William Smythe often writes about a rival Minneapolis blogger,
Girl Friday, and his distaste for her style. I don't know if Girl Friday is aware William Smythe's blog exists, but he often gives her some ink (or bytes), expressing his disgust with what he considers her vapid subject matter, the shallow length of her posts, and her loose morality. In the meantime Girl Friday appears to have some sort of celebrity around the Twin Cities, enough that radio stations invite her to judge their contests.
I've found
a blog to hate on, too, and I invite you to join me. This guy isn't from my city (there are writers around here I could hate on, but do I need to make any more enemies?), but the fact he draws as many as 20 comments per post is enough to irk me anyway. I'm not going to mention his blog by name because I don't need him landing here after a Google search and finding someone he's never met is bashing his blog. However...well, let's just look at why he may be drawing so many readers:
- His photo: If that photo is really him, he looks like a Tommy Hillfiger model. Perhaps not coincidentally a lot of his readership is female.
- No reality: Absurdly high gas prices, terrorism and the presidential race never appear in this guy's world. He writes a lot of stuff around his puppy -- very light, female-friendly material. Other posts are dissertations on what it means to be a native New Yorker, or lifestyle aspects of New York vs. Miami. That's another thing I think scores him readers...
- Happening places: This guy's life happens between New York City and Miami, two of the most expensive, trendy places in the world. Glamorous locales are inherently interesting, whereas those of us in "flyover country," well...
- Affluence: I'm not sure if this guy's rich, but words like "yacht" and "merlot" make it into his paragraphs frequently. He once mentioned that his girlfriend said some department store called Talbott's was "where the poor people go." His readers said if his girlfriend thought that store was for the poor, she must be a rich bitch. Maybe so. In an earlier post he mentioned that a college acquaintance offered him a year assignment writing reviews for a wine magazine, and another college pal directed the Tony Awards. He has written of his fear of blue-collar workers, which annoyed me, seeing as how my dad was a blue-collar worker and at least at this point, so am I. But anyways, people are drawn to wealthy people.
He also does some writing for
Esquire so, okay, I guess the guy must have some flair. So as much as it grates on me that he enjoys a foaming-at-the-mouth audience that hangs on his every utterance, I think we can all learn something from him. Do we really think high gas prices, terrorism and the presidential race will change because of our writing? Does it have to be so heavy all the time? What about escapism? Also, perhaps we should consider our potential audience's psychology and write to that instead of babbling about our own interests; a "psychographic" I've heard it called.
Bah, that's a bunch of hassle. Let's just hate!
The Bloggers Choice Awards
"Hey, Art, didn't I see something on here Friday about you entering a blog competition? Where did that go?"
Yes, I had nominated myself in four different categories for a
Blogger's Choice award. However the next day I tried the site and found it was gone! As of this writing, Sunday, it's still missing. I guess the rush of people eagerly throwing their vote my way crashed their servers.
My apologies to the Blogger's Choice Award people, and I hope this won't dissuade you from giving me a trophy.
The reason Dan has people who read his posts (not all women, by the way) is because he is FUNNY. He has a unique way of looking at situations that is just plain funny. There are already enough people bitching about all that is wrong and humorless in the world. Sometimes, a little humor is a good thing - even if he doesn't look like you...
Hey, how do you know how I look? I'm twice the stud that guy is! I just choose not to flaunt my leading man looks and shame the rest of you.
The trouble with the guy? He has absolutely nothing to friggin say! And he gets a chubby from the sound of his own voice / keyboard, and possibly Ryan Seacrest, which is too tragic to mention (back to masturbation).
Kimba
That counts for talent in the Twin Cities. Count me out.