Inblognito

A couple of things have happened lately that have gotten me thinking about the murky relationship between our online personas and our real-life ones.

When I started out writing my blog, I went to great lengths to keep my blog anonymous, picking a codename and setting up a separate email address. I thought that writing under a nom de plume would free me to be completely honest without fear of personal or professional consequences. It'd protect me from internet nutters. And as a journalist, at least in the states, I could potentially find myself assigned to "objectively" write about a politician, controversial issue or organization. Having an online paper trail of my personal opinions could potentially make things difficult for myself and my paper if someone wanted to be a jerk.

But as time went on and I started meeting some of the people who read my blog, I gradually started using my real name. Introducing myself as Yankunian at a blog meet seemed, I don't know, kind of retarded and precious. Especially when I already knew some of the people there from other things. When I got professionally involved with a blogging project at the MLF, it was essential that my real name be linked to my blog - it was, effectively, my credential. And of course by linking to Norm's profile of me last week I kinda put the final nail in the anonymity coffin.

Some people really don't want to be unmasked. Even more than that, they don't want their anonymous blog pointed out to people even though it doesn't have their real name on it because they think people might be able to figure out it's them from what they're writing about. (whew!) Of course I respect a blogger's personal preferences, but a tiny part of me wonders why they don't get one of those old-fashioned diaries with a lock on it, hide it under their mattress and wear the key around their neck? Why write a blog on the internets, where it's out there for all to see, if you don't want people you know reading your stuff? Because if you're putting it out there, you should assume that someone you know is reading it.

I went by Southern Bird's anonymous blog today and I see that she stopped writing late last month. This is sad, because I liked her blog - it was engaging and she genuinely seemed to enjoy writing it. She explained in her last post that she was giving it up because an ex-boyfriend was, from what I gather, stalking her through her blog. SB alluded to problems she's had in the past with other ex-boyfriends and her blog, and in her comments several others write in with similar tales of woe. Her name isn't on her blog anywhere, but she presumably told her ex about it in happier days. Having an anonymous blog didn't protect her from this situation, because she made it non-anonymous herself, just by telling someone she completely trusted at the time.

What do people think about this? I'd be interested to hear how some of you came up with your own approach - full separation of online/offline identities, some overlap or completely straight-up, firstname lastname blogging? I suspect the Manchester blogroll includes all of the above.

Get on the bus

This week's lone addition to the Manchester blogroll is I Wanna Ride The Bus! by GM Traveller, a shadowy figure who started the blog that(s)he describes as "dedicated to my goings to and from work in Manchester, and maybe the usual something else in between."

As you'd expect, there's lots about particular bus journeys, and discussion of routes, including a lengthy exploration of why the new Shudehill bus station is so woefully underused. But there's also a nice post about the comparative merits of the different markets in the towns around Manchester. GM Traveller's inspirations include The Station Log Book, the musings of a stationmaster on the London Underground.

(Lovely bus image courtesy of the Manc Lomo godlings at Just Shoot)

Hey, I'm famous

I feel sort of embarassed tooting my own horn like this (blushing, looking uncomfortably at feet) but the Friday profile on Normblog this week is me. If you want to read it, go to The Normblog Profile 129: Kate Feld

Genie-us

We all know Manchester is a magical place in the springtime. Dan Flynn has had a fascinating encounter with a foul-mouthed genie in a pop bottle.

You can read all about it here


And Crinklybee has embarked on an exhaustive survey of our city's public telephone boxes to bring you The Crinklybee Award for Manchester's Most Splendid Public Telephone Box. It's a sort of swan song for him, as he just got his first mobile phone a couple of weeks ago. Jonathan, welcome to the wonderful world of being always - irritatingly - reachable. You'll never be on time again.

Blook who's talking

When is a book not a book? When it's a blook, apparently - to the uninitiated (which is, like, everyone, since someone just made this up), that's a blog that started life as a book, like Belle de Jour or Julie and Julia. Okay, I get the concept, but the cutesy name is kind of annoying. But apparently it's there because announcing "The Blooker Prize" was just too tempting a proposition for Lulu founder Bob Young.

