gave him sex every day for a year. And then, naturally, wrote a bestselling book about it.

SUPER SIZE ME was another great stunt- only McDonald's for a month and he lived to tell about it. Budget: $300,000. Domestic gross: $11.5 million.

So, what revolting or endurance testing thing could I do in real life and then report on it here to ever-escalating heights of excitement and suspense?

I hope to avoid bodily things like not clipping my fingernails or eating only chickens.

How about a non-sexual abstinence-related stunt? "Meet the man who didn't read a book for a whole year!" Oh wait, millions of people pull that stunt.

What about... No movies or TV for a year. I think I could do it, but would it be interesting to read about?

This reboot process calls for a Twilight Zone marathon! Who's up for it?

I just thought of that great Twilight Zone episode ("The Silence") where one guy bets £50,000 that the other, a notorious chatterbox, can't abstain from speaking a single word for a year. I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it yet, but there are a couple great twists down the stretch...

What about no internet for a year? I could write my entries by hand and ask Mrs. Word Player to type them in here for me. Again, boring to read about (although the degree of difficulty on a personal and professional level would be extremely high).

This is only half the equation, but I suppose a good stunt would require at least one post every day for a year. Knowing how much work it required to make 90-odd posts in just under two years, I know that kind of commitment would at least communicate a high level of dedication and, if the conceit is solid, give the stunt a chance to build up an audience of readers who are assured of getting something new every day.

OK. This marks the end of the preliminary reboot process. Blogging for most people is an ongoing conversation with themselves, and I can say truthfully that these past two weeks have been good for me from a creativity-jarring standpoint. By focusing my attention on this matter here, I've begun a dialogue between my conscious and unconscious selves... and I think I have at least two ideas worth pursuing.

On Friday the 20th, I will make my next post and reveal what the finalists are. Then, I will enlist your help in selecting the winner. Thank you, as always, for your consideration.

*Bloggers note: I stayed in Charla's apartment in NYC way back in the fall of '89 when her brother and I visited the Big Apple on Fall Break from UNC. Thanks again Charla! If I come up with a good blog stunt, will you have sex with it for a year? Just kidding....