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Fingers in other pies: post of the week · shaggy blog stories · village community blog Saturday, February 02, 2008
Post of the Week: now with added democracy!
I forgot to mention this at the time, but at the end of last year I handed over the day-to-day administration for Post of the Week to the estimable Ms. Peach. One of Peach's first acts on taking over was to extend the reach of the weekly voting: a splendid innovation, which means that everybody can now vote for their favourite five posts from the weekly shortlist.
Although time is almost up for this week's voting, I still thought it worth alerting you to the current shortlist, as it's one of the strongest selections in ages. Without wishing to sway the jury, my money's on A Large Number of Small Experiences: Race-day psychosis, which is (given my pathological disinterest in anything sports-related) a surpisingly gripping account of what it's like to take part in a competitive rowing event. Labels: blogs, community, linkage, postoftheweek
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Friday, December 28, 2007
Post of the Year.
Well, it had to be done, didn't it?
Have a look at the eight shortlisted posts at Post of the Week, and vote for your favourites by 16:00 on Monday December 31st. What could be simpler? Labels: blogs, postoftheweek
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Monday, July 09, 2007
An open thread for suggestions on how to improve Post Of The Week.
Maybe it's just the start of the summer lull, but I can't help feeling that, despite a continuing run of terrific winning posts, dear old Post Of The Week has got stuck in something of a rut. After six months of seamless consistency, which has worked pretty well until the last few weeks, perhaps it's time we that thought about making some improvements to the way that the site operates.
Perhaps it's a little impersonal, a little austere, a little predictable, a little underused, a little short on liveliness and surprise? If so, then what changes would you like to see? I'd really welcome some open debate and some positive, practical suggestions. My box is at your disposal. (Again, please ignore the wonky comment counts, should they re-occur.) Labels: postoftheweek
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Ah, the sweet smell of desperation...
SHAYNE WARD - THE PERFECT VALENTINE DATE. Hmm. Perhaps that "major arena" tour was a little over-optimistic after all?Do you fancy a hot date this Valentine’s Day? Well spend the big day with your loved one and Tuesday 13th February with Shayne Ward. If you’ve not got your tickets yet there’s still chance to spend a night with last year’s X Factor winner at Nottingham Arena. Having turned down the chance to review Shayne's Nottingham show this evening (the interview was quite enough, and we've decided to see Dreamgirls instead; even more Gay Points), I have instead sub-contracted the assignment to Chig, who will be hot-footing it over from Birmingham this evening, notebook and pencil in hand. (The relief from my editor was palpable.) As usual, K and I won't be celebrating Valentine's Day, because a) we don't do slushy, b) it only distracts attention from my birthday on the 17th, and c) it's a bag of bollocks, as this lethally accurate post from last week's Post of the Week shortlist illustrates. Alternatively, maybe I'll send him one of Meg's Anti-Valentine cards instead. It wouldn't be the first time... While we're on the subject of Post of the Week: although the project is going every bit as well as I had hoped, we could still do with a few more volunteers. To this end, we have introduced a new category of volunteer: the Permanent Judge. The duties of a Permanent Judge are dead simple, and not in the least bit time-consuming. Once every four to six weeks, you'll be asked to read the shortlist - which contains between six and twelve of the week's best posts - and to e-mail the names of your favourite five posts, in order of preference. You'll have from Saturday lunchtimes to Sunday nights to do this. I can't imagine it taking any longer than 30 minutes at most, and you'll get to read some damn good stuff into the bargain. If you're interested, then please e-mail me. What do you think of Post of the Week, anyway? I'd be interested to hear your opinions, criticisms, suggestions, whatever... Labels: linkage, love, postoftheweek
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Thursday, January 25, 2007
Things that I am enjoying more than blogging.
1. Writing lengthy e-mails defending the manifold virtues of Lionel Richie's All Night Long (All Night), (my second favourite single of all time), with particular reference to West Berlin in late 1983. I am enjoying this more than blogging, becuase I can be as detailed and rambling as I damn well please, without worrying whether my words are "good enough", or of sufficiently general interest, for Troubled Diva.