Alert reader Conscious & Verbal pointed out this article in the Telegraph (via Bookseller):
The founders of the Booker Prize maintained a cautious silence yesterday after a rival organisation unveiled plans for an award with a startlingly similar name, the Blooker Prize, to reward books born on the world wide web...

Interesting stuff.... but I have to wonder whether the Booker's silence was actually a "cautious" one. It might have been a "completely disinterested" one or even, an "I'm sorry, were you saying something just then?" kind of silence.

51 with a bullet ...

Congratulations to our very own Mark Thwaite of the excellent Ready Steady Book. According to the Observer, he's the 51st most important person in British publishing. It's nice to see a literary blogger get some recognition in the mainstream lit media, even if he didn't make the top 50. Mark's name is first among "the ones who nearly made the list:"

Mark Thwaite, founder and editor of www.readysteadybook.com, the UK's largest independent literary website. A librarian by trade, Thwaite writes a regular blog attracting up to 3,000 visitors per day.

Now if we can just take out Mary-Kay Wilmers and David Godwin, he'll have it all wrapped up next time.

Open Music Archive

On Friday I met Eileen Simpson and Ben White, who are running the Open Music Archive project at one of my favourite vintage shops, My Goodniss on Thomas Street, run by the lovely Leyla Nazim. (It was a good day - I also got a delightful dress for a mere £14). Eileen just sent me some more info about their upcoming event at the shop:

On Saturday March 18 at My Goodniss there's going to be an evening of free music and films from the Open Music Archive, which collects and distributes content that has fallen out of copyright, and are thus free for anyone to use. From 6-8pm Eileen and Ben will perform a live DJ & laptop set and digitally project re-mixed 16mm film footage. You can expect to hear long-forgotten blues, folk and jazz tracks transferred from scratchy 78 shellac records - but the OMA folks also strip samples, beats, words and melodies from these tracks to produce brand new music that they license with Creative Commons ShareAlike licences. If you're coming, bring a memory stick or other device to take away the music or download after the event from www.openmusicarchive.org/mygoodniss

Blue period

Just want to point out the pioneering work being done by Mr. Pretzels and friends - since I last checked in they've pushed blue-tack art to even greater heights of innovation. Go here and watch their animated short films.

Last orders

When 24-hour licensing passed, I envisioned happy nights drinking leisurely cocktails, exiting bars and clubs at an hour more compatible with the cosmopolitan vibe one might expect from "the original modern city." I imagined, oh, I don't know, setting off home after a night out without having to fight my way through a drunken herd of yawping, half-naked souls all simultaneously trying to snag a taxi, eat a kebab, be sick, pick a fight and get off with some luckless stranger. Not that there's anything wrong with any of the above - it'd just be nice if everyone didn't get let out at the same (unreasonably early) time.

But official-type people fear change, and my 24-7 dreams have come to diddly-squat. So it was with great interest that I read in Manchester Online this morning that the first 24-hour drinking license has been granted to ... Cornerhouse. Apparently, the police have been opposing every application, no matter where, on the grounds that late opening will disturb residents, increase crime and generally bring about the eve of destruction. But the council approved Cornerhouse, of all places. Why?

A council spokesman said: "The Cornerhouse is one of Manchester's key cultural hubs and its 24-hour license is clearly linked to its function as a cinema and the many other events that are held there.
It is a well-run establishment which recognises that public safety is essential and is very clear about how crime and disorder and public nuisance will be
prevented."

Hmmm.... want me to translate that for ya?: "The Cornerhouse is frequented by a well-educated, affluent older clientele who like to watch movies with subtitles. These people know when to stop drinking and who are unlikely to do anything untoward in the wee hours that might make us regret this decision."

I like the Cornerhouse and go there lots, but something about this seems kind of classist and unfair to me. I can think of many other bars and clubs who would actually benefit a lot more from a 24-hour license. And what's the point of having 24-hour licensing if you're not going to use it? It'll be kinda funny though if word gets around about the late license and the C-house starts getting invaded by likkered-up riot boys looking for a late-night snootful.

Bebo? ...wasn't that a new wave band?

Since I know many of you here at The Manchizzle are big fans of MySpace and other social networking sites, you might want to read this story in The Guardian technology section today. I'm so un-cool I'd never even heard of the SN site they've focused on, Bebo, which is apparently all the rage with those young people. Sheesh, who can keep up?

