All entries in this category: Your Blogs Reviewed
Manchester Blog Stories & Blog Awards 2007
- 26 Sep 07, 02:37 PM
Manchester Blog Stories is a project where readers can help determine the twists of plot in a work of blog based fiction or, as they explain:
"a fictional blog you can help to shape, set in real time Manchester. Each week readers can vote on future plot direction, choosing between three possible developments in the story's next chapter. The final instalment will be performed live at the Manchester Blog Awards on Wednesday 10th October."
The project is part of the Manchester Literature Festival, which takes place from the 4th to the 14th of October, and is written by author Elizabeth Baines and produced by one of our favourite Manchester bloggers, Kate Feld (Manchizzle).
Speaking of Manchizzle... she's recently posted the shortlist for this year's Manchester Blog Awards which take place on the 10th of October. Some are familar names from last year's awards but many are new.
I had a great time at last year's awards - meeting bloggers, talking blogs over a few pints and doing some interviews for 5 Live's Pods and Blogs - and am in no doubt that this year's event will be even better.
Sadly, I can't attend this year because I'll be on a business trip to a Networked Journalism event in New York but BBC Manchester's Richard Fair is one of the judges and lots of people have already confirmed their attendance via the Facebook event page. Do try to make it if you can - it should be a lot of fun and is a great opportunity to meet some fellow bloggers.
Rain, Sweat, Days Out in Liverpool, Linking and France - It Must Be Summer
- 25 Jun 07, 01:16 PM
The past days have brought many reminders that summer is now well and truly upon us: the summer solstice, the mud scenes from Glastonbury, the rain delayed start of Wimbledon... oh, and did we forget to mention the rain?
You might think that going on holiday might bring some respite from it. But The Airport Diaries reminds us that travel isn't always as pleasant as it sounds by describing the scenes at Manchester Airport:
"The sweat of a thousand strangers hovers in the air, your own stink mixed in. Sweat pools under your belt, under your arms and under your hair... The more water you take on, the more you sweat. The air is foul and thick with moisture; the walls drip, expanding and pulsing with the density of summer."
Yuck.
IckleWeb, unfazed by the weather nor, apparently, by fears of airport induced sweating, headed to Speke Aerodrome in south Liverpool. Outside he photographed an old DeHavilland DH89 Dragon Rapide.
Speaking of Liverpool, The Marple Leaf says that "The ongoing debate about Liverpool v Manchester takes an intellectual leap forward" with an expertly distilled selection of quotes from a lengthy NewStatesman feature. See, reading blogs can save you the time it would have taken to read entire articles. Which would seem a good idea if it weren't for that rain...
The last time we heard from A Free Man in Preston he wasn't in Preston at all, but was traveling around America tasting wine in Napa Valley (24 May 2007) and later hiring a bike in Yosemite National Park (25 May). Maybe I'm just overlooking something, but I can never figure out how to link directly to posts on AFMIP.
Craig McGinty, who often blogs useful tips on getting the most from your blog, points us towards a useful new feature of typepad - the ability to, with the change of a setting, include links allowing readers to easily add a post to del.icio.us or Digg [what?]. He explains:
"Basically it means site visitors can spread your work across the internet with just a click placing it in front of other people who will already be following the subject you cover, but who may have never crossed your site.
It all comes down to the power of the link and the fact that your article never moves from its spot on the internet, which means people can easily access it from wherever it is featured elsewhere."
Another one of Craig's blogs, This French Life, is also packed full of useful tips - in this instance, about relocating to France which, considering the summer we've had so far is beginning to sound like a pretty good idea...
Summertime blues
- 15 Apr 07, 11:26 AM
It's that time of year. The final countdown is on for the end of the footy season. Bitter and Blue continues to keep us abreast with what happening over at Manchester City.
"Just under 46000 at Eastlands, bathed in glorious sunshine, to watch City continue there recent good form saw a decent performance against a Liverpool side who despite their good form appeared to have their minds on the upcoming Champions League."
Ickleweb Snaps a Big Bridge
- 15 Mar 07, 03:53 PM
A few years back I worked at Granada, just around the corner from Castlefield. Although the walk to my then home Hulme took me up Castle Street nearly everyday, many months passed before I popped around the back of the buildings to have a look at the Bridgewater Canal.
