Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with Blogs

Personality-Based Design/Arts/Fashion Blogging - new trend?

divabat — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:02:05 -0800

Is there a specific term/genre that defines bloggers such as Gala Darling, Nubby Twiglet, Queen Gilda, Doe Deere, This is Star, and Agent Lover? Has anyone tracked this? I've noticed a few of those sort of blogs recently, sharing similar things in terms of aesthetics and content:

* Young female, using a glamorous pen name
* A mix between personal life, recommendations of products/people, and how-tos based on everyday life (such as How To Be Fabulous)
* Plenty on design, fashion, style, culture, trends
* Blogger likely to be an artist or other creative person
* Promotes the blogger itself as a brand
* "Things I Love Tuesday" (possibly started by one of those bloggers)
* Similar layouts

A few of these blogs cross-link to each other, but other than that I don't see anything that suggests they're part of a collective or tight group of friends. Rather, it seems to be a growing sub-trend of blogging, and I was wondering if anyone else had noticed this and/or done some research on these blogs.

They're like camgirls in the sense that there's quite a bit of voyeurism into their personal lives, but it's not constant. They're seen as icons and inspiration, and have enough followers to even sell products with their branding (AFAIK Gala Darling lives on Adsense income). When I was a teen, random-content-heavy personal sites, often with vector illustrations, were the Big Thing; this seems like an outgrowth of that.

Is there a name for this? Does anyone else fit this aesthetic?

China!

god particle — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:48:43 -0800

What are some good Chinese youth/pop culture blogs? I'm looking for blogs about Chinese youth and/or pop culture...music, nightlife, art, etc. Preferably written by a native, in (Mandarin) Chinese, focusing on the cities of Beijing and Shanghai, though I'm still interested in seeing a foreigner's perspective on things.

Also, are there any good translation/learning sites where I can just copy and paste a phrase or character and get back the English meaning and pronunciation? My Chinese reading ability is pretty poor, so I'd need something to help me get through the blogs.

Is there a blog host that won't bogart my Amazon links?

RogerB — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 18:21:24 -0800

Book-blog hosting: Is there a free and easy blog host that allows me to use my own Amazon affiliate links? I am thinking of starting a personal book and movie blog. It should make it easy to add books (ideally with a cover image and an Amazon link) to my posts – I'm quite enamored of Vox's super-easy interface for this, but they use their own Amazon affiliate links and forbid you to substitute your own. It seems like all the big free blog hosts do this, in fact (or at least Blogger, Wordpress, and Vox), unless I'm missing something.

I would really rather not have to host my own blog, or use a paid blog host like Typepad, just to avoid giving away the three to five bucks a year my blog will probably make off Amazon referrals. Is there a free blog host or social networking site, or whatever else, out there that will do this?

Hope me find good discussions of globalization.

the littlest brussels sprout — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 06:52:57 -0800

Can you recommend good blogs about globalization? I am particularly interested in the effects of globalization on modern international and (US) domestic law.

Any tools for posting to multiple blogs?

randomthoughts — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 06:40:23 -0800

Are there any tools for posting to multiple WordPress blogs without having to go to each site's control panel? Currently running several WordPress blogs on various hosts and am looking for an easy blogging tool that would allow me to post to these blogs without having to go to each admin page to do so.

Any suggestions?

Seeking Ag Blogs

youcancallmeal — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 19:14:49 -0800

What are the good sustainable agriculture blogs? Since interning at Greenmarket this summer, I've become very interested in sustainable agriculture. I don't want blogs about cooking or the politics of sustainability, I'm looking for blogs or other updated websites about the mechanics and techniques involved in this sort of farming, both in regard to plants and livestock.

Design related blogs and articles for ambitious and idealist product designer?

takeyourmedicine — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:39:03 -0800

DESIGN-FILTER: A friend recently finished freshmans year of a Product Design course, coming home raving about how much he enjoyed it, and how design can save the world. He is very honourable in his intentions, but not very internet savvy. For his Birthday I'd like to compile a selection (and summary) of the best blogs and articles that someone involved in product design should read, things that will inspire him, and will give him the sort of superb extra-curricular knowledge that the web contains, and a wider perspective. Swiss Miss, Inspire me Now, and that t-shirt "DESIGN WILL NOT SAVE THE WORLD" spring to mind, but smart articles from the last couple of years and thought-provoking blogs are what I'm really after, though pretty pictures are good.

I'll share the completed list next weekend, your help will make the list ten times better, I'm sure.

how was your day at work?

vodkaboots — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 09:21:15 -0800

Funny blogs, forums or websites written about different types of workplaces? I love reading about what really goes on in different workplaces. In particular I've enjoyed stuff like waiterrant and true porn clerk stories, as well as lists of idiotic IT helpdesk questions and ridiculous 911 calls.
Basically anything that that has interesting and funny stories from an insider about what it's like to work day-to-day in a particular industry. Any recommendations?