Here's the bulk of it, slightly re-jigged. Engage at your peril. ...when it came out, I was living outside the UK for the first time, and was immediately struck by the sheer internationalism of West Berlin, with its three occupying armies (UK, US, France), its foreign students (at the Freie Universität where I was “studying”, yeah right), and its sense that just about everyone was a temporarily nesting visitor from somewhere else. 2. Getting back in the gig-reviewing saddle. I am enjoying this more than blogging because the sheer urgency of the task precludes any dithering, and because the exercise forces me to be economic with language, and because I am forced to abandon the first person... because, hey, it's not all about ME for once. My radio dial constantly flicked between the German language Berlin stations, AFN, BFBS and the BBC World Service, all broadcasting on FM. I was following the UK Top 40 (Paul Burnett on the World Service, who was to sniffily say when excluding Relax: “We really don’t think it’s suitable” – exact quote!), the US Top 40 (Casey Kasem in full stats-geek flow on Sunday afternoons), the German Top 75 (Laidback, Trans-X, Boytronic, Nena, a bunch of cod-sci-fi jokers called Deutsch-Österreiche Feingefühl (!) at #1, the final sputterings of Neue Deutsche Welle), the Billboard soul chart (which had its own show on AFN), the Billboard dance chart (detailed rundowns on an incredible Berlin dance show on Saturday nights called Studio 89 – there’s a tribute website to this day – electro megamixes direct from NYC radio, Double Dee & Steinski’s Payoff Mix, the works)... and then there was Pop Over Europe on BFBS, which tracked the Top 10s in half a dozen other European countries, most of whom seemed to be buying Gazebo’s I Like Chopin in vast quantities... ...and, for a couple of months that Autumn, All Night Long (All Night) was everywhere, riding high on all of the above charts and radio shows, blaring out of every shop and café down the Ku-Damm, shunned only by the regulation-black hipster bars in Kreuzberg. You got the clear sense that this was a truly international hit – that moment of total shared access, as someone once put it – and as a piece of musical internationalism, it worked superbly well. I don’t hear a “watered down” version of anybody – I hear a blended fusion of varying styles, all mushed together into a beige (pace Julie Burchill) soul-pop stew, served with the kind of lavish mega-production that had worked so well on Thriller. I love the teasing dynamic, building up and exploding into joy with those glorious, exultant brass runs and stabs towards the end. It feels like a travelogue. It feels like the whole planet is either partaking in its construction, or getting on down to it, from America to Africa to Asia, one nation under a groove, a glimpse of Utopia. But, yeah, naff old Lionel Richie with his jacket sleeves rolled up, darling of the suburban barbecue set... If I’d been elsewhere, then maybe I’d have responded differently, but you can’t divorce pop from its subjective associations, and mine were wonderful ones. Since it hasn't gone up on their website, and because I like to park these things for posterity, here's the review which ended up in yesterday's Nottingham Evening Post. (And yes, now I know that "Love Hurts" didn't originate with Gram Parsons, but I didn't know it then.) Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy – Rock City, Tuesday January 23. 3. Interviewing THE STARS!!! for the self-same organ; an experience which might well have peaked yesterday with the double whammy of Shayne Ward and Joan Baez. God, but the temptation to swap their questions was almost irresistable.Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, aka Will Oldham, is an infrequent visitor to these shores. Indeed, this is only his third UK tour in eleven years. Although some later dates will be performed solo, we were treated to a full backing band, who fleshed out Oldham’s sparse and mournful alt-country stylings with a surprisingly muscular, rock-based sound. Oldham cut an arrestingly singular figure, with a demeanour that combined the whiskered wooliness of Bob Harris, the brooding solemnity of Clement Freud, and the gangling eccentricity of a Victorian gentleman explorer – all topped by an immense, protruding forehead that looked ready to explode from the rest of him. Opening with a sprightly cover of Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again, Oldham turned in an epic two-hour set, peaking at around the 40 minute mark with a spellbinding rendition of John Martyn’s John The Baptist. At this point, it seemed he could do no wrong. Unfortunately, the momentum proved impossible to sustain – particularly when support singer Dawn McCarthy joined him to perform some awkward, ragged duets from his most recent album. For the encore, the rapidly tiring audience were rewarded with a stunningly intense New Partner and a good-natured lurch though Gram Parsons’ Love Hurts. "So, Shayne Ward: is there room in 2007 for a civil rights movement?" "So, Joan Baez: can we expect to hear more of a Justin Timberlake influence in your new material?" As a comparative study between Ancien Régime and Tin Pan Alley Nouveau, you couldn't have hoped for two more starkly contrasting examples. While Shayne Ward - affable if a tad over-defensive, and clearly media-trained to within an inch of his life - parrotted the sort of stock answers which I could have written myself, Joan Baez - bright, articulate, thoughtful, committed, occasionally funny and entirely her own woman - gave a dream of an interview, which left me in a state of dazed euphoria for most of the rest of the evening. I'd say "living goddess" - but you know how we queens can over-pedestalise our divas. I am enjoying this more than blogging because it's a new challenge, forcing me to acquire new skills and learn on the job - and because, at heart, I'm such an easily impressed little star-f**ker. Hey, know thyself. (And speaking of self-knowledge: I've never heard myself "in conversation" before, and it's proving painful to listen. Christ, do I always sound like Marvin the Paranoid Android?) 4. Keeping a close paternal eye on Post of the Week. I am enjoying this more than blogging because, once again, it's not all about me me me. And because I find that I have enjoyed the experience of micro-managing a new creative project. And because it's fun to collaborate; something which I don't often get the chance to do, in either my professional or in my blogging lives. And because I'm delighted that the sometimes complex design concepts behind POTW have been represented in such a deceptively simple way. And because I genuinely think this has the potential to contribute something useful and worthwhile. 5. Keeping a close paternal eye on my referral stats, as Troubled Diva rapidly approaches its one millionth page view, probably at some time over the weekend. I am enjoying this more than blogging because, somehow, stats speak to me in a way that words never can (and let's face it: compared with the arid deserts that many of my comments boxes have become, stats are sometimes all I have). One million! What a beautiful number that is! Labels: ego, eveningpost, gigs, meta, popmusic, postoftheweek
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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Post of the Week is ready, and open, and waiting for YOU.