Manchester has all sorts of bridges - from the little one crossing the almost hidden River Irwell as it runs next to the Starbucks between the BBC and the Palace Hotel to soaring Viaducts, monuments to the Victorian railroad age.
Ickleweb stopped to photograph some of Castlefield's bridges and the results, which he shares on his blog , are worth a gander.
Urban Legends
- 11 Jan 07, 10:21 AM
Can you hear those hamster wheels start to turn? All over Greater Manchester, bloggers are slowly logging back on after their holiday break. And I’m sputtering into productivity too. For the last couple of years I’ve been blogging over at The Manchizzle, and from now on I’ll also be posting here regularly, providing a random and eclectic recap of the week in Manchester blogs.
I heard something a while back about mysterious tunnels under the city, so I was glad to read Mark R’s post about Mancunian urban legends on urbisblogs. Some of the best include “legends that abandoned 60’s nightclubs remain in the cellars of the Arndale Centre. That there is a massive cold war bunker beneath the city centre. That rivers flows underneath the Town hall and Victoria Station. Or that there is a tunnel underneath the Irwell connecting the Hanging Bridge to Ordsall Hall, complete with Tudor treasure and skeletons.”
But it’s not all overactive imaginations, says Mark R. “Some of these legends are true. I have seen the river Irk flow beneath Victoria Station and the massive Cold War bunker, which has its entrance in China Town, is now publicly documented.”
Literary site The Tart of Fiction/Fictionbitch (two merged blogs) provides a thoughtful counterpoint to wrangles between bloggers and newspaper critics in the press. This week the bitch sympathised with Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw’s shock at entering the gloves-off, bumptious debate on the blogosphere:
“I will never forget the feeling of exposure the first time I put up a post all without the protection of the time-honoured authority of the printed publication (which I have also experienced), and it is through writing their own blog posts that these journalists are coming to experience this for themselves.”
Music blogger Yer Mam! was counting down the best compilations of 2006. In the top spot is Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound (Soul Jazz).“The music on this compilation was recorded at a time of turmoil for Brazil and it comes from a handful of artists who were convinced that music could change the world. It was a noble, but doomed endeavour, but the politics is just another facet of this joyous, celebratory music. Gal Costa's 'Sebastiana' is one of the sexiest things I've heard all year, while both versions of 'Bat Macumba' that bookend this comp (from Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes) are the sound of the best party you've never been to.”
And Mark Muldoon, who writes Postcards from the Manchester Student Scene found himself flummoxed by a request from a girl to “give me three interesting facts about yourself”
Here’s what he came up with, some time later:
“1) I’ve been on Radio 1 a few times
2) Pete Doherty once said hi to me
3) I’ve sky-dived myself, like.”
“Sadly I didn’t get to impart these, as by then she was presumably off talking to some boy with indie hair or something.”
Better luck next time, mate.
CLICK HERE to listen to Kate talking to Richard Fair on BBC Radio Manchester
Round-Up of the Blogs: Weather, Books, City, Gigs & Rolling Back the Time
- 27 Oct 06, 10:46 AM
The weekend is upon us and, although it looks like the unseasonably warm weather will continue for a bit longer, we're also likely to get some rain on Saturday.
If you find yourself stuck indoors, you could always cozy up with a book which I reckon is something that Keris Stainton, shortlisted in the Manchester Blog Awards, spends a lot of time doing. She's on a quest to review 52 books in a year, or at least that's what I gather from her blog (she's also addicted to America's Next Top Model if you prefer a bit of telly). Her most recent review, of Lani Diane Rich's The Comeback Kiss has been posted on the book review site, Trashionista, and says:
"I don't want to spoil it, but what I will tell you is that, like Lani's other novels, The Comeback Kiss is great fun with laugh out loud moments, romance and, um, good lovin' (I'm feeling coy today). Finn is gorgeous, Tessa is another strong female character (this author excels in strong female characters) and Babs is just fabulous, I love her. And I haven't even mentioned the talking dog. No, really. The Comeback Kiss is the perfect book to curl up with on a cold Autumn night."
