I have yet to become either a blogger or an impassioned reader of a variety of interesting and amusing specimens of the genre.
I keep meaning to explore blogs a little more thoroughly, as I really do believe they`re going to change the face of reporting as we know it, but I seem unable to invest the time in finding any blogs particularly suited to my tastes.
This new form of communication has started to be used even by the mainstream press, as they are starting to understand that while factual reporting is all good and well, their readers actually like to garner opinions and first-hand emotional experience of events alongside the news.
Like just about everyone else in the world with an Internet connection, my first experience of blogging came courtesy of Belle du Jour, a London high-class call girl who detailed humorous anecdotes of her skanky trade.
I`ve lost track of what`s happened since Belle fever was at its peak (she was a fake, she wasn`t, she`s not doing it anymore, there`s a book now, rinse, repeat).
Despite the fact that Moby is a dedicated online diarist, he doesn`t like to refer to what he does as blogging, so I won`t either.
Georgina Guedes, editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
I was once sent an excerpt of a particularly hilarious blog entry by a writer with a German girlfriend explaining the kinds of discussion and emotional blackmail that relationships entail.
His blog, like Belle`s, has also made it into paper-based publishing, and is now a novel called "Things my girlfriend and I have argued about". Despite finding it amusing, and looking through a couple of entries, I didn`t become a frequent reader. Someone I know bought the book, though.
Someone I know once suggested I take a look at Go Fug Yourself, a site dedicated to critiquing celebrity fashion. This site offers such bitchy digs at the atrocities the publicity hounds manage to assemble that the blog makes for a hilarious read.
"Fugly is the new pretty", the site proclaims, and uses "fug" to describe any ensemble that the two diarists, or bloggers, find objectionable.
Must visits on the blog are Britney Spears` "diary", where she expresses her ongoing consternation at finding her husband going through her wallet, and "Ask Aunt Fugly" where a different "guest celebrity" gets to answer agony aunt fashion questions.
The best of these is the parody of Courtney Love`s self-involved, drug-hazed ramblings in the face of earnest fashion questions.
Courtesy of a link at Go Fug Yourself, I have also started browsing Pajiba, a blog by professional critics dedicated to the scathing review of movies currently on circuit, and the occasional celebrity jab as well. Their headline for the opening weekend of Big Momma in the states: "Genuine Proof of the Collective Retardation of America: A $28 million opening weekend".
Moby.com has long been a site that I frequented, initially because of my love for the bald vegan`s music, but after that because I found that I agreed with his sensibilities on politics and society. However, despite the fact that Moby is a dedicated online diarist, he doesn`t like to refer to what he does as blogging, so I won`t either.
And that rather sparse and shoddy collection is my full complement of blogs. I keep meaning to find more, that reflect the full spectrum of my interests, but it seems that the lighthearted ones are so much easier to stumble across.
Of course, the hurdle of creating a suitable first entry is the stumbling block that`s preventing me from starting my own blog.
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