Originally Posted by Trollheart

Urban, I don't mean to retrospectively earn a spot in the "Biggest Drama Whore" category for your nominations, but I feel I have to defend my journal.

Your comment about every journal being "long-winded album reviews" or short one-liners with youtubes is hardly applicable in my case. Actually, the first is certainly applicable (guilty!) and maybe the second but NOT ONLY those! I go to immense lengths to do different and interesting things in my journal, of which the below are only a few, and I am always looking for new slants and ideas to keep readers interested. There can be nothing as boring as album review after album review for some people, which is why I try to keep it fresh and new.

"More than words" --- an essay on a song whose lyrics I really like or rate, and a bit about the songwriter.

"Secret life of the album cover" --- where I dissect an album sleeve and talk about its art as related to the album

"Gone solo in the game" --- looking at the solo career of an artiste who has left their band

"Eurovision Hell" --- Poking fun at the Eurovision Song Contest

"Stranger in a strange land" --- Where I try to broaden my musical tastes or appreciation of genres I know little of. Last year was boybands, this year coming, perhaps, jazz...

"The Meat Grinder" --- In which I select a random metal band and talk about them, looking at their work and advising what I think of them

These are only a very few small examples of the ways in which I have tried to stand out from the crowd and be different, do something original with my journal and not take the path of least resistance. And it must be working, with almost 80,000 views --- the most I can see any journal having to date --- and my journal being voted for here several times as Journal of the Year, for which I thank those who voted.

But it's not just me, in case you or anyone else thinks this is a "look at me!" post. It's not. Unknown Soldier has put trojan work into his journal, Mankycaant, although he has only just started, already has a journal shaping up to be one to watch, and of course Janszoon's journals, no matter what they are, are always interesting and innovative, especially "25 albums..."

So how you can say no-one is being original in what they write in their journal is beyond me. I think credit where credit is due; we're all working hard to make our journals interesting and fun to read, and comments like yours, while possibly made offhand, don't help.

Originally Posted by Urban Hatemonger ?

I think you're taking my comments way out of context.

I didn't say everything was bad, I said I don't think anybody stood out. And I stand by that.
You are right, Unknown Soldier's journal is very interesting and I hope he continues it.

But do I think it stands head & shoulders above what yourself or Janzsoon or anybody else is doing? Not really, which is why I didn't vote for it. You may notice that I did give Unknown Soldier credit for posting a lot more these days elsewhere in the awards and a part of that was him doing what he is currently doing with his journal.

Most people pick a formula and stick to it, which is fine but personally that style of writing doesn't really do a lot for me. I voted Pedestian's journal as the best one. Go take a look at. It's not about just one thing, you never know what or how she's going to write next. That's the sort of thing I'd like to see more of which is why I said I hoped to see more originality in peoples writing. It would be nice if people mixed things up a bit.

I don't want to pick apart your journal because I know you work your ass off on that thing. I know you have a wide range of subjects you write about, but when it comes down to it they can all be pretty much narrowed down to you talking about the music you've heard. Which is fine but it's only a small part of it.

Here's a challenge for you, write a journal piece called My First Gig. Tell us about the first gig you went to, tell us who you saw, why you chose to see that band before any other bands, the circumstances of you going, where was it, what did you do before the gig, what did you do after the gig, who did you go with, what happened to those people, do you still see them.......

That's just one example of mixing things up and not just writing about one thing out of possibly thousands, and that's the type of thing I'd be more likely to enjoy and give credit for.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

I appreciate your reply, and as I said I wasn't just pushing my own journal, but a general catch-all complaint/comment like "some more originality, people" is I feel overall very demeaning if not insulting to all the hard work people put in on their journals. It's not easy as of course you know: I think your own (when you update it) is also very good, but your contention that "it's all about music" is a bit odd, as this is Music Banter and these are journals which most people would expect to be based around music.

I mean, I could very easily write something about my cats, or aircraft spotting, or science-fiction, but I don't really think that would have too much in the way of interest to people here, who mostly come here for music. And have you actually read my "Stranger in a strange land" feature? It's more like a mini-novel/travelogue, certainly not just album reviews. AND on a genre I intensely dislike, too. It's difficult to shake things up and be a little different, which is what I try to do as much as I can --- even adding the "Series Link" section, which is in no way related to music, just TV I watch, though I suppose you could say it's still media-based --- to keep things interesting. It may not be your thing, and that's fine, but I still think your comment was missplaced and yeah, pretty insulting, though it probably wasn't meant as such: I know you don't really give a **** about journals, which is why I would have preferred you said nothing, but then that's your opinion, this is mine. I feel people just get credit for their work, is all.

As for your challenge? Meh, I'm 50 next year and my memory is not great (what was your name again, sonny?) so I couldn't even remember what my first gig was --- maybe Rory Gallagher or Mama's Boys at the SFX in Dublin, though it could as easily have been Marillion there --- I know you will probably say everyone remembers their first gig, but I don't. Might even have been Barry Manilow or Richard Clayderman or Elkie Brooks, three gigs I treated my mam to. My memory is not great, and besides that, my memory is not great. This isn't too bad until you factor in the fact that my memory is not great, and then ... what was I talking about? I forget...

Anyway, if you're bothered, I DID write an account of a gig I went to, one of my icons at the time (and still), with the whole leadup and everything, which you can find here http://www.trollheart.com/dubangi.html if you so wish (sorry for the rather harsh colour scheme...) At the time I wrote as Lestat, in case you're wondering, before the movie got everyone and his brother calling themselves that and I had to change it.

Oh, and thanks for recognising how much work I put into my journal, as I'm sure everyone else does in theirs. It's not easy, but it is fun and it's something I very much enjoy. Not everyone will like it, but then, that's how things are and I wouldn't expect that. As long as someone enjoys it and reads it, I'll keep writing. So no sneaky delaying of my updates!