Show and Tell Online

New blog fiesta. Ole!

We have a few additions to the jelly roll this week -- and two of them are American. I know, but really, it's not that we're secretly taking over, it's just that the few yanks who are here all seem to be blogging. Given the fact that blogging is much more widely established in the states, this makes perfect sense. (Or that's what we want you to think....)

The first is Plain Simple English, written by Buffy Holt, a resident of Cheshire, I believe, who is writing a novel. She's from West Virginia but doesn't intend to move back to the states anytime soon since she loves it here. You can read more about her and the book she's working on at her blog but be warned - absolutely no Buffy The Vampire Slayer jokes will be tolerated.

Dave Maass came over here from hot and dusty Phoenix to study visual anthropology, and is also a writer who's involved in Verberate (nice new site by the way) and other literary/film events around Manc. He also has the best surname-linked blog I've heard in a long time: His blog is called Maassive. Sweet, huh?

But if you don't have a name that can be cleverly worked into the title of your blog, you can always take a different tack and opt for a bold statement like the folks behind the group blog Manchester is Shit. While this blog won't be getting linkage from the Northwest Development Agency anytime soon, it does have some top pictures of and posts about graffiti and sundry other things.

Dave Maass also told me about another couple of Manchester blogs I'd missed:

The first, BrandosHat, is written by Steven Waling, a poet who teaches creative writing. The blog is a place for for discussion of all things related to poetry, religion, and life in general. His latest post considers the different influences that determine how a poet evolves -- interesting stuff.

And Changing Cycles is the work of Salfordian (?) Ben Mellor, a cyclist and performer who recently returned from a three-month bicycle trip around the country, an experience he will be turning into a live act on environmental themes during his current residency at Contact. Three months on a bike around Britain in the winter - damn! Bet there are some stories there ...

The Manolo he love the shoes

Normblog's Friday profiles are consistently interesting reads, but this week's choice is especially super fantastic. The Normblog Profile: Manolo the Shoeblogger

New blogs: Mr. Pretzels, Yer Mam

Blue-tack: It languishes in obscurity, balled into a sad lump collecting dust and odd bits of fluff in the desk drawer among stubby pencils and paperclips. But who knew that inside the heart of the blue-tack lurked the potential for a second life, a more artistic one? Mr. Pretzels, that's who. Please follow the link to see blue-tack -- and timewasting on the job -- elevated to heights of magnificence never before achieved. I think the works completed during the Victorian Easter Island period show special promise. And to think it all happened somewhere in South Manchester ...


James, author of Yer Mam, kindly wrote in to let me know that I had failed to list him on the roll. And, damn, but haven't we all been missing out on a whole heap of tasty music blogging, complete with mp3s, cover art and humorous pirate references. Anyone who's working their way through a personal top 300 singles 2000-2005 has my deepest respect. Please note that he blogs on MSN Spaces, not to be confused with the much-maligned myspace. (Not that anyone would be daft enough to mix them up just because they sounded similar, ho ho ho.)

UPDATED New Manchester blog column

I’ve mentioned the possibility that we might get a new Manchester listings magazine in this blog before, and, lo and behold, it has actually come to pass. I had inside knowledge, though: I’m now the literature editor of The Mix, a fortnightly mag that’s available from today in newsagents around the city centre for a mere £1.50.

The literature section in every issue will feature a column called Bloggerel, which will shine a spotlight on the sadly-overlooked work of Manchester bloggers. Each Bloggerel will feature an excerpt from a recent blog post, drawn from the sites on the Manc blogroll at right. This isn’t an original idea: I stole it from The Vermont alt-weekly Seven Days and The Guardian does it as well, though their column features blog posts related to big news stories. My hope is that it will make more people want to read blogs.

The inaugural bloggerel is Bar Fiction from Bournemouth Runner’s blog The Art of Fiction.

I was also taken with this funny post from Kitchentable, about a serendipitous experience at Fopp.

