July 09, 2004

Grab Bag

Things I'm thinking about this week:

  • WW blog article: Welcome to Suckville, Population Me! I wouldn't have probably liked this article if they hadn't used the subhead" "Portland is home to thousands of Web logs. Most of them suck. Here are 17 that don't.". I also would have rather they not used the following sentence: "Among the thousands of (mostly awful) blogs written in the City of Roses . . ." I mean, I know I don't have a to 20 or perhaps even top 50 weblog, but I don't think that mine sucks.
  • What is takes: I think that maybe if I just had another author on the blog, maybe someone like p.k. at puddingtime, I might just have a top 20 blog. Both m.p.h. and p.k. at puddingtime rock and when p.k. writes articles like his two recent rants about W.'s Doctrine and V.P. candidate Edwards I just want to find a good co-author.
  • Your next V.P.: Speaking of Edwards, you may have noticed that my Kerry banner is now a Kerry/Edwards banner. I was pleasantly surprised to see Kerry pick Edwards. I think Edwards will make a great V.P. and I hope he can show up Cheney in a debate.
  • My Blog: What to do with my blog. I have a couple of interesting ideas that I would like to run past my readers. Let me know in the comments what you think of these:
    • Name Change: Something to do with the domain name. I am batting around Hawk's Tales.
    • Things I like/Things I don't like: Bringing back the long dead idea of a list of things I like and don't like about a topic or for a time period.
    • Bizare Photo Blog: The library where I work has a toilet stall with a large variety of graffiti on the the stall walls. Maybe I take a picture with my cameraphone of the interesting ones and write responses and comments on the blog.
Posted by Noah Brimhall at July 9, 2004 12:59 PM
Comments

Hey, don't take it personally -it's part of the hipster alternative press theme du jour: we're cool, things we like are cool, everything/one else sucks. One would think they'd get tired of trotting out the same old theme, but they don't...

Posted by: Betsy at July 9, 2004 01:55 PM

Agree with Betsy.... I consider it a nod that we haven't sold out to commercialization. That we maintain the content that's not popular, even "alternative" in nature - underground, cool.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Posted by: MojoMark at July 9, 2004 02:43 PM

Yeah, I didn't mean to make it sound like I took it too personally. I just think that saying that most of Portland blogs are awful or that most of them suck is typical traditional media running scared from the internet. Although in the case of WW, I guess you could argue that they are the traditional "alternative" media afraid of being usurped by the new "alternative" of blogs.

Any comments on my proposal to change the blog?

Posted by: Noah Brimhall at July 9, 2004 04:13 PM

Frankly, I agree with the WW's judgment of Portland blogs as "mostly awful", only because I think the majority of blogs are "mostly awful". Take a peek at the true face of blogging by clicking on the "Recently Updated" links on the front page of Blogger (or any other blog provider who provides such links). If the good-to-bad ratio you find there is at all comparable to Portland's (and there's no reason it shouldn't be), the opinion is pretty much right on.

When you give everyone a soapbox, don't be surprised when few have anything to say that interests others (God knows I don't).

Posted by: nate at July 9, 2004 05:19 PM