When Haydn asked the question recently on the BarCamp Ireland blog if anybody had any favourite Irish entertainment sites/blogs and I replied, little did I know that he was going to quote me more than once in The Irish Times. I thought it would be just part of a “Conor likes this”, “Mick likes that” “Mary like these” list. Chuffed? Hell I grinned from Bandon to Dublin yesterday.
That has to be one of the best newspaper articles I have read in a long time. Not only was it almost entirely non-Dublin-centric, it talked about exciting things which are still outside the mainstream and reminded me how dull most mainstream media has become. My gut (big as it is) tells me that there is a major opportunity just bubbling under the surface here and I can’t wait to see who grabs it and runs with it.
Swearing Lady deserves a huge readership and I’m thrilled he gave her so much coverage. Haydn called her “arguably the most talented writer at work today in Ireland” and I completely agree. I may be an RSS addict with my 350 feeds but of all of them, her writing is something I actively look forward to every day. I’m sure HarperCollins will be banging down her door soon to add her to their pedigree stable as an understudy to Cecelia ;-)
Haydn himself has a few superb blogs with Mediangler (no not Media Langer) being the main one and I particularly love his new site that he runs with his wife called My Diet Friends. This is a site about diet rather than dieting and if you have any interest in healthy eating and food, it is a must read.
Recently both CNET and Yahoo have launched food sites and I find myself bristling just thinking about them. In both cases I just feel like tech/media companies have spotted another valuable demographic with monetizable eyeballs rather than really giving a damn about food. They are not, as Seth Godin would say, telling authentic stories. Have a look over at what PodChef Neal is doing on YouTube to see how passion and knowledge count for far more than slick design.
I’ll stick with Podchef, My Diet Friends, eGullet, Elise Bauer, Bibliocook and the handful of other sites/blogs run by people who are genuinely passionate about food.
comments powered by Disqus