If you think you’ve written something that could be in the column, or want to point out a great post on someone else’s blog, feel free to email your bloggerel nominations to themanchizzle at gmail dot com. I’m looking for excerpts or whole posts that are 500 words or less (SEE UPDATE BELOW), are well written, can stand alone in the magazine and will be of interest to pretty much any reader. Because it’s the literature section there may be a slight bias towards literary or “writerly” posts, but it’s open to any topic.

I’ll get in touch with people if I’m putting their post forward (though, unless you have creative commons or explicit copyright protection on your blog, I don’t think I’m required to.) If you want to remain an anonymous blogger, that’s fine – I’m really just going to use blog names/urls, not author names. And please note that there’s no pay involved, except the glow of pleasure that comes with a surge of extra traffic.

UPDATED: Because of space limitations the Bloggerel column will now be limited to excerpts of 200 words. Eeek. Keep 'em short n' sweet, then.

Result: myspace CAN be a blog... but isn't always

Wow, look at all those comments ... while there was a fair amount of humorous slagging off in there, I think the result of the collective musings is this: If you're genuinely blogging, then who cares what platform you're using? You should be on the blogroll.

So that will be The Manchizzle's totally democratic policy henceforth. If you know of anyone in the general vicinity of Manc who's blogging on MSN Spaces, livejournal etc. or social networking thingies like myspace, or Friendster (can you blog on Friendster? Does anyone still use that?) send 'em my way.

myspace: a blog or not a blog? discuss

Most of my "creative" friends are scared of blogs. That might seem weird, but I think it's because they wrongly assume that they're too technologically challenging to run. But somehow, like, in the last five minutes, they've all acquired myspace sites.

Last week I was accosted by a woman I know in the hallway of my Nathan Barley-esque sometime offices on Lever Street. She said breezily, "Hey, what's your myspace, I'll send you an invite to the club night next month." My face fell. "I, um, I don't have one," I told her. She looked so disappointed. I felt, oddly, embarassed. Hoping to recover some sort of cred, I wrote the url for my blog on a scrap of paper. She looked at it as if it were a dirty word in a foreign language.

Then I went and looked at my friends' myspace sites. The template is terrible. It's ugly and it doesn't work right, but there they all were, getting hourly updates on their favourite bands' bowel movements and frantically messaging each other to say nothing much in particular. I don't feel so bad about not being on myspace, because I like blogger a whole lot better, but I think it's cool that the music industry seems to have adopted myspace as THE way to set up a band website on the cheap. And while a lot of the blogs on these sites are feeble, vestigial things, some of them are actually really cool.

So I ask you, Manchester bloggers: should myspace sites be considered blogs and listed in the Manc blogroll? What do you think? My comments box awaits your collective widsom.

Click here to download a video clip of Demetri Martin's very funny piss-take of the whole myspace thing on The Daily Show (courtesy EdTechUk. (The totally appropriate illustration comes from The Chalkboard Manifesto.)

The turn and glare

When did going to the movies stop being a hushed, magical experience where everyone gathered around the miracle of flickering images and become a free-for-all? In the last couple of years, I've noticed a staggering decline in decorum at the cinema. Perhaps I'm just noticing this now because I'm getting older and more curmudgeonly. So curmudgeonly, in fact, that I use phrases like 'a staggering decline of decorum', which makes me sound like my dentures are pinching. But I digress. The last few times I've gone to see a movie (on both sides of the Atlantic) I've encountered some appalling behavior.

There were the two pre-teen girls at 'The Producers' who shared a large tub of popcorn and whispered and giggled so loudly that we had to ask them to be quiet three times. There were the people behind us in '13' at Cornerhouse last night who talked at normal conversation pitch through the ads, trailers, credits and the first bit of the film. I like to watch the trailers, dammit. And don't get me started on the mobile-phone related disturbances. At some movie recently a phone rang loudly, and instead of shutting it off, the person answered it. I almost had a heart attack. Then there was the whole family texting happily away during 'King Kong.' Father and two are-they-really-old-enough-for-mobiles sons, faces bathed in the blue glow of their handsets, seemingly oblivious to the big ape. Why do these people go to movies?

