In The New Issue: The Word on The Web
Posted by Fraser Lewry on 14 August 2008 - 7:14am.
The September issue of The Word hits the stores today, and amongst all the regular features you'll find some of our best writers holding forth on all things internet.
Of course, none of the doubts raised in these pieces apply to The Word's own blog, which is truly a place of high wit, great intellect and rousing (although polite) discussion.
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Eek! Proles at large
I’ve never read Mark Hooper’s “arts blog for a broadsheet”. But apparently he writes one. Bully for him. What he seems to be objecting to is that other people are now allowed to waffle on with their opinions about “the arts” too. They can also do their own “investigative research” - same way he does, via google and wiki. Honestly, the Bob Woodward fantasies of journalists who whitter on about films and telly.
Blogging has flattened the hierarchy. And the people who like it least are journalists. They once monopolised the space for delivering opinion; now they don’t. And their presumption that they know more about/ have more interesting opinions about anything from pop music to politics is being exposed.
I’m sure Mark Hooper has some very interesting things to say about Batman or Dad’s Army or whatever it is he writes about but so do lots of other people. Of course lots of stuff writen on blogs is idiotic; but lots of it isn’t. And, in my experience, you can learn as much from “civilians” as you can from journalists - even the ones that work for “broadsheets” and do “well-researched editorial”.
Agreed...
...and I'll just add that word tends to spread about those blogs which are well-written, informative, or particularly entertaining. So the fact that 99% of all blogs are crud is neither here nor there - many of that remaining 1% are the equal of anything being written in magazines and the broadsheets.
I think
His main point isn't that people shouldn't be allowed to comment, but that newspapers are actively encouraging lowest-common-denominator debate in the pursuit of page impressions.
There was an an interesting piece from Charlie Brooker about this kind of thing, where he writes:
If a journalist knows he can pepper his prose with search-engine-friendly phrases and it'll have a lot more impact than a well-written, well-researched piece of 'proper' journalism (whatever that means), then yeah, I can see why Mark Hooper would argue that it's not an altogether healthy situation.
Blogged out? Let the Vicar soothe you ...
It seems that more than a few people have reached the limit of their capacity for the 'blogosphere' (eek!). So could I take this all too obvious opportunity to plug a little light relief in the form of a survey over on www.rockingvicar.com.
The Vicar and his parish are attempting to establish the worst lyrics of all time. There's plenty of choice so every nomination counts. See you there.
Anyone who’s spent more than ten minutes
on a blog can see that some types of post generate more responses than others. What this fellow seems to be bleating about is that newspapers favour ones that get lots of replies (i.e more hits and more ad revenue) rather than his carefully-researched “scoops”. Well diddums. The two aren’t mutually exclusive - that’s the beauty of the endless space that the web affords. Why not write one of his pearls of wisdom and then do “Why I Hate Queen”. We know which one will be ignored. And we know that that is what, between the lines, he is moaning about.
“the stress was on giving the public what they needed, not what they wanted.” And, of course, Mark Hooper knows best. Very Guardian.
My favourite piece...
...this month (which was possibly also enjoyed by people such Britney Spears, Pamela Anderson and David Beckham), was Rob Fitzpatrick's article on Wrathchild. Beautifully rounded off by his heartfelt comments at the end. I wish them well too - and I'd never heard of them. Maybe they'll get a support slot on the Led Zeppelin World Tour 2009.
Edible Panties
I think I'm the same age as Rob Fitzpatrick and seemed to have a similarly misspent youth (in terms of musical taste), so I'm very much enjoying his wanderings through his back pages - more please!
In relation to Wrathchild though I was amazed he didn't mention that this was the band that not only gave away a free pair of edible panties with the first pressing of their (frankly terrible) Stackheel Strut EP, but also offered to eat the aforementioned underwear from any female who dared attend one of their gigs wearing the things.
I've often wondered how that worked out...
All hail the mighty Wrath'!
(Stackheel Strut wasn't that bad...)
Ha!
The man himself. Thanks for the reply Rob.
Wasn't that bad? You clearly were obsessed with them. Wasn't it spectacularly badly produced/mixed? And don't get me started on the levels of musicianship involved. (Obviously I haven't owned it in nearly 20 years now, but I'm sure that's correct)
You should have been into Hanoi Rocks earlier, now they were the business.
Oh Ghost - I loved HR so much...
But then all this other stuff happened that seemed sort of more exciting (and they went off the boil too). And, you're right, the Stutt was pretty bad, but then, Robin George's production on Stakk Attakk wasn't much to write home about either :(
In case anyone needs reminding about these classic records...
Lemmy
Bloody hell!
Lemmy on the front cover of Word magazine! You'll scare the children.
I dread to think how condescending this might be, but will find out by reading a page at a time in the newsagents over the next couple of days.
______________
Mr H writes stuff
You can post things to Zeitgeist, PO Box 13499, Edinburgh EH6 8YL, UK
You can get links to the stuff I write at http://www.stuarthamilton.co.uk
Shome mishtake, shurely?
A smashing new issue as always, ladies and gents.
However, a photo of The Alarm 'in 1885' (p43), 1987 photos of Madge and Jacko 'in 1982' (p45) and
Famke Janssen as Ben Kingley's stepdaughter (she plays his wife) in The Wackness review (p118)?
Has your sub been quaffing the Pimms behind Mr Ellen's back? We must be told!
There's
an apostrophe in Pimm's.
And
I can't spell Kingsley.
It must be contagious.
And...
I didn't spot that you can't spell Kingsley. See how these things happen? Right, best get back to work. Plenty more misspellings and factual errors to overlook as we rush to get the mag out...
the Hanoi Rocks
i joined the fan club , cant remember if i was number 92 or 192, on rec from the guy in kerrang - cant remember the name (please tell me !) . could get the import albums . Now i only have the one cD . still remember driving around st Ives (cnwll) in my mums brown mini playing the tapes and getting burnt by the plastic seats !
that would be dave dickson
kerrang's resident sisters of mercy / Hanoi obsessive
Dickson
He also did one of the most memorable interviews I've ever read, where he took Mercyful Fate frontman King Diamond to task for his supposed satantic beliefs and admiration for Aleister Crowley and Anton LaVey, making him look utterly, utterly silly over the course of a couple of pages. Happy days.
Dave dickson thats the one
thanks chaps ...
and whatever happened to him ?
and i loved the ' sisters ' as well.
Isn't that the same bloke?
Picture of The Alarm today, third from the left. Picture of Stiff Little Fingers today,second from the left.