Keris isn't the only local blogger who does books. Ready Steady Book, another blog shortlisted in the the recent Manchester Blog Awards, is a more weighty read. Take this excerpt of a short original piece on Walter Benjamin's Berlin Childhood:
"In beautiful, compact, stand-alone paragraphs, Benjamin becomes again the flaneur of his own bourgeois childhood. He finds a city in which he can lose himself. Losing oneself (as one does when reading) being the beginning of discovery (learning to get lost is a vertiginous skill). And writing, almost in fragments, he disturbs the teleology of autobiography. Today, perhaps more than ever, we need Benjamin's nuanced radicalism."
Speaking of radical, Bitter and Blue (yes, another blog on that shortlist), reckons radical changes might be afoot at City following their shambolic 0-4 loss against Wigan last week. Bitter and Blue, who posted a follow-up to comment on a statement made by City Chairman John Wardle, didn't - initially - think there was much possibility that management changes could come soon:
"One thing Wardle didn't touch on was Stuart Pearce - giving neither a vote of confidence or laying out what was expected of him for this season...For all the furore which was raised, and there were a lot of genuine questions raised about Pearce - namely his tactics and motivation abilities, I don't think the board at this stage are seriously considering making a managerial change - for above all alse there aren't any serious 'available' candidates out there (that we know of) who could come in and make a difference."
But now Bitter and Blue has changed his tune a bit, having spotted an article in the Independent suggesting that - well, you can go read for yourself - there might be someone available to take over the reigns as City afterall.
Man City takes on Middlesbrough at 8pm on Monday in Manchester which, coincidently, will probably seem like just 7pm to most of us because Sunday the clocks roll back an hour from British Summer Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).
In a recent post, political blogger Skipper asks "Why in God's name Do We Insist on Putting the Clocks Back?". He cites research findings that, if we didn't put the clocks back, there would be a "net saving of 140 lives" as one of several reasons that Britain shouldn't put it's clocks backs. Why do we do it? Skipper blames the Scots:
"The case against reversing the measure is summed up in the two words: Scottish farmers. They would face much darker mornings as the sun would not rise until 10.0am."
If you'd rather roll back the years than one measly hour, Mancubist has spotted an ace video of Joy Division playing in an Altrincham pub back in 1979. Which, speaking of gigs, In The City 2006 kicks off this weekend and Mancubist has the low-down on what you shouldn't miss.
The 43 goes to Salford Quays
- 10 Oct 06, 10:34 AM
There's no hiding the fact that the BBC Manchester Blog has close ties with BBC Manchester's website and BBC Radio Manchester.
The bigger plan is that all of these - and hopefully TV too - will feed into each other sharing ideas, contacts and stories giving you direct access to the programme makers and them ears and eyes on the ground.
BBC Radio Manchester has already featured a number of Manchester bloggers including, yesterday, Geoff who writes 43.
We were down at Salford Quays with Studio 6 (on-air Monday to Friday 2-4pm - you can listen online if not in Manchester). Geoff came and spoke to me about 43 and his short listing for the Manchester Blog Awards and read out one of his postings as an example of what he writes.
Hopefully in return Geoff will get increased traffic and interest and encouragement to continue blogging Manchester.
Who is the Sabi Rock guy?
- 4 Sep 06, 02:34 PM
It’s a question that’s taxing the minds of a number of Manchester bloggers who have spotted this mysterious man at various places around the city. So who is he and what is www.sabi rock?
I’m not quite sure who first spotted him, but there’s a posting on the LiveJournal Manchester blog on the 18th August that includes a picture of him on Trinity Way and Steve Newton’s diary of sorts… says that he’s been spotted around Manchester for a while now.
The latest sightings are reported today by Mancubist who has posted about a number of sightings over the past week, including one yesterday.
So what’s it all about? A personal publicity stunt? The start of some big advertising push?
Going along to www.sabirock.com doesn’t throw any light on the subject as it’s just a holding page and a quick search of the rest of the internet doesn’t seem to help either. Needless to say we'll be keeping a close eye on that appears on there!
I’m sure the Manchester bloggers will get to the bottom of this one. It’s only a matter of time before someone out there will find out who he is and what he’s up to - and if you’re kind enough to share that information with us we’ll be happy to link to your report!