Here's my strategy for dealing with bad behavior at movies:

1. The turn and glare

2. A second turn and a longer, more malevolent glare, perhaps with a raised eyebrow

3. Turn, glare and 'shhhh' meaningfully

4. The same again, but this time with hands raised in the international sign of "what gives?"

5. Getting verbal. This may actually require getting up and walking to another section of seats. "Excuse me, would you mind being more quiet/turning that off/doing that outside? We're trying to watch the film." This makes you feel like a prim librarian from central casting, but it usually works.

6. Another verbal entreaty, with the addition of either a. sarcastic comment or b. threats to fetch management and have them bodily removed. In cases of extreme annoyance, both.

7. Go to manager and demand free tickets (it's never actually come to this, but I would.)

You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many pageloads

Just wanted to pass on the link to this enormously interesting piece about bloggers in New York magazine (It's not from "New York Metro," that's just the way part of their online operation is branded - sorry, I know that's really pedantic, but it's confusing when NY Metro is cited as a news source by clueless bloggers. Who's a journalism geek?) Anyway, people who are interested in the social dynamics of blogging will want to read this. Blogs to Riches: The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom.

Hey, look ... new blogs!

You may notice that I've sneakily added some new blogs to the Manchester blogroll:

Kate works in the arts and blogs a lot about film and such on If You're Sad and Like Beer... I believe the title is a reference to that whacked-out, perplexing and gorgeous Guy Maddin movie The Saddest Music in the World, pictured above. Kate hasn't been blogging very much lately but maybe if we all pester her, she will. Pester. Pester pester.

The Airport Diaries is a workblog apparently written by someone who works at Manchester International Airport. The author is listed only as "the airport exile." Interesting stuff.

Half Lived by Truman is a personal sort of blog written by a man who is living between the USA and the UK - A man I can definitely relate to. In his case, he divides his time between Texas and Manchester, which is an interesting combination of places (and one hell of a trip). Haven't I heard of a band around here with some members who lived in Manc and others based in Texas? Was it the Earlies? And then there was another musician from Texas who now lives in Manchester - I forget who. So what's the big Manchester-Texas connection?

The latter two blogs came courtesy of the links on Easy Update, the photoblog of Ms_Understud. Formerly of Manchester, now of Newcastle. Our loss.

What's on extra: Gig-a-licious

Truly the gig gods are smiling on Manchester this week. Isobel Campbell(photo above), the sweet-voiced singer late of Belle and Sebastian, has been getting a lot of press recently, mostly for Ballad of the Broken Seas, her unlikely collab with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Mark Lanegan. But she's going to be performing solo Tuesday at Night and Day, with Jenniferever and Superkings warming up. Her album, according to the Guardian, is chock full of “...warm, atmospheric songs... honey-coated whispers...lost in the slow-motion melodies...windswept lullabies....” (That's lot of ellipses, no? I just pulled that blurb off the N+D website, but it makes you wonder why they had to chop the quote up so much.) Anyway, it's gotta be better than sitting through a mediocre, overpriced meal in some joint that's decked out with pink doilies.

On Wednesday, Gothenburg, Sweden's homegrown hero, Jens Lekman plays the King's Arms in Salford, a beautiful old pub with good beer and a smallish performance space upstairs. Jens doesn't seem to have much of a profile around here, but he's getting a lot of rave reviews over in the states; here's the one that turned me onto him. I really dig his music - it's quirky, heartfelt pop - and you've got to respect a man who plays the ukelele. Bill Wells and Vinny Peculiar open. Details here.

If Lekman doesn't appeal, Brad Meldhau is playing the same night over at the Royal Northern College of Music (details here). He's an insanely gifted jazz pianist who delights in obliterating genre boundaries - his versions of some Radiohead songs will make your brain melt. And acoustics-wise, the RNCM is my favourite venue in town - the Magnetic Fields concert I saw here last year had perfect sound.



Friday brings the African Soul Rebels concert to Bridgewater Hall, with Amadou et Mariam, Souad Massi and Emmanuel Jal. I don't know much about the latter two acts - Jal is a rapper, and Massi is an Algerian singer - but Amadou et Mariam should be worth the price of admission alone. They're a blind Malian singing couple who make music that's haunting and funky at the same time. Their album Dimanche a Bamako was produced by the loopy musical genius Manu Chao, and was a massive hit in France.

Am I going to all these gigs? Hell no. But someone should.