Showing posts with label Local Blogs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Blogs. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

Farwell to Each Note Secure

Local music blog Each Note Secure is calling it quits after ten years. I say thanks to all of the writers, but give a big shout out to Joe Long. Thanks to you Joe for adding much to Cincinnati's music and blog scene. I hope you continue to contribute to both in some capacity in the future.

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Is the Cincinnati Beacon Finally Dead?

If you head to the Cincinnati Beacon website (www.cincinnatibeacon.com) one finds nothing of the old website and instead a graphic for IIS7 (an "internet information services" entity) shows up.  I guess the Beacon is finally dead.

Political blogging is not an easy thing, no matter how many may think what I do is easy (or just drivel.) This blog has been rather un-prolific as of late.  I'm never going to return to daily blogging, but I plan on keeping this 11 going on 12 year endeavor going.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Square v. Park, Terms Matter

Terminoligy is important to all societies. To the urban Cincinnti community we need to get a couple of things straight. When we say "The Square," we mean Foutain Square. When we say Park, here's the rub: we have a ton of parks. When I say Park, I am going to mean Washington Park. I don't mean to detract from Smale Park at the Banks, but in reference, I will refer to it as the Banks or the New Riverfront Park. That differs from Sawyer Point, or Yeatman's Cove. Washington Park I believe will be the premier event park in the city, so let's just cut to the chase and refer to it as "The Park."

I say this because people need to stop calling Washington Park "Washington Square" or worse yet "Wahington Square Park" when they remember the difference mid-conversation. We need to remember, words matter. I don't want my friends waiting for me at the foot of the Fountian when OTR Jake Speed are paying tonight.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Ten Years Of The Cincinnati Blog: A Damn Long Time

Ten years ago today, I posted my first blog entry here at the Cincinnati Blog. This wasn't my first blog, nor was it my first foray into web publishing, but this blog has become part of my identity.

I've been thinking for some time what I would write about on my tenth anniversary.  I thought of writing a retrospective of my best blog posts over the years.  I even looked back through many of my old posts.  I was surprised how harsh I was.  I was also surprised how independent I was in the beginning.  I would criticize leftist Greg Flannery almost as much as I would mock Conservative Peter Bronson.  I looked at some of my posts during the Iraq War.  I looked at the varied political races I followed.  It was a strange experience.  I like looking at  history and I found it fascinating to read about the past.  I didn't find it worth a blog post.  Current events are.....current.  My blog posts from the past doesn't hold up unless they can relate to the present.  Most of the time they can't.

Instead of looking back on what I wrote, I thought more about myself.  Call me an ego-maniac, but for me in my life the timing of this anniversary could not be more poignant. I turned 40 years old this year.  This is in part funny to some long time readers, who always called me a kid.  I used to chaff at that.  Now I welcome any youthful mentions I can get.  Blogging throughout my 30's was an amazing experience.  It gave me the chance to voice my views to a connected audience.  This blog never had an audience on the scale of the Enquirer or any other professional news outlet, but I was proud that it was read by people who were involved.  I was able to make an impact on the city.  People would sometimes actually read and respond to what I wrote.  A few minds were changed.  Not many, but a few.  For a guy doing this on the side while holding down a full time job, that's not bad.

What kept creeping into my mind most when I was thinking of my ten year anniversary was where I go next.  I seriously considered quitting.  I thought about writing a pithy post and signing off.  I'm not going to do that.  This blog will not see a 20 year anniversary, but it will not end today.  It is too much part of who I am.  I am changing, however, and writing about politics and the media don't put the fire in my belly as much as they used too.  Part of the reason is that I am getting older.  The other reason, honestly, is that the City is doing so much better than is was in 2002.  At that point we were lost in the wilderness.  We have come a long way in ten years.  I am proud of this city and while there are still many issues to write about, they don't fall of the tree like they used to do.

I will press on blogging.  It will be about like it has been this year, a little sparser.  If I get a bee in my bonnet, I may suddenly spew a swarm of posts.  If there is a battle to wage, I will suit up my armor and charge out there without looking back.  I have recognized that blogging today, as opposed to ten years earlier, is more about longer form ideas, not about posting a few sentences and a link to the latest news story. Social media (Facebook and Twitter) are doing what I used to do on this blog, just shorter.  You can get the latest links to news stories 100 times faster in your social media feeds than you can on blog.  Most don't recall that blogs were doing that and that's really how they started.  That's the only way you can do it day after day, link to someone else's longer posts.