Just like dooce.com, but with autism?

pootler — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:24:19 -0800

Which irreverent, funny parenting blogs have extra added autism? My 4 year old recently got a diagnosis of (very) high IQ and autism and I'm looking for stories from people in a similar position.

Type 'autism blog' into google and you get plenty of hits. But I'm looking for really good blogs from parents who are dealing with young kids wih autism.

I've been reading Dooce and Schuyler's Monster for 5 years and they have helped keep me sane when dealing with a my 'special' kid. :-) I love their humour and their refusal to pretend that children are perfect little gifts or that being a parent is not anything but a joy. The Poo Bomb was the best medicine for us too, when the kid was a horrible, dificult, terrible baby.

We deal with a lot of the same stuff that Leta and Schuyler's parents deal with, but they don't have autism. I know it would do us all good to read a blog by someone who is in the same place we are. Who should we be reading?

Winnipeg blogs

Waitwhat — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:46:25 -0800

I'd like to take a road trip to Winnipeg later this summer and I'm not sure what there is to do. In order to figure this out I'd like to read some local blogs. What are some great Winnipeg-centic blogs?

Website Promotion

cjorgensen — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 22:27:17 -0800

What is your one best ethical suggestion for promoting a blog/website? I've been googling the crap out of this for the last week or so, and have found a lot of, well, crap out there.

Not enough of it has been helpful. A lot of it seems shifty or stupid or likely to backfire.

I figure if people limit their answer to one suggestion, this would be helpful.

I'm banging away on social media type site, listing directories, search engines, etc. And traffic is going up, but obviously, I'd like to see even more. Ideas (idea!)?

Thanks.

There are Olympics geeks, yes?

exceptinsects — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:08:24 -0800

I would like to read some blogs about the Olympics. Can you recommend any? I am interested in things like:

The uniforms of different countries.

Olympic Village accommodations.

Backstagey stuff about the opening/closing ceremonies. (And THEN five thousand goats, carrying third grade jump-rope champions in glow-in-the-dark ballerina dresses, come out from behind the proscenium...)

Discussions of arcane track and field scoring.

What sports should SO TOTALLY be official now, or are and SHOULD NOT BE OMG.

Why the commentators are wrong, wrong wrong.

and other nerdery.

I'm not so much interested in the political aspects.

Blogs that teach?

btkuhn — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:59:34 -0800

Blogs that teach? Most of the daily blogs that I read, even the "scholarly" ones or those dealing with a particular subject, are focused on links to topics of interest, or the blog writer's analysis of a particular topic. For instance, the volokh conspiracy is an excellent law blog, but it doesn't "teach" the fundamentals of law to the reader; rather, it addresses specific rulings, usually with the author's analysis of the issue.

I am interested in finding blogs that teach the reader about the subject of the blog. To continue with the subject of law, I want to find blogs that say, for example, "Today we are going to learn about contract law (or one particular aspect of contract law)", and then go over the basics of contract law. Kind of like that email service that emails you a few pages of a book every day. It seems like there are plenty of podcasts online that do this (I've used MIT courseware in the past and it's great), but I learn much better with the written word format. Plus, an RSS feed breaks things up so that you don't have to set aside an hour to watch a lecture.

I'm not interested only in "academic" blogs; any feed that teaches a subject or skill in a stepwise manner via RSS. I'm thinking bird-watching, or juggling, playing the guitar...

Seeking Austin Blogs

youcancallmeal — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:11:27 -0800

I'm moving back to Austin, TX in December and am looking for some local blogs to read in the meantime. I already read Austinist, but with the plethora of neighborhood-based blogs in my current locales (Brooklyn/Baltimore), I've gotten a little spoiled. Where are all the interesting blogs covering local Austin politics and restaurants and such? I've been away from the city for almost 20 years and need a bit of a refresher course!

Photography blogs

pmaxwell — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:05:13 -0800

Professional photographers: What blogs, resources, sites do you use/recommend for keeping up to date, trends, reviews, techniques, experiences with vendors, etc?

Roll-Over Translations

Holly — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:33:48 -0800

I'm a newbie at HTML and CSS and all, but I'd like to introduce a function in my blog posts where the mouse rolls over a word and a Spanish translation pops up in a box. Ask Me-Fi whizz-kids: are there any plugins, on any of the common blogging platforms, which will let me do this?