THE MISSION. Finally, and almost a year after the idea was first mooted, Post of the Week is ready for public display. I bet you never thought you'd live to see the day, did you?1. To highlight great writing on personal blogs. 2. To draw attention to blogs that you might not have heard of before. 3. To point you to one absolute guaranteed humdinger of a blog post, once a week, every week. Absolutely everyone everywhere is heartily recommended to do any or all of the following: 1. Nominate cracking good blog posts for inclusion, via the comments box in the "Call for nominations" section. 2. Volunteer their services as a guest judge, for one weekend only. 3. Publicise the site on their own blogs. Pimp it, kids. Pimp it HARD.    Boundless thanks to Gordon, Lionel, Lyle, Nick and patita for all their efforts behind the scenes, and congratulations to The Overnight Editor for writing this week's inaugural featured post. This is all very exciting. Good luck, Post of the Week! May you live long and prosper! Labels: blogs, postoftheweek
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Post of the Week – editorial team needed.
Remember “Post of the Week” – a feature that ran on this site in late 2005 and early 2006?
Remember all those grand plans we had about launching it under its own domain? Remember how all those grand plans came to nought, as Real Life got in the way and the momentum fizzled out? Shame, wasn’t it? Well, all is not lost. Following a renewed burst of activity behind the scenes, we’re ready to test the site out with a couple of low-key trial runs. But first, we need to assemble an editorial team. Rather than pester the dozen or so people who volunteered last year – as circumstances and levels of enthusiasm might have changed since then – I’d like to issue a fresh shout-out. If you’d like to be a member of the Post of the Week editorial team, then please e-mail me (mikejla @ btinternet dot com), or leave a message in the comments box. Ideally we’re looking for a team of around 10 to 12 people, whose responsibilities will be as follows. 1. Shortlist selection. Once every 10 to 12 weeks, you (and you alone) will need to sift through all of that week’s nominated posts, and assemble a shortlist of no more than 12 posts. Nominations close on Friday nights (UK time), and you will need to have the shortlist ready by Saturday lunchtime. (That sounds like a tight deadline, but you will probably have been keeping an eye on the nominations all the way through the week, as they come through on the site.) 2. Judging. Once every 5 or 6 weeks, as part of a team of three (two members plus one guest, drawn from the readership), you will read through the shortlist and vote for your five favourites, in order. You will have from Saturday lunchtime until Sunday evening to do this. Your individual votes will not be made public. So there’s not a huge amount of work, but you will need to be available at weekends. There’s one further catch: to avoid charges of nepotism, members of the editorial team will be exempt from having any of their posts nominated, whether they are “on duty” that week or not. For further reference, here’s the “About” page on the site proper. As soon as we get a team assembled, we’ll start with the trial runs – the sooner the better. Ooh, I’m getting quite excited about this already... Labels: community, postoftheweek
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Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Open Mike #6 - Question 7.
patita asks: Any interest in ressurecting postoftheweek.com?