I hope to be more thoughtful.  I no longer can post on the breaking news story.  I am reading it in my Twitter  feed at the same time 80% of my audience is reading it in their Twitter feed.  Maybe my Twitter feed will light up more.  I don't know.  I like have options, however.  I like having the chance to grow.

Evolution as a writer is not the sign of getting old, it is sign of getting a little bit wiser.  The wise man knows when to change.  In my personal life, I really hate change.  In my writing, I'm getting better at changing.  I can see how I have changed.  It just takes time.  I am getting better at letting myself change a little faster these days.  This blog will eventually end, but not before I take it to new places.  Stay tuned and find out where I go.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Check Out Some Great Aerial Photos of Cincinnati

Check out some great aerial photographs of Cincinnati, including Downtown, the Rverfront, and Kings Island, from QueenCityDiscovery.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Around the Blogs Recently: Things you Might Have Missed

CinAwesome! may have found the cultural incubator that keeps producing douchebags.

Carrie Bradshaw is full of shit stirs up the dating world with a summary of a recent two date night that came up empty.

McCoy on Movies has a take on Ann Hathaway's new movie One Day.  Editor's note: I, for the record, find Hathaway hot, but maybe not this movie, so much.

Monday, June 06, 2011

Enquirer Starts 'Breaking News' Blog

The Cincinnati Enquirer started a blog: This Just IN: Breaking News from the Tri-State on Friday. It appears to be mostly a quick news feed of selected eye catching stories with little more than initial reports and no analysis. I don't see this is as a blog at all, just a repackaging of the stories that appear on the front page.

What makes blogs different is that they can provide a voice and space. First, they lend themselves to commentary, as mine does. That is sorely missing at the Enquirer overall and is not present so far in this new blog endeavor. Second, blogs do well with long form feature stories. They give more space that can't fit into the newspapers and can utilize multimedia more effectively.

The one plus I do see in this blog is that so far the blog content on their website have not fallen into the pay archive. That gives a better online historical reference, but still not a complete one. This doesn't mean that these archives will stay open forever, something that makes this less of a blog.

If this more space for more hard news on Cincinnati.com overall, then that will be another plus. I don't find it has added more, yet. I can be hopeful it does.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Make Cincinnati Weird is Still Really Weird and We Like It

A new team has relaunched the local blog Make Cincinnati Weird. They've put out a new mission statement which reads:
This Blog was created by Gerard Sychay. Recently, a group of Cincinnati weirdos have joined forces to carry on the mission Gerard began. The goal is to document the quirky, offbeat, and… well… weird goodness of Cincinnati. The single guiding principle, is that diversity breeds strength.

Jake Gerth, Kevin Feldman, Rebecca Nebert, Latria Roberts, Josh Laichas, Chris Grunden, Kara Driscoll, and Hannah Gerth have joined forces to embrace Cincinnati’s weirdness and support the road less traveled. Welcome to our journey…
As the most normal person in the entire world, I can't relate to this website in any way, but I applaud their effort to shed some light on Cincinnati and show a side of it that I will never know.

(Yes, I am joking...it really is just a bunch of weirdos)

Monday, February 07, 2011

New Over-the-Rhine Blog

The prolific OTR Twitterer, @OTRcincy, has taken another step in the promotion of Cincinnati's amazing neighborhood Over-the-Rhine by starting a new blog, aptly titled Over-the-Rhine Blog.

Friday, January 07, 2011

A Problem With Mommy Bloggers

When you are holding your "conference" at the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason, then your social and cultural value measures up to a flock of SUVs chasing the ultimate Applebee's.

Friday, November 05, 2010

Cincinnati Unchained Returns November 20th

Local Blog, Buycincy.com, has announced the return of Cincinnati Unchained, an event designed to promote locally run retail outlets as great destinations for shopping for the Holidays.  Look for more details on their website with participating stores.  It all happens on Saturday November 20th.

Monday, October 18, 2010

All Good Things . . .

I'll leave it for you to determine whether my blogging here has been a "good thing." But good, bad, or unnoticed, my blogging here has come to an end.

Beginning November 1, I'll be starting in a new job. For the first time since I started blogging here, I'll have a boss. And while the new boss hasn't told me I have to stop blogging, I've decided that I won't be comfortable blogging about potentially controversial topics any longer.

I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here at the Cincinnati blog since my first post. While someone else may have appropriated the moniker for himself, the real dean of the Cincinnati blogosphere is Brian Griffin. It's been an honor to blog alongside of him since my first post nearly three years ago. I've also enjoyed the many dialogues with the readers of this blog, as well as my interactions--both online and in "real life"--with other Cincinnati bloggers.

