Spreading the link love

I've been checking out some of my in-bound links, and noting a few blogs that I don't link to very often. Here are some.
  • Bertram on-lineStrapline: news from absolutely nowhere. The nowhere is actually Denmark, and this is a visually appealing blog, with a small but perfectly formed blogroll. Henning Bertram has excellent taste in music (Gil Scott Heron, Sister Rosetta Sharpe, Chico Buarque) and thoroughly decent politics.
  • It's Complicated: On the parallel universe of the Middle East. Read, for example, "Britain's Israel problem" on the legacy of  Britain’s Secret War against France in Syria and Lebanon, 1942-45.
  • BLKGRD: An extremely prolific and slightly bizarre and visually unappealing blog, from an unconventional left-wing perspective. The blogger, Knez of Egoslavia, does personal reflections (this is a good example), big lists of links, and youtubes of eclectic music. He also likes one of my favourite poets, Charles Simic.
  • Backseat Blogger: Somewhat to my right, and purveying a fine line in photos of muscular hunks in swimsuits, unzipped overalls and suchlike. (Strapline: "This blog contains material of an adult nature. Some readers such as, but not limited to, leftoids, prigs, prudes, Liberals, "progressives", homophobes, anti-Semites, religious freaks, the braindead, and other wackos may find this offensive.") Here are some snippets from recent posts: After all, Gaza is such a concentration camp and all that.” “Photos help illustrate the role Japanese diplomat Chiune Sugihara who served as Vice Consul for the Japanese Empire in Lithuania during World War II. He helped several thousand Jews leave the country by issuing transit visas to Jewish refugees so that they could travel to Japan.” “The more things change, the more they stay the same: Zionist Aspirations in Palestine. Note the date.” “A very interesting read: The Jews’ Right To Statehood: A Defense... Shocker: Allah Is a Zionist (The Quranic argument for Jewish sovereignty in the land of Israel)”. Also read this, on the "invention" of antisemitism in Canada.
  • The Spanish Prisoner: Somewhat to my left, and mainly blogging about films. From a recent post on Amiri Baraka: "During the question-and-answer session, Baraka made clear that he takes a conspiracist view of history. He believes the assassinations of John Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy were all conspiracies. I’m not keen on conspiracy theories, because I believe they lead to cynicism rather then activism. Baraka also claimed that the 9/11 attacks were a conspiracy by the U.S. government. He apparently doesn’t realize that if this conspiracy were real, Obama would have to be in on it."
  • UNICEF: I assume this is an unofficial blog about UNICEF. It highlights some of the bad shit going down in the world, and UNICEF's efforts to alleviate that. For instance: "One year after the devastating January 12 earthquake shook their fragile lives, Haiti’s 4 million children continue to suffer from inequitable access to basic water, sanitation, healthcare, and education services and protection from disease, exploitation, and unsanitary conditions... Today, more than 1 million people – approximately 380,000 of whom are children – still live in crowded camps." Or: "They look like toys, but they are lethal. Landmines and unexploded ordnances are a plague for children in Yemen. This year at least 12 children have died in accidents caused by landmines and unexploded ordnances (UXO)s, and almost 20 have suffered serious injuries."
  • Labour 2: This is, as it says on the tin, all the Labour blogosphere in one place. 
  • Poor Bastard Marvin: Hates Islamism, and hates the way the liberal media report it.
  • 21st century fix: Says: "I'm a Labour Party member, love the Internet, have worked as a volunteer on OpenOffice.org, am a trained editor, speak Spanish fluently and wish I could speak Croatian."
  • Mind Trumpet doesn't link to me. He used to be Citizen Sane, who did. This post on Chavez is enjoyable.
  • Political Anxiety Closet: A far left blogger with the irritating habit of not using clickable hyperlinks in the posts.

Comments

BDR said…
"An extremely prolific and slightly bizarre and visually unappealing blog, from an unconventional left-wing perspective." Heh, I agree with any three of four of those at any given time.

Thanks for the bump.
Richard S. said…
Hello, Bob, I was thinking of sending you a direct e-mail, but since, like me, you seem to have an e-mail address that's hard to find if on the blog at all, I thought I'd comment here, since you are talking about your blogroll, etc....

I see that you are still linked to my two blogs, so I hope you're aware of the changes that have taken place.

For one thing, I've wiped out and revamped Never Got Used To It. I may have lost readers in the process, but I was weary of what it had become, so I decided to redo it some months ago (or is that years ago? :) ). (And by the way, you linked to something of mine in an old post about CounterPunch - which post of yours you have just referred to again, causing people to hit my blog when they trace back the conversation - but that thing of mine that you link to unfortunately is no longer is available.)

Then there is another blog, called Dances on the Footpath, though you have it listed as Rough In Here (OK, I guess, since the URL still says that). I now spend a lot more time on that blog (getting many more readers too), but I am not sure if it has any relevance to anything you do here or are interested in, since it is now almost entirely devoted to my love of 1940s-'50s Indian/Bollywood movies (and some Pakistani movies too), and especially, the related music and dance. Some socialist politics sneak in (quite appropriate for the subject, actually), but I don't think it's the music blog that it was when you linked to it, and it hasn't been for years.

I don't know if I ever listed BobFromBrockley in my former music, now Indian film blog, but I certainly can't do it now, because all of the blogs in my blogroll there are relevant to the subject :)... But I still am listing your blog on Never Got Used To It, and thanks to alphabetization, it's sitting right above CounterPunch!

If you haven't seen my blogs in a while, you might want to reconsider your links to them now (or not)...
JM said…
Gah, I took one look at backseat blogger and as a person quite supportive of Palestinian rights, it got my hackles up. No offense to the author, but...
Harry said…
http://qlipoth.blogspot.com/2011/01/fffffffffff.html

I just came across this one it seems very interesting.
bob said…
Richard, Have been meaning to update my Rough in Here link for a while - I do look at it and enjoy the music. Haven't visited Never Got Used to it in a while, and am glad to see you have given it a new lease of life. I'll be checking in more often.

Harry, thanks very much for that - very much of interest.
kellie said…
BDR, that line, "from whom I withhold my darkest aargh," yes indeed.
bob said…
PS BDR, I love today's Lhasa de Sela
BDR said…
Thanks Kellie, and thanks again Bob, but I can't take credit for Lhasa de Sela, who I was unfamiliar with until she was recommended to me by Jack Crow, whose blog I highly recommend.
Mil said…
Thanks for the link love. Much appreciated. I'm generally categorised as a clarifier which I suppose is a polite way of saying a pedant.

Potentially useful when I know what I'm talking about. Which isn't always.

:-)

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