Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The best blogs in the world ever

Part 1

I landed in the blogosphere about 6 months ago. I had been aware of its existence before then but always thought that bloggers were all geeks with a boring life. As tends to be a trend in my life I didn't land with a big bang or any great fanfare, I just crept in and lurked around for a good while to get a feel for things. I decided I rather liked what I saw so I hung around, lurked a bit more and became a firm follower of certain blogs, particularly those with a Sri Lankan theme.

Eventually I started to write my own one. I could always close or delete it if things went pear shaped. With hindsight I am not sure what I thought might have gone wrong. I had no pre conceived notions about readership levels and no real expectations of it, so I suppose I was always going to win. The only thing I decided at the start was that it would always be positive, not a vehicle for me to slag off people or events.

It has been, and will continue to be, a huge learning experience. It has changed the way I look at many things and I continually catch myself thinking "I must blog about that".

So, either my geeks and boring life theory was wrong, or I am a geek with a boring life.

I have been mesmerised by the quality of writing in some blogs and totally underwhelmed by the crap that some people will write (and read) about. I have also made some new friends and met some interesting people.

These are just some of my favourite blogs. They are the ones I read most regularly and are all great for a variety of different reasons.

Electra - http://electra.blogsome.com

I discovered this one very early in my "reading blogs" career. The author is a 20 something (or maybe younger) ladette who lives in Colombo and I mean ladette in the nicest possible way. As many do she blogs about her life and the trials and tribulations of her experiences. The difference with this blog is that Electra has the rare ability to portray her deepest thoughts and feelings in a way that doesn't sound pretentious.

Ian - http://the1trucoolguy.blogspot.com

A Canadian business / management student with Sri Lankan origins, currently studying in Sweden. He blogs about his learning experiences and his travels. I love trying to figure out exactly what he is talking about in his more academic posts and I usually fail.
I laugh aloud at his humour.

His post about driving incidents in Sri Lanka is the funniest post I have ever seen http://the1truecoolguy.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_the1truecoolguy_archive.html

A blog that displays many writing styles and themes and well worth a peek. It's an honest blog, he publishes his name and is very open about everything, from his family to his career. I like that aspect of it.

Dominic Sansoni - http://dominicsansoni.blogspot.com

The photoblog of one of my favourite photographers. His work always shows stunning use of colour and light. I would be happy to take one photograph as spectacular as the many he has on this blog. I have spent many years taking photographs in Sri Lanka and can appreciate the effort and time Dominic must put in to taking his wonderful landscapes. I would love to spend a day with him "in the field" just to learn a bit about his craft.

Lady Luck speaks - http://lankandoc.blogspot.com

S, the writer, has a similar background to me, a Londoner with Sri Lankan origins. She also has a keen interest in music and often writes about music related stuff, which is nice. She is a medical student and therefore far more intelligent than me.
Her writing style is sharp, witty and full of anecdotal observations on life. Her descriptive writing makes me wish i'd paid more attention in English lessons at school.


Hot Chocolate - http://hotchocolate.blogsome.com

Written by a Sri Lankan student at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She writes about her day to day experiences and discoveries. I find her writing style very easy to read and it's interesting to accompany her as explores and investigates the UK and its idiosyncrasies. She seems like a good egg.


Have a look, check 'em out, see if you like them too. My apologies if you're one of the above and I've made any incorrect assumptions about you. Thanks for making me smile!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow, i'm so flattered.

your blog is honestly quite great. there are few blogs i read regularly, and to be honest, there's some blogs i just don't read, almost by principle. you can count on me to be right-clicking on your link if you've got something up on kottu.

at the end of the day, the main purpose of my blog is for me to able to vent, but i'd do this in a diary if people didn't read, and like, what i write. it's always humbling when someone enjoys my blog.

keep bloggin'!

Rhythmic Diaspora said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Rhythmic Diaspora said...

Electra - Damn! There was me thinking you were a left clicking type of girl.

Ian Selvarajah said...

Hey, thanks a lot for the kind words, I've had a rough couple of days...it's nice to hear things like this from "strangers".

All the best and keep up the good work! :)

BTW, an easier link to the Driving in SL is this one:
http://the1truecoolguy.blogspot.com/2006/04/driving-in-sri-lanka.html ;)

Anonymous said...

wow!! I honestly dont know what to say....I was just scrolling down the post and never in my life did I expect to see my rather poorly maintained blog listed there, honestly I'm flattered beyond words.It's people like you, who actually motivate me to keep my blog going..

Thank u :)

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

No really, thanks to all of you!

Hugs all round, and stuff like that!

Dominic Sansoni said...

Thanks so much - that was a real surpise. Could you send me an e-mail to warehouse@barefoot.lk Many thanks, Dominic

G said...

Aww R,

I'm flattered - I always make a point of reading your work too :)

Best of luck with the Bracknell gig - I won't be able to head down, but I'm confident you'll have an amazing time.

Rhythmic Diaspora said...

s - never mind, I'll let you know next time.