Brooklyn Blogfest 2009 Recap

I went to the Brooklyn Blogfest last night. They had a panel "why we blog" and then you were supposed to go and sort of network with blogs "of your feather", something I failed at miserably, not really knowing what my "niche" is? Am I a "place blog"? a "photography blog" a "social activist" blog? "humor and pop culture" blog? The 16 year old rebel girl in me that still hasn't left my body doesn't like to be classified so I sort sauntered around and eavesdropped. The "parenting" blog group was huge as was the "pop culture & humor" group. The "decorating and craft" (or something to that effect) blog group looked like very earnest bunch. It was hilarious to see the guy from Gothamist who played devil's advocate while on the panel "why we blog" with a big group around him while he gave advise on how to make money off your blog. I love Gothamist and I understand his need to just say stuff to piss some people off at this blogfest. He said something to the effect that there are enough Brooklyn neighborhood blogs and if you want to really get something going (meaning $ mostly) you should band together. Dude that's just you! Don't you know a lot of bloggers are solitary animals living in their own world? Anyway as slightly annoying as he was, he said some things that had to be said to create some controversy.

Kudos to Adrian Kinloch, the Brit in Brooklyn for curating a fab presentation of the work of Brooklyn photo bloggers, so much great work out there! And thanks for including F.I.B!

There were giveaways at the blogfest and I am really enjoying my free sample packets of Jolt energy gum! I skipped the coffee this morning and just had this instead. Each piece equals the amount of caffeine in one cup of coffee. I'm up to 4 pieces this morning so if my typing seems jittery and I am going off on tangents this is the reason. It's good to know that for every pack I buy in the future I will be supporting our troops. I'm wondering if this is the stuff that keeps them going in Iraq and Afghanistan?

A sculpture in the waters of Galapagos, you can's see it but there is an upside down wine glass dangling over the legs, the dives I go to usually do not feature such high art!

The after party was at Galapagos. I had never been in the new space before and it's pretty cool but the acoustics were pretty bad, I really couldn't hear any of the shout outs (when the bloggers get up and announce their blogs) which is why I think most people did not seem to participate. I did fortunately heard correctly when MY number was called during the raffle for the camera. This was like a dream come true, I have been camera-less for the last few months and have been using my sister's camera until I had the extra cash (which never seems to happen) to get a new one, so this was a gift from the blog gods! Thank you!!! I had actually visualized that i already won it before the drawing and it actually worked! I wanted that camera BAD!

One thing that was noticeably different at this blogfest was the proliferation of politicos and their assistants infiltrating the whacky world of the bloggers. Kind of a downer, particularly if it's anti-superfunder David Yassky but please do check out a politician with some sense New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery's blog when it comes out. I'm going to get all social activist blog on you and let you know that she is someone in Albany that supports the E.P.A cleaning of the Gowanus Canal. And speaking of the Gowanus Canal, I just heard that President Obama is reading Netherland by Joseph O'Neill where someone dies in the canal, I wonder if that helped with the canal nomination? Ok I just went from BlogFest to Creative Visualization to SuperFunding to Obama, blame the tangents on the Jolt folks!