Webworlds

Bloc: dip your toes in the inky waters

Bloc

The potential of creative writing sites on the web is only sporadically fulfilled. Many of them suffer from a lack of sustained interest, and more still from a lack of quality writing.

Among the more successful are those allied to university writing departments, where commitment and quality should both be present by the bucketload. That trend is reinforced by this accomplished site from postgraduates at University College Falmouth.

Bloc is an attractive resource that abides by the web’s golden rule for writers: respect space as highly as words. The front page is stylish and inviting, and the current issue features a competition kicked off by Green Wing sketch writer James Henry, who also gives an entertaining interview about scriptwriting for TV.

Henry’s interview turns out to be just one of the latest additions to the About Writing section, which includes an impressive repository of articles about the process of writing. Featured authors include Lynn Truss, John le Carre and Phillip Pullman, and the subject matter stretches beyond the obvious to video games, the not-for-profit sector and copywriting for TV adverts.

Allied with a digest of writing competitions, national news and other literary snippets, this is a handy resource for anyone interested in dipping their toes into the inky waters.

In fact, the only major disappointment is the New Writing section itself. Many of the short stories are riddled with clichés, and some with obvious spelling mistakes, for which there can be no real excuse. If this reflects a lack of decent submissions then this is a shame – the site as a whole deserves better.

Rate My Professors

“His class was like milk, it was good for 2 weeks.”

“Your pillow will need a pillow.”

“He will destroy you like an academic ninja.”

Fragile teaching egos, look away now. This is the notorious US site that is causing a major ruckus in HE across the pond.

The above quotations are flagged as some of the funniest comments posted on the site, but the humour here is probably dependent on your point of view. Few would argue with the opportunity to post some delicately put constructive criticism of their teachers. Whether rating them on their ‘hotness’ can be justified is quite another matter.

Courageously sweeping aside the sappy notion that ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, one enterprising curmudgeon has retaliated with Rate Your Students.

In comparison with the brash, advert-heavy student site that inspired it, this blog is a modest affair – but for eloquence and consistency of spite, it wins hands down.

Top marks for entertainment. Zero for karma. 

Last.fm: a ‘social music revolution’?

Heralding itself bashfully as ‘The Social Music Revolution’, Last.fm is neither communism with guitars, nor an invitation to huddle around your DAB radio with strangers. It is, no less, a brilliant and completely logical manifestation of the way the internet is reshaping our relationship with music.

Punch in an artist or genre you want to hear and this creates a playlist around it. Not one devised by marketing professionals in a smoky backroom either – an astounding one, based on the recommendations of thousands of other proactive listeners.

Whether you choose melodic death metal, opera or alt.country – or some spectacular hybrid – there’s a superb stream of music awaiting you. As well as album tracks, you get odd remixes and live versions. Don’t like a track? Just skip over it, and your computerised DJ notes not to play it again.

There’s the occasional glitch: on some custom stations tracks and artists repeat too frequently, and on my (admittedly ancient) PC the stream stutters if you try doing too much else. But in theory this resource will get better the more people use it, and, along with MySpace, eMusic and others, should lastingly transform the way that music is disseminated. Quality, at last, speaks louder than the marketing.

Okay, fair enough. It is a revolution.