Tales from the City, written by a guy who got stuck with a 646 area code while the rest of New York City has the 212 area code, is a real treat to read. The fact the he doesn’t have the “cool” area code didn’t phase me once! 🙂
I started at the very beginning of this weblog, reading each entry, and I really didn’t want to be disturbed while reading it. I found myself very easily reading through post after post, looking forward to whatever it is the author might post about next.
The layout’s a basic layout – the journaling content on one side, and various outside links on the other. Something that jumped out as unique to me, though, were the different phrases the author uses for the comments people can leave after each entry, giving the site a little more of added New York-esque feel to it. If nobody has commented, you see “silence in Manhattan”. With only one comment, you see “One car alarm is going off somewhere”, and once the masses start throwing in their two cents worth to his posts, the particular number of comments left give you the number of “people are waiting with me on the subway platform”.
The different topics the author touches on are on a level of understanding and entertainment that just about anyone can enjoy. Some of the posts I enjoyed the most were the great experiences he’s had meeting absolutely everyone from reality TV stars to being Anne Heche’s assistant at an awards show. And as if his own website wasn’t enough, I can’t tell you how sites he’s linked in various entries that I visited and thoroughly enjoyed what I found there, too.
Know what this site didn’t have? An “About the Author” section. This, however, is one of those rare weblogs that can go without because every day and with every entry you learn more and more about the author, and find out more of how he is and what he is then you ever could in a autobiographical description.
With Tales from the City, I can live vicariously through the author, meeting all of these famous people I know I’d never meet in a million years. That’s what good weblogging is all about, isn’t it?
tales from the city