This blog is at its best when its readers take the time to engage in thoughtful, respectful discussions with each other about important topics impacting our city. It's at its worst when it devolves into name-calling and flame wars. I hope my posts here have inspired more of the former than the latter.

The end of my blogging doesn't mean the end of me. You'll still be able to find me hanging out downtown. And from time to time, I'm sure my name will pop up in the comments here, setting Griff straight whenever he becomes too dewy-eyed about the Red Hawks.

I offer thanks: to this blog's readers for paying attention to my random thoughts. To the blog's community of commenters for challenging me and, sometimes, educating me. To my fellow bloggers, both here and across Cincinnati, for inspiring me to be a better blogger. And finally, to Brian Griffin, for providing this forum for discussion and reflection about our amazing city.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Is Justin Jeffre a Plagiarist?

Well, if you read The incinnati Man then the evidence is there that Jeffre did plagiarize a book by Ralph Nader. The "Dean" appeared to defend Jeffre on The Cincinnati Man Blog and then the post on the Cincinnati Beacon was updated to include a citation of the original source.

So bottom line: Jeffre ripped a lengthy citation from a book, didn't cite it as a quote, got caught doing it, then added a citation after the fact. That's not good journalism, but I've never considered him much of a journalist.

Monday, September 06, 2010

BC, We Hardly Knew Ye....

I have no problem admitting that the Cincinnati Blog is not the best blog in town. That's not because CityBeat says so or because some other site gets more daily hits. It's because I read most of Cincinnati's blogs (with varying frequency), and I know what's out there.

In my opinion, the award for "Best Blog" in town over the last couple of years should go, hands down, to Building Cincinnati. (And I've said that before.) That's not to put down the quality of the work here or at other political blogs or other niche blogs (be they foodie blogs or diary blogs or sports blogs). But everything that Kevin LeMaster writes at BC is well-sourced, well-analyzed, and well-written. I lack the time (and probably the ability) to do those things as well as he does.

Unfortunately, putting together a blog the caliber of BC takes a lot of time. So much time, in fact, that Kevin can really only do it if he's able to make a living from what BC brings in through its partnership with the Enquirer and advertising. There's only a handful of blogs (none local, so far as I know) that generate this kind of money. So it looks like Kevin will have no choice but to leave the blogosphere and enter the "real world."

The loss of Building Cincinnati is a sad thing for Cincinnati.

Hopefully, Kevin will find another forum to write. Given the strength of his sources and his writing ability, surely someone in the print media must have a spot on staff for him? Cincinnati Business Journal? Cincinnati Magazine? Time for someone to take a chance....

Saturday, September 04, 2010

Training Day

For a few minutes of diversionary delight, go check out Kate the Great's post with embedded clips of Wendy's training videos. These are classic early '90's employment videos, set to music in order to capture the attention of their teenage new hires. The two-minute video on how to serve hot drinks is particularly instructive. Tips on how to pour a cup of coffee include the lyrics:

Gets a lid
Every time.
Wendy's coffee
Tastes so fine.

And from the segment on serving hot tea:

If they want lemon
It's very nice, don't think twice
Give the guests
Their juicy slice.

Awesome!

Friday, August 27, 2010

Miss Print Blogs on her Last Game of the Season

"Miss Print" of the Cincinnati Roller Girls (also known as Lauren Bishop of both the Enquirer and Cincinnati Imports) tells of her last game of the season. (CRG has two games left on the West Coast this weekend.)

Miss Print may have been disappointed with the way the game and her season ended, but I finished reading Lauren's post with the same thought I often have after reading her stuff for either her blog or the paper: Damn, that woman can write.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Food Equals Love

Just a quick post to note the return of Food=Love, a local food blog run by my friend, Kate. It had been dormant for a bit, but Kate is back now, promising a series of posts on finding good, meatless lunches for ten bucks or less.

Check it out.

Monday, May 24, 2010

New Blog From the Enquirer: Opinionati

The Cincinnati Enquirer has a new opinion blog running and call it "Opinionati." The blog seems to be from the Editorial Page Team, but focuses on what blogs and social media commentary is out and about about all sorts of topics. It's attempting to be a bit of a panoptic blog about the hot topics of commentary around the city. Leaving out local Talk radio is a plus, since WLW sucks for valuable opinion, but that leaves out what the extreme right-wingers are talking about.

It's funny how basically there are no local Conservative bloggers who cover mainly local issues and politics. (Beyond activists or candidates of course) Why is that?

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Latest on the Phony Coney

Mr. Maoglone at the Cincinnati Man has latest take in comments on the State of the Phony Coney, a great blog that appears to be gone.