Now, that takes me back. Remember the lively discussion we all had about this in February? Volunteer judges made themselves known, a working party was set up, a site design was implemented... and then... in early May, it all ran out of steam. Mainly because, for my part, Real Life got in the way, big time. However, now that Real Life is basically back on an even keel, it would be good to pick up where we left off, and to get the site properly launched. To this end, I have just put out a call to re-convene the working party. If all goes well, then I'll be re-recruiting volunteer judges in the near future - and I'll be contacting last February's volunteers, to see if they're still keen. It could be a whole heap of fun - it could be a disasterous flop - but unless we give it a bash, we'll never know, will we? Labels: postoftheweek, questions
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ADULT., battant alison moyet amp fiddler amy winehouse, mr. hudson & the library ...and you will know us by the trail of dead andy williams the automatic, mumm-ra barry adamson the beat, neville staple beyoncé black kids, team waterpolo black mountain bonnie "prince" billy boy george breeders british sea power, make model bucks fizz, brotherhood of man buena vista social club bugz in the attic cardiacs cocorosie david essex delays diana ross donny osmond duffy duke special dv8 physical theatre erasure euros childs evan dando fallout trust, computerman the feeling feist fionn regan foals from the jam (may 2007) from the jam (dec 2007) the futureheads gary numan: replicas tour get cape. wear cape. fly. girls aloud glasvegas the gossip greg dulli & the twilight singers guillemots, joan as police woman hard-fi, the rumble strips here and now tour 2008 hidden cameras hope of the states i'm from barcelona imogen heap joe lean & the jing jang jong john barrowman journey south juana molina ken dodd laura veirs liza minnelli lorna luft los campesinos! low manu chao maria mckee the musical box: selling england... nouvelle vague, gabriella cilmi nuru kane & bayefall gnawa the orb the osmonds palladium pam ann piney gir pink prince public enemy puppini sisters rachel unthank & the winterset the rascals richmond fontaine rihanna rodrigo y gabriela (2006) rodrigo y gabriela (2007) ryan adams & the cardinals scissor sisters secret machines seth lakeman the sugababes system 7 twilight sad the verve, reverend & the makers victorian english gentlemens club, das wanderlust westlife the x factor live yazoo young knives, ungdomskulen slate magazine: america, meet the eurovision song contest ali farka touré: savane athlete: beyond the neighbourhood brett anderson: brett anderson british sea power: do you like rock music? bucks fizz: the very best of datsuns: smoke & mirrors defected presents: charles webster duke special: songs from the deep forest erasure: light at the end of the world george michael: twenty five golden afrique vol.3 hard-fi: once upon a time in the west hidden cameras: awoo kevin ayers: the unfairground lady sovereign: public warning lcd soundsystem: sound of silver marc almond: stardom road mountain goats: get lonely mr. hudson & the library: a tale of two cities queer noises 1961-1978: from the closet to the charts rufus wainwright: does judy at carnegie hall rufus wainwright: does judy! judy! judy! 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(chk chk chk) air basement jaxx, audio bullys bay city rollers the bellrays, the d4 beth orton, ed harcourt bob dylan brian wilson broadcast bryan ferry butterflies of love, tompaulin calexico chicks on speed daevid allen damo suzuki's network datsuns, polyphonic spree, interpol, thrills david bowie doves, the coral duran duran, goldfrapp flaming lips franz ferdinand, von bondies, the rapture, funeral for a friend franz ferdinand, fiery furnaces hidden cameras (2004) jon spencer blues explosion kevin ayers kylie minogue lemon jelly madonna (2001) madonna (2006) the magic band, wreckless eric manitoba, four tet mariza mark gardener mudhoney the music neil diamond oasis omara portuondo patti smith pet shop boys prince: o2 arena & aftershow richard ashcroft robert newman, mark thomas rolling stones scissor sisters, atomizer, readers wifes, synthetic pleasures scissor sisters (the social) scissor sisters, syntax, david wrench scissor sisters, phoenix smokey robinson sons & daughters, vincent vincent & the villains, ralfe band sophie ellis bextor the streets, blackalicious summer sundae festival (2007) the thrills tindersticks ulrich schnauss white stripes yes (magnification) yes (full circle) yeah yeah yeahs return to sidebar menu we eurovisioned...
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trodicast #3 trodicast #2 trodicast #1 notts dialect: a gay guide boutique shag: squint squint squint alphabetical: short story (context) 25 lines: lyrics quiz return to sidebar menu we snapped...
