Preston Blog Round Up II

We're so keen on all the Preston blogs we keep finding (don't forget to send us your links) that in advance of the Preston Bloggers Meetup on the 13th May, we've decided to do yet another blogging roundup. This may even be a regular feature.

This post is brought to you by guest contributor Richard Hirst, who blogs in strange style at I Thought I Told You To Wait In The Car and rounds-up in strange style below...

It's time once again for a big meaty roundup of local blogging activity for you Preston wordy types to get your teeth into.

Of all the Preston blogs which focus on the city itself, my personal favourites are the ones which retain an outsider-ish quality. Jonty Nation is a nice example of this: the blog is composed almost entirely from seemingly mundane photographs of things spotted out and about in Preston : soup, washing machines, Dyson Airblade hand-dryers. These are accompanied by short, cryptic passages of text which occasionally lapse stylistically into Raymond Chandler-esque musings. All of which leaves you with a slightly surreal and pleasantly skewed re-imagining of Preston.

In a similar vein is Five Months In Preston which, as far as I can tell, is a pretty ordinary blog. The thing which stands out about it however is that it's entirely in French and, therefore, largely unintelligible to a plebby yokel-brain like mine. It's a fascinating blog though, written (I think) by a French student. Like Jonty Nation, there's pictures of objects which seem very much everyday but, seen through the eyes of an outsider, become oddly intriguing. Similarly, looking at photographs of the usual sights of Preston - the Harris Museum, Avenham Park, even 'The Mall' - becomes a strangely exotic and enchanting experience due to the accompanying French text.

A blog which is very much more at the 'insider' end of the spectrum, is Victoria's Secrets. Written by someone who works at the 53 Degrees music venue, this blog details the concerts which go on there - upcoming gigs, reviews of the bands' performances and the preparation and schmoozing which go on backstage - complete with front-seat photos (or they would be if there were any seats involved).

Sticking with the world of entertainment, Scratch That Actually, alongside day-to-day observations, includes musings on popular music, reviews of new singles and albums, and interviews with American reality tv socialite Kourtney Kardashian and bookish-type-turned-Hollywood-mover Danny Wallace.

Largely unrelated to this insider/outsider theme I'd no doubt so subtley woven into your subconscious with my blog choices, special mention goes to a personal favourite. Chapman's Compendium Of Chatter takes on seemingly disconnected subjects - television, crabs, the correct time of day to eat a 'hot sandwich' - but makes them hang seamlessly together due to its author's acid outrage, lengthy digressions and exquisitely crafted sentences. It's a terrific blog and deserves more visits, so you should all go there and say nice things. Just don't call it 'a diary'.

Keeping a ‘Diary’ reeks of Bridget Jones-esque solitude and desperation, I have no wish whatsoever to keep a record on floral scented paper of the way I’ve wasted my life.

A blog isn’t a story of life, I plan to come and go to blogging. It’s simply a way of venting creativity when you discover you can’t play like Knopfler, draw like Thelwell or act like Dench.