Each morning, before I start writing, I sit down at the computer with a cup and coffee and start my morning ‘commute’ to work.
Like all commuters I take the same route each morning. I start at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Guardian. I call by The Sun (It’s like my tattered copy of the Metro, the free newspapers London commuters find on the seat beside them.)
Then Swedesplease, a blog about Swedish Music, MP3 Sales, a dodgy Russian site that sells ridiculously cheap MP3s, and Pitchfork Media, an American site dedicated to independent music that I could spend most of the morning in. I guess they’re the equivalent of me listening to my iPod.
Then I swing by a few author sites to see what my colleagues are up to: Charlie Connelly, John Birmingham, Doug Lansky et al. I guess that’s a bit like reading a book.
Finally, I drop by websites belonging to my friends – a quick catch-up in a coffee shop before work begins.
Today I finished up at Marie’s website. Marie’s a mate from the days she passed through Sydney on her big around the world adventure back in 2001. She’s the only one of my friends who blogs on a daily basis.
Her blog is hosted by Blogger who have this neat little ‘Next Blog’ button at the top of their blogs that randomly takes you to one of the gazillion other blogs they host. When I’m feeling a little reluctant to start work I click on it and see where it takes me.
Today I was transported to Spiritual Showers, a blog dedicated to the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, News Vixens, a collection of TV stills taken by the blogger of TV news readers he considers ‘hot’, and, my favourite, F*ck your Trankler Manta.
The guy who runs F*ck your Trankler Manta hates microcars. The site consists of photos of people sticking a finger up at microcars. It’s juvenile and puerile but that’s its appeal.
Apparently the name combines two Austrian words: ‘trankler’ for alcoholics or drunks and ‘manta,’ a poor mans Ferrari produced by Opel in Germany.
Two things impressed me about the site. The multi-tasking skills the contributors showed by taking the photos as they drove along. And the fact that the guy running the site had bothered to register the domain name.
This is where you'll find everything you need to know about me and my books.
The longer I stay here in the world of rent and normal jobs, the harder it becomes to find a topic to blog about on a daily basis. The man giving the finger to microcars might be onto something.
I always think of something interesting to say on my blog while on my way to work. Usually about how infuriating Nicky Campbell on Radio Five Live can be. Then I forget about it during the course of the day. As a result, my blog is, shall we say, sparse – only one posting in several months! Not good at all!
Peter it sounds like you need to get yourself an RSS reader mate! Then all the news comes to you. Google Reader is good.
I got linked to on the Courier Mail yesterday (20 best places to get free music):
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,25642,23155913-5014239,00.html
They sent me a ton of traffic but I was so much more pleased by your mention. Thanks. However, now I feel like I’ve got to try and tighten up my grammar and spelling.
Cheers,
Craig
Hey Simon – I DO have a RSS reader but most of the time I ignore it and just go through my little routine. I guess that makes me a kind of semi-luddite. Someone who embraces the technology that suits him and willfully ignores the rest. No matter how useful and sensible.
Nick – I’m gonna start dropping your blog now to try and get you to smarten up your act. A bit like your mum dropping by unexpectedly and you haven’t done the washing up for a week.
Marie – the thing is, you make the world of rent and normal jobs in JC/NY sound so interesting. I was tempted to rent Roberta’s apartment just so I could get too many plastic spoons.
Craig – thanks for the comment. Your website deserves all the attention it is getting. It’s certainly helped me move beyond Jens Lekman and the Labrador stable. It was nice of you to take the time to respond to my comment.
Hey Peter, I really think you need to add hypem.com to your morning commute. Also I vaguely recall you making a resolution to curtail your mp3 addiction and stop supporting Chechen websites.
One option for the daily electronic commute is to use Firefox and in the bookmarks it has an option to option all the bookmarks in that section in tabs. Hey presto you get all 10 blogs open to read…or whatever freaky-deakey swedish music sites that float your rickety boat.
Uncle Hunty – granted the Firefox option makes sense. But I like to wander the carriages. And, granted, my obsession with Swedish music borders on the freaky-deaky. But then I’m not posting YouTube links to songs featuring naked German men
Kieran – it’s true. I did make that resolution. And largely I stick to it. I guess visiting that sight is like a dieter looking in the window of a cake shop