1990-92: the social linchpin years anglesey abbey: winter garden banyan tree: phuket barbara hepworth: sculptures civil partnership: 2006 cottage garden (pdmg#1): 2003 cottage garden (pdmg#1): 2005 blurb cottage garden (pdmg#1): 2005 pics cottage garden (pdmg#1): 2007 manifold valley: easter stroll mike's 40th party: 2002 nottingham guest team: george's 2004 stiles: of the white peak thrill: to my tulips trevor hall: jimmy's 70th birthday bash vietnam pics: 2002 virtual tour: cottage virtual tour: nottingham virtual tour: blurb xmas greetings: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 return to sidebar menu we guested...
big blogger 2005: festival of blog "last to be picked" champions league fancy dress (and ill-advised drag) my greatest pride... ... and my greatest shame a tale for the little ones * irrational fears & how to overcome them the seven ages of mike seven deadly sins of blogging where are they now? * seven stonkers & seven honkers seven reasons why i don't want a dog (* warning: contains in-jokes) feeling listless: review 2005: if it moves, rank it guild of ghostwriters (hand-drawn): When I Was A Little Boy... The Professionals Introvert (all three in one place) leftlion magazine: gay up me duck my boyfriend is a twat: troubled twat, or my boyfriend is a diva popping out for meat neil's wild years: 1993: doya do do do doya 1994: away with the fairies 1995: things they'll never see sashinka: introduction finger food hosting company from hell enforced jollity capsule review: blondie fun facts about toilet paper dry your eyes, mate ah, barcelona swisstoni's place: earworms of the week the art of noise: in the dock: the eurovision song contest 5x5 the naked novel (a collaborative work of modern fiction): chapter 3 tranniefesto ("collaborative dialogue"): conversations of an email variety uborka: channel 4 script editors eat your neighbour recipes of yesteryear YAHNET acronyms online enagement party: (1) (2) a song from under the floorboards chapter 8: pandora's inbox (start here) wherever you are ("consequences"): sorry, did that spoil it for everybody? return to sidebar menu we hosted...
· Anna, D, Faustus, Mr.D, Noodle · Lyle, Mr.D, qB, Robin · Aunt Cyn, John, Mac, Quarsan · Buni, Fiona, Mark, Melodrama, Zena · Asta, Danny, Gordon, Martin, Venus · best of guest month · Alan, Ben, Buni, Mish, Nixon (1) (2) (3) · blogging consequences: 26 guest posts we played...
stylistic tic eradication week: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 the shirt off my back project: start · finish the let's get more comments than wil wheaton project: the diary · the comments diva rhyming slang: problem · solution partners & weblogs: poll · result who's the w@nker: 1 · 2 · results songs you have to hear: a reader-compiled mix cd the "can't be arsed to find my own links" competition start · shortlist · result the I Love Music 1000 UK Number Ones Poll: final results introducing a new acronym: CBATG: can't be arsed to Google meme aid: the bloggers' disco · mix tracklists write like a diva: intro 1 · intro 2 · april 1st hissy fit · contestant 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · votes · results readership survey: questions · results #1 · #2 · #3 · #4 · #5 · #6 · #7 · "most typical reader" contest · results civil partnership caption competition: photo · entries trodicast caption competition: photo · entries · results the my boyfriend is a twat virtual book tour: mr & mrs: zoe versus quarsan return to sidebar menu 1 The Au Pairs (66-68) 2 The Step-stepfather (94-96) 3 The Simulated Wank (85) 4 The Toy Store (80) 5 The First Single (71) 6 The Queeny Put-Down (99) 7 The First Hissy Fit (64) 8 The First Gay Club (82) 9 The Rent Boy (88) 10 The Heterosexual Phase (74) 11 The Lifestyle Switch (00) 12 The Empty Floor (87) 13 The First Poem (67) 14 The Amsterdam Weekend (91) 15 The First Time (79) 16 The Perfect Moment (94) 17 The Year In Berlin (83-84) 18 The Trade Years (94-98) 19 The First Memory (64) 20 The Anniversary Party (95) 21 The Incompetencies (62-02) 22 The Pricking Of The Bubble (73) 23 The Club Residencies (87-89) 24 The "Tales of the City" House (93) 25 The Musical Epiphany (76) 26 The Worst Thing I Ever Did To Anyone (86) 27 The Royal Procession (72) 28 The Parental Disclosure (89-90) 29 The Concept Albums (75-78) 30 The Romantic Obsession (75-78) 31 The Failure (81) 32 The Apotheosis of Queer (97) 33 The Shove From Above (93) 34 The Interrogation (78) 35 The Professional Rut (89-96) 36 The Rebirthday (79) 37 The First Boyfriend (83) 38 The "Catharsis Of Joy" (94) 39 The Funeral Address (99) 40 The Falling In Love (85) + The Summary, In Verse (by Anna) return to sidebar menu powered by Blogger
It's all © Mike, thank you very much. I don't mind if you nick the odd paragraph; credit me and link back, and we can still be friends. But no funny business, OK? I know lots of people, and we'll all laugh and point at you, and then you'll feel, ooh, that high. Snarl. Please note that all spam comments will be deleted, even the ones that pretend to be nice.
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