 |
| the Buddhoblogosphere is a new webspace, now in development. |
You thought the Buddhoblogosphere was already here, didn't you? Well, at a page at buddhoblogosphere.com, we are told a website called the Buddhoblogosphere will be "a directory of Buddhist blogs, podcasts, community sites and resources from across the Internet and the world," and that it hopes to be "a comprehensive online resource of Buddhism." And it intends to "go live" in August.
The project is the brainchild of Scott A. Mitchell who blogs the buddha is my dj <q.v.> [formerly, buddhaworld] that has been around since 2003, and has a web-design business going, Buddhaworld Design, that looks pretty damn spiffy. I will be eager to see how the Buddhoblogosphere develops. It is already on the Tricycle Editors' Blog's "Who are we reading?" listing [see sidebar on this webpage], so it appears Scott has a big friend or two in the American Buddhist establishment.
7/2/07 UPDATE: Scott is now very specific. He is announcing that his website will 'go live' on August 10. And he has posted a technologically impressive slideshow to give us an idea of what the Buddhoblogosphere will be like.
 |
| A button that appears in Danny's vegetarianism post reads "Eat Beans, not Beings." |
The great Danny Fisher of the eponymous blog fame has been in activist save-the-world mode of late, with posts on the world-aiding benefits of vegetarianism; means to help Darfur -- a fundraiser by the Save Darfur Coalition; a petition to Condoleezza; seeking senate action on a Sudan Divestment bill -- and in cheering on, and providing info re, the Washington Post's effort to further explore returning injured servicemen's experiences at Walter Reed and other VA hospitals.
 |
| The BG's podcasts comprise a growing album of work in my laptop audio library. |
I am dazzled by the quality of the podcasts that Buddhist Geeks have been producing this year. The three-member Geek chorus of Ryan Oelke, Vincent Horn and Gwen Bell had a modestly promising beginning in their initial effort, "Meet the Geeks!" [A takeoff on the Beatles' first album title.] Their subsequent audio podcast work, interviews with prominent Buddhists, has been impressively kind-hearted and professional. Ryan's introductions and closings to each pod are NPR perfect as is the pods' score, written and performed by guest artist Rommel of C5Chaos. Literally, all the podcasts I've heard have been great. I've loved the interviews of Genpo Merzel [#1, #2, #3] [by Gwen], Phil Stanley [#1, #2, #3][by Ryan] and of Vince [#1, #2, #3][by Ryan] Recent pod posts include a terrific first two of three interviews of Brad Warner [#1, #2] by Gwen. And, I must say this: What great voices everybody seems to have. Buddhists not only think great, they sound great, too. The interviews, all, have been taut and fascinating.
 |
| Same frog; different pond. Plop. |
Baskind moved on to other blogging activities, after etherizing his Frog, starting with the now-sleeping Onion-like Big Red Buddha <q.v.> and the eco-advocating more minimal. more minimal morphed into the lithe Lighter Footstep <q.v.>, a very successful green emagazine.
In its new incarnation, Frog will not be about Buddhism generally, Baskind tells us, but will focus on Chris's writing projects, including topics on "content creation, community building, and the technologies which underlie online publishing." Recent articles have been about the Redditt Effect, Apple's new Tiger operating system update and Joomla -- concepts that have not come down to us from Sanskrit scrolls.Blogmandu hopes to feature mostly that which is new or being hotly debated, but some general topics of interest, likely to spark feature-sections this coming Wednesday, or soon thereafter, include "Buddhoblogging Women", "Why are prominent-Buddhists' blogs so wretched?"; "The Benefits of Gratitude Blogging"; "The Dalai Lama in the Buddhoblogosphere."
