Thursday, February 22, 2007
Thursday bloghop #5
1. Stepped off at present simple. Sporting two rather attractive blackbirds atop the banner, one seemingly pecking curiously at the other, it's written by "Badaunt" (bad aunt?) who says she's "from NZ, and now live[s] in Japan, teaching English to reluctant university students". Her tale today of visiting a Japanese hospital and learning about breast cysts. Like many of us, she decided to leave well enough alone, adding that "anyway, I'm thinking that if I grow these things big enough maybe one day I'll end up with cleavage!" Good luck with that. (I had horrible bronchitis one year and the doctor assured me I'd end up with a nice sexy gravelly voice. Ha.) Her tales of New Zealand and her ruminations on it, and on many other things, as well as her photos, make for a good visit. Besides, I have to love anyone who manages to write about doilies interestingly and ends up saying "I adored my grandma".
2. After trying three links that were dead, very old and dead, I hit on Letters from the Editter, described as "self-indulgent opinion pieces. Also an expat - logical, since birds of a feather probably do hang out together - Editter is in New Zealand where, one assumes, she is an editor plays riffs on her job. The header photo is a charming pile of big colorful letters, reminding me of the banquet in The Phantom Tollbooth when they eat their words. The photo tour of South Island is absolutely stunning and makes me want to buy a plane ticket right this second (except that it's one of ttcgitw's birthdays Saturday). Not sure if I like the sea photos or the four-leggeds better, though. She covers a wide range of observations, almost all of them hard to leave.
3. Next to petite anglaise, written by - you guessed it - another woman in Paris. Her story is startling (casual blog writer > fired for writing on her blog > front page story in U.K. newspaper) and her attractive blog definitely drew me in. Since one of her favorite books (she spells it 'favourite', of course) is by Enid Blyton, and since she lives in the center of Paris, I figured it had to be fun at least. Actually, it turns out to be terrifically written and another one of those blogs where you start reading and find yourself paging through lots of days' reports. I particularly like her dissertation on writing.
4. Thence to Le Blagueur à Paris, mostly because I like the name (a joker in Paris) whether or not one thinks it's oxymoronish. There are many amusing raconteur-like posts, all worth perusing. One is brought up rather short by a post about whether her blog's name should be feminine (la blagueuse) or masculine, as it is now, but be warned that there is a startling photo - one might even say it borders on pornographic - but it turns out that it's a Courbet and is in the Musée d'Orsay, so be offended if you want but accept that it's not what it seems at first. And it certainly gets a reader's attention. As do the food pictures (yum!) and comments about delicious things like galette de rois.
5. Final stop for today is The Paris Blog (hey, might as well make geography the common thread, right?). A "blog with Gaul" (get it?!), it's visually attractive (ecru background, simple graphics) and includes a sidebar with apartments to rent by the week or month, so this one has to be tagged, that's for sure. Turns out this blog is a group blog about life in Paris, written in English, and with more than two dozen contributors most of who are expats although a few apparently are French. Laurie is the blog's editor and she's doing a terrific job if my excitement means anything. It's been written up in the Wall St. Journal, This French Life, and even posted on about.com. The photos of various people and places, and the snippets of thoughts make it a grand guignol though without anything horrible happening. In particular, check out the post on ghost metro stations or the one on a new film about Edith Piaf or the hilarious short piece on nasalness in speaking French and English.
So that's our trip for today. It was very European and I'm dizzy from the quick rides, but it was fun. See you next week!
2. After trying three links that were dead, very old and dead, I hit on Letters from the Editter, described as "self-indulgent opinion pieces. Also an expat - logical, since birds of a feather probably do hang out together - Editter is in New Zealand where, one assumes, she is an editor plays riffs on her job. The header photo is a charming pile of big colorful letters, reminding me of the banquet in The Phantom Tollbooth when they eat their words. The photo tour of South Island is absolutely stunning and makes me want to buy a plane ticket right this second (except that it's one of ttcgitw's birthdays Saturday). Not sure if I like the sea photos or the four-leggeds better, though. She covers a wide range of observations, almost all of them hard to leave.
3. Next to petite anglaise, written by - you guessed it - another woman in Paris. Her story is startling (casual blog writer > fired for writing on her blog > front page story in U.K. newspaper) and her attractive blog definitely drew me in. Since one of her favorite books (she spells it 'favourite', of course) is by Enid Blyton, and since she lives in the center of Paris, I figured it had to be fun at least. Actually, it turns out to be terrifically written and another one of those blogs where you start reading and find yourself paging through lots of days' reports. I particularly like her dissertation on writing.
4. Thence to Le Blagueur à Paris, mostly because I like the name (a joker in Paris) whether or not one thinks it's oxymoronish. There are many amusing raconteur-like posts, all worth perusing. One is brought up rather short by a post about whether her blog's name should be feminine (la blagueuse) or masculine, as it is now, but be warned that there is a startling photo - one might even say it borders on pornographic - but it turns out that it's a Courbet and is in the Musée d'Orsay, so be offended if you want but accept that it's not what it seems at first. And it certainly gets a reader's attention. As do the food pictures (yum!) and comments about delicious things like galette de rois.
5. Final stop for today is The Paris Blog (hey, might as well make geography the common thread, right?). A "blog with Gaul" (get it?!), it's visually attractive (ecru background, simple graphics) and includes a sidebar with apartments to rent by the week or month, so this one has to be tagged, that's for sure. Turns out this blog is a group blog about life in Paris, written in English, and with more than two dozen contributors most of who are expats although a few apparently are French. Laurie is the blog's editor and she's doing a terrific job if my excitement means anything. It's been written up in the Wall St. Journal, This French Life, and even posted on about.com. The photos of various people and places, and the snippets of thoughts make it a grand guignol though without anything horrible happening. In particular, check out the post on ghost metro stations or the one on a new film about Edith Piaf or the hilarious short piece on nasalness in speaking French and English.
So that's our trip for today. It was very European and I'm dizzy from the quick rides, but it was fun. See you next week!
Labels: blogs (others'), france, places, reflections
Nice to hear I'm not the only one to leave the cysts alone. Some of my friends think I'm being a bit strange.
Incidentally, the birds are jungle crows. Japanese cities are infested with them, and they're huge. I think the one on the left was a 'baby' - it wanted to be fed.
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