Manchester Blogger in the News
- 1 Sep 06, 01:05 PM
A Mancunian blogger has been profiled in an article about making money through blogging. Craig McGinty, who was born and raised in Manchester, worked stints as a journalist at the Stockport Express and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph before chucking it in and following that peculiar English dream of moving to France... and starting a blog to document the transition.
Now back safe in sound in Greater Manchester, Craig has a growing family of blogs including one about blogging, another to help the media community of the Northwest to network and a blog about life in Perth Australia (that's long-distance blogging if we've ever heard of it). Craig told Journalism.co.uk that he spends approximately 10 - 12 hours a day working on his eight blogs - which seems like quite a lot of time until you realise that it's not just a hobby, it's his day job.
How's he do it? Craig, who has monetized his blogs by using affiliate schemes and search advertisements, blogs about topics that genuinely interest him and understands that google and other search engines will continue to bring readers to his content whether it was published today, last week, or last year. Craig told the BBC Manchester Blog that "the potential to earn a living and also to carry on earning from articles in your archive is something I stress to people."
Of course, not all bloggers are hoping to make a job out of it but, for those who are, Greater Manchester's Craig McGinty is a good example of how to succede at it.
Ask Manchester
- 30 Aug 06, 09:16 AM
There’s a very active Manchester community over on Livejournal that is basically a help-all for people in Manchester, coming to Manchester or just passing through.
The whole community revolves around people helping other people with their Manchester questions and queries.
Questions like “Does anyone know where I can buy an affordable bed frame and mattress and have it delivered quickly in South Manchester?” or “Are there any Stitch 'n' Bitch groups in Manchester?”
It doesn’t take long for the friendly replies to start appearing, there was a Stitch and Bitch session due to start last weekend (wonder how it went), and a number of suggestions and comment about bed suppliers.
Better still, ‘count_libido’ asked if there were any groups in Manchester who meet up to see films and talk about comics, music, films and the like. It appears that there isn’t, but now it seems that the blogging commuinty could be starting up one of their own.
At the time of writing the latest posting comes from ‘i_am_the_others’ who asks about living in West Didsbury – “(I) have been told by a number of people that its "studenty but nice". I was just wondering how true this is and how it comepares to other "studenty" places” – the answers roll in from people best placed to answer such a question. As to what they’ve said, you’re best taking a look yourself!
The Pride of Manchester
- 26 Aug 06, 08:02 AM
As Manchester Pride 2006 gets into its full swing, it’s worth having a look at The Dangerous Man who describes himself thus: “Jay is 21, and lives in central Manchester UK and is a frequenter of Manchester's gay scene.”
There are some pictures on there of the Village all set up ready for the festivities. Sadly it looks like Jay will be too absorbed in all the fun and games of the weekend to post much – he put up a ‘back in 24 hours’ sign, but we can look forward to his comments, observations and pictures when all the excitement has died down.
On the Blog Trail for a Night Out
- 25 Aug 06, 10:44 AM
It's the first Friday of this blog's life (can we say that?) and we thought we'd use that as an excuse to showcase some of the blogs that help point people on their way out at the weekend.
I followed a link from manchizzle to mancubist who has lots of gig reviews (including one this week of the Spinto Band at Urbis) but, sadly, nothing about stuff going on this weekend. Mancubist had a link to spinneyhead who had a link to Listen To Manchester - and that's where we ended up. I'm not going to steal their thunder so you'll have to click the link if you want to see what 5 gigs they've got listed for tonight.
And if you're the planning ahead type (of course you are!)Whathappenedlastnight has the news that Peruvia, a bit of a blast from Manchester's clubbing past, will be back on the 2nd of September. I went to Peruvia for New Years Eve back when it was, if I remember correctly, in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Or maybe it was in Stockport. Well, it was New Years so you can't expect me to remember ALL the details.
Is there somewhere you usually go to find stuff to do at the weekend? Drop us a URL and let us know about it. Happy weekend!
Getting on the 43 Bus blog
- 24 Aug 06, 07:45 AM
If you’re looking for a good example of the kind of blogger we’re after, you won’t go far wrong taking a look at Geoff’s website ‘43’.
The 43 is a bus that runs between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport. Geoff makes observations about the things he sees as well as contemplating life as a Manchester commuter. His little drawings are an added delight.
The great thing about this blog is that no matter what Geoff writes about, he’s never that far from the orange glow of the number 43.
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