Here are 9 blogs that make you feel bigger and better and more alive than ever
Under the Counter has been going since 2009 and now that it’s 2013 it’s probably time for a list of blogs that I check out regularly. By regularly I mean once or twice a week, because I do try to balance online time with offline – as in real life – time, so I can keep on being a human for as long as possible. It’s true that I’m not much of an internet traveler, and would much prefer to spend a morning working in the garden before a long afternoon on the couch with a book and a cup of coffee, probably some chocolate, perhaps with a late addition of wine if I just can’t put the book down. However, there are places online where it’s possible to linger and come away with your brain expanded rather than diminished. So, below is a list of blogs that I currently enjoy. It’s neither definitive nor unchangeable – I thoroughly recommend all those sites listed in UTC’s blogroll to the left – but you may wish to go exploring in the following directions:
- Whispering Gums – an indispensable well of reviews and commentary on Australian and international literature
- Broadside – a New York-based blog written by professional freelance writer Caitlin Kelly; it’s invariably thought-provoking, particularly in terms of US current affairs but also on the trials and tribulations of being a practicing independent scribe
- City of Tongues – a longstanding blog by highly regarded Sydney novelist and reviewer James Bradley, on offer here is a host of links (to James’ work and elsewhere) and glimpses into the writing process/life, plus music recommendations
- Three other writer-blogs that I follow are by Irma Gold, Gabrielle Bryden, and Mark William Jackson
- Headphone Commute – a very professional music blog dispensing reviews, interviews and general information about all things minimalism, electronica and contemporary classical (for want of a better term)
- Bootlegsmade4walking – if you’re interested in mash-up/bootlegs then you can’t go past Phil Retrospector’s blog
- And, just for a bit of good fun, albeit the ever-so-slightly maudlin kind, I visit I’ve Had Dreams Like That, which is simply a collection of odd, cheeky, hilarious vintage photographs (you’ll get a Warning Notification, but that’s only because every so often the images are extra cheeky indeed).
What currently are your favourite blogs?
Under the counter or a flutter in the dovecote 
15 comments
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January 5, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Irma Gold
Aside from Whispering Gums, City of Tongues and your very own Flutter, which are three of my faves, I also love Angela Meyer’s LiteraryMinded, KYD’s Killings and Meanjin’s blog. So much to read, so little time.
p.s. A lovely surprise to spy little old me on your list. Still not sure that I actually feel like a ‘real’ blogger, whatever that means, having stumbled into it via Overland and just kept going in a rather erratic way.
January 6, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Irma, ah yes, so much to read, so little time indeed! Thanks for the reminder about Kill Your Darlings’ Killings – I really need to visit there more often. And you know what? I’m not sure that I feel like a ‘real’ blogger either. I wonder if anyone does?
January 6, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Mark William Jackson
Thanks for the hat tip, Nigel. The feeling is absolutely reciprocated, UTC is a welcome oasis in a desert of . I have been known to float in and out of blogs, including my own which is still suffering under reconstruction while I’m trying to define what a “real blogger” is!
If I was to blow up the internet and save only five sites before I set the explosives, they would be yours, Gabrielle’s, Graham Nunn’s Another Lost Shark, Ashley Capes’ blog and my beloved Verity La. Of course there are a few others that I’m neglecting at the moment, that, when I come to light the Looney Tunes style bomb fuse, would call to me and I would take them too!
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Mark, perhaps your ongoing reconstruction is a part of your site’s attraction? I’m only partly joking.
And thanks for your thoughts on great blogs. I need to spend more time in the direction of Nunn and Capes.
As to you blowing up the internet – will you give us plenty of time so we can stand well back…and then, maybe, just maybe, applaud?
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Mark William Jackson
Nunn / Capes provide anchor points in a sea of insanity! The explosion will be a Hunter S. Thompson style fist explosion, we can all stand around and marvel as bits of data fly past our heads and are absorbed within the infinite space debris.
January 6, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Serena Scarlett
Street Photography blog
http://www.markushartel.com/street-photography/color-street-photography
I create fine art street photographs from scenes that I come across with my Leica camera on a daily basis.
What is street photography? A reflection of every day life – real, unaltered impressions of public places, places that everybody visits every day, the street where you live, the parking lot of your favorite grocery store, the subway. Street photographers document the truth – take candid pictures of things that you don’t notice in your daily grind.(Mark online 2013)
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Serena, thanks very much for pointing me to Mark Ushartel’s blog. Very interesting. And, as you probably know, I do love a great photomedia site.
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Gabrielle Bryden
Why thankyou my dear Nigel 😉 (and Mark – haha – please don’t blow up the internet) – I love so many blogs, especially a couple of art bloggers (Aletha Kuschan and Benedicte Delachanal and Rick Daddario) and Overland blog, Stephen Fry’s blog, Graham Nunn’s poetry blog, Mark’s many blog transformations, Selma Sargent, tipota, Alec Patrics, bluebee, and more …
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Gabe, wonderful suggestions here – I can’t wait to go have a look. Very interesting! And it’s great to see Graham Nunn getting a second mention – some blogs really do hit the mark, don’t they?
January 7, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Mark, I wonder if nun capes would have the same effect? Ah, I’ve been meaning to make that joke for ages. As to your proposed explosion – it sounds completely and utterly divine. And, dare I say it, reasonable.
January 8, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Tristan
Hi Nigel. Big fan of Under the counter here. The only other blogs I stop in regularly at are A la recherche du temps perdu and A Writer’s Ruminations. Run by my good buddies Proustitute and Caitlin respectively, they’re both tumblrs with a high lit bent – check ’em out when you’ve got a few spare moments. Of your list, I’m really liking the look of Bootlegsmade4walking. My music playlist is in dire need of a refresh and this looks like the place to go for exactly that.
January 9, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Tristan, wow, I love your two suggestions, totally amazing. And your own blogs have always deserved greater credit – Lead Igloo was such a breath of fresh air (I actually wrote ‘hair’ there), and your new site looks just as thoughtful. Enjoy Retrospector’s Bootlegs – all his recommendations are totally fantastic. Enjoy.
January 10, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
whisperinggums
Oh wow, thanks Nigel. I feel really chuffed to be included among real writers. I’m sorry I’m late to reply – clearly missed this in my inbox probably because it would have come just as we headed off to Thredbo. I love seeing what other bloggers like to read … I also subscribe to Irma’s and, as I think Irma said above, Angela’s Literary Minded. Also ANZLitLovers, plus a range of other litblogs. And I do check out KYD and Meanjin’s Overland pretty frequently.
The Conversation from the Australian academic/research community is one I recently subscribed to – great for thoughtful political and social commentary. It’s pretty vast though so I dip into it as I find the time … but when I do I’m rarely disappointed.
January 12, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
Nigel Featherstone
Hi Sue, well, it’s a total pleasure to highlight Whispering Gums and blogs like it. And thanks for your suggestions – I’ll get onto those.
I’ve just discovered The Conversation. Isn’t it great that there are these thoughtful, erudite but readable contributions to the debate of key issues. It’s a great site and it deserves all the praise that comes to it – in this regard, I’m rarely disappointed either.
January 12, 2013 at 9:16+00:00Jan
whisperinggums
Yes, I was pointed to The Conversation a couple of months ago by my yoga teacher! I love the variety too of their coverage.