Help me fill my RSS reader

charmston — Fri, 30 May 2008 09:41:38 -0800

I've found myself with a little more time on my hands. I'd like to add a few useful, relevant blogs and podcasts to the ranks of my RSS reader. Any suggestions for me? I very much prefer quality to quantity. I'd much rather read 5 low-volume, high-quality blogs than sift through a single feed with 50 posts/day to find the ones of interest.
Interests include:

Some of my favorites are intelligent blogs without a true theme. Jason Kottke, I'm looking at you.
I'll be going into the Peace Corps in the next year. There are over 4000 blogs about it. Do you have any favorites?
I dig web design stuff, especially in the standards arena. Favorites: A List Apart, Freelance Switch, and Vitamin.
I also love product and packaging design blogs. Favorites: Yanko Design, The Dieline.
After the Peace Corps, I'll be going into graduate school in either justice and peace studies or some derivative of it (international development, conflict resolution, etc.) I read no related blogs. Suggestions?
Personal development blogs are among my favorites, especially Zen Habits, Urban Monk, and Lifehacker.
I love baseball and tend to be the sabermetric type. Baseball Prospectus, Roto Authority...?
Green Daily is the only environmental blog that I read. I'd like a few more.
I recently became a vegetarian. Any favorite veggie blogs?
I love politics but have trouble keeping up with Talking Points Memo and The Huffington Post.

I also welcome podcast recommendations. I currently listen to Boagworld, The Rissington Podcast, and a handful of ESPN podcasts. Any others that you think that I may like?
Thanks in advance everyone!

Is there a Yellow Pages for blogs?

Kibbutz — Wed, 21 May 2008 11:09:20 -0800

What's an easy way to efficiently find and contact many different bloggers at once? I have a web app/site that may be of interest to bloggers/sites, both to write about and to use on their respective sites. I'd like to let them know about it, but I'm not sure how to get the information to them. I'm familiar with Technorati's Top 100, but I'd like to find a scalable way to reach them and the next 900 or so on the list.

Help me find some good blogs about Toronto.

radiocontrolled — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:06:54 -0800

Help me find some good blogs about Toronto. What are your favorite blogs about in Toronto? I've checked out BlogTo and the Torontoist but I want to know more.

In Vancouver, I liked Only Magazine, which had decent concert, film, and art listings & reviews. Although it was pretty sarcastic and its album reviews read like Vice articles, onlymagazine has a pretty good finger on the pulse on wacky and depressing pre-2010 Olympics Vancouver.

I'm into music (indie rock, punk, noise, avant-guard/experimental, audio art, electro), underground comics, contemporary art & film, queer/trans issues. Help me find what's cool and going on in Toronto.

Vectors, they're not just for graphics anymore

dw — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:26:31 -0800

What are the good public health blogs? I'm working on a project for my employer, a school of public health. I'd like to create a list of blogs that focus on any/all aspects of public health (and yes, I know there are many). I know about Effect Measure, but beyond that nothing.

So, what's good?

TV blogs?

mooza — Wed, 14 May 2008 02:16:55 -0800

Needing recommendations for TV blogs, including British TV I've been liking Televisionary a lot. I like the script reviews and previews and ep recaps. Are there any other blogs like this the Hive can recommend?

In particular, I want to track down some British TV blogs. Televisionary will often talk about Brit TV, but I want to know more, and sooner!

Which blogs do you read on the weekend?

mrunderhill — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:34:02 -0800

Which blogs do you read on the weekend? Most blogs I read have limited activity on the weekend..

Where can I find pictures of pretty objects?

Alison — Thu, 08 May 2008 10:25:54 -0800

I really like looking at pictures of beautiful/clever/interesting products. What are some frequently updated blogs that feature good pictures of really cool stuff? I'm talking about pictures of clothing, gadgets, prints, handmade goods, kitchen implements...pictures of almost anything tangible, and the featured items don't have to be for sale. I like making things and I frequently find inspiration by looking at stuff that other people have made. Plus, for some reason I find joy in looking at well designed things.

I already visit a few sites that scratch my product design itch, but I'm always looking for more. A few of my favorites are:

Grain Edit
Readymade Blog
Dress A Day
Etsy (although I would love to see any blogs that attempt to distill the best of Etsy)

I want to be an expert on experts.

katieinshoes — Mon, 05 May 2008 07:38:55 -0800

I'm looking for advice blogs. Like Dear Abby, but in blog form. These must be out there, but googling for "advice blog" doesn't get me quite what I'm looking for. I'm looking for blogs where the writers/experts give advice in response to emails/comments/etc. from readers, just like in a newspaper advice column.

The topic of the blog (I think I've seen one specifically about financial advice) isn't important. I'm just interested in finding question-and-answer format blogs. Not something like Ask Metafilter or Yahoo Answers, but something where there is one writer/expert (or a panel of them) who writes all the answers.

Blogs about remodeling?

The corpse in the library — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:30:16 -0800

Good blogs about house remodeling? I might be remodeling my house soon (with a contractor, not DIY'ing it), and would like to read some good blogs about the process. I want to learn from other people's mistakes, get advice about picking out bathroom fans, see how other people set up their temporary kitchens, that sort of stuff.

Any suggestions for informative, well-written blogs about remodeling or construction? Especially appreciated: photos, humor, avoidance of Country Goose aesthetics.