Blogging: What's The Point?

So, it was with a little sadness that I read the final post of little.yellow.different where he says his is putting his blog on indefinite hiatus. I have always loved Ernie's blog as a frank, open and often wrily amusing take on life as a gay Chinese American web programmer with divorced repressed parents and a schizophrenic sister. Some people's lives really are like soap operas, but not eveyone can capture their experiences so lucidly, or so wittily, in the written form.

Anyway, whatever Ernie's motivations, he offers up his twitter and tumblr feeds as an alternative. This Pink Insider has not yet tried out twitter or tumblr, but cannot see the virtue in blogging when one has only 140 words to use, much less 140 characters. The immediacy which comes with twitter, and the brevity of the medium, means that long, well-thought out cogitations no life the universe and everything are really not likely to be found there.

I read that blogs are dying an early death, and the number of active private blogs has dwindled into insignificance. The major succesful ones have all been commercialized. At the end of the day perhaps it appears that it is money which keeps people writing. But I'd like to imagine that is is perhaps something less materialistic.

This blog started out as a wrapper for "my pink bits", just so they would be google searchable if people needed to find them. At the same time it served as a way of increasing the Pink Singers' web presence. But that was at the start. Over time this Pink Insider has grown rather attached to the sporadic updates on the In The Pink(ies) blog, and hopes that you, readers, find it interesting too.

So don't worry, this is one blog which is not likely to go all twitter any time soon!

A Countdown Of Blogs: On The Seventh Day

We did not rest! The tension and excitement really is building, and instead of a relaxing Saturday a couple of Pinkies have created a fitting conclusion to the Pink Singers MySpace Blog-A-Day challenge. Yes, it is another double bill and Liang and Philip have both written about what they're looking forward to in this concert.

Philip says:

[P]eople say what is the difference between a homosexual choir and a heterosexual choir and I always reply well, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a heterosexual choir.

Witty as ever! And there is Liang's quote:

[T]he girls were putting the finishing touches to Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend.The girls moves were so good I wish we could join in!

It is still not too late to come along and watch both Equivox and the Pink Singers wow you with our performances. Get your tickets on the door tonight! It is only £12, £10 concessions!

A Countdown Of Blogs: Sixpack

We're all hunkering down with less than 24 hours to go before the performance, and it is Joey's turn to exercise his creative talents over on the Blog-A-Day challenge over on the Pink Singers MySpace page. It is the sixth, and final entry before the concert, and definitely not one to miss. Andrew describes Joey's entry as original, I'd describe it as very Julie Andrews!

Here's a snippet (sung to the tune of My Favourite Things from the Sound of Music).

Big dykes with small fems
And butch boyz with kittens
Basses who tease me
And tell me their smitten
Mladen, who leads us,
He's SO hot, and sings!
They are a few of my favourite things...

Makes you want to go climb ev'ry mountain...

On-line ticket sales are now closed, but you can still get yours on the door. Remember, we're on at 7.30pm at the Royal Academy of Music, Marylebone Road, London NW1 5HT. Hope to see you at our concert tonight!

A Countdown Of Blogs: The Famous Five

Or should that really be six? The Blog-A-Day challenge continues after posts from Andrew, Jo C, Hsien and Jenny, this time with dual posts from Kate and Amy. Both are new this season, and both are really enjoying being with the Pinkies. It can't be easy, especially with all the new choreography, five songs in Latin and two songs in French to learn, but they have been coping admirably.

Here's what Amy said:

I'm a little concerned that I'll wobble over whilst doing the moves to Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend and ABBA in stilettos but I guess that will just be more entertaining for the audience!

And here's a bit from Kate:

I like being a Pinkie because it really is a wonderful community. Even though I'm relatively new to it, everyone has been so welcoming and helped out with learning tricky lyrics and those dreaded dance moves.

It will be a fun evening, so give the n00bs your support. Get your tickets now. OMG, it's tomorrow!

A Countdown Of Blogs: Vier

It's day 4 of the Blog-A-Day challenge over on the Pink Singers' MySpace page. This time It is Jenny's turn to talk about our dress rehearsal on Sunday: getting dressed in all our finery, getting on stage and then getting to the pub afterwards!

She concludes:

Mladen has a difficult task in choosing repertoire which is broad enough to keep everyone interested. He sometimes says, with cheerful exasperation, that he can never please us all. It's a difficult balance to strike and we probably do need to start exploring some new avenues. Importantly, the focus is always on how we can keep both ourselves and our audience interested, entertained and challenged. A really good choir – and I'm proud to say that the Pink Singers are – achieves this balance.

Come along and hear how we've struck that balance this season - we have as much fun singing as you will have hearing us. The concert is just two days away, so get your tickets now!

A Coundown Of Blogs: Ménage à Trois

In a burst of self-reference, the third of the Pink Singers official Blog-A-Day Challenge is up. Hsien is looking forward to the concert, and here's why he thinks you should be too:

Every season I think our singing gets better, the harmonies are tighter and the choreography slicker.

What are you waiting for? The Pinkies winter concert is at 7.30pm this Saturday the 19th of January 2008, so get your tickets now.

A Countdown Of Blogs: Part Deux

Well, it looks like Jo has succumbed to the loquacious convincing of our webmasters and written the second blog post in the Blog-A-Day challenge in the run up to our concert.

I just had to quote this little snippet from her:

The tickets are cheap for a fun night's entertainment, the drinks are cheap and the venue is warm, what more could anyone ask for?

Hahahaha! So true! And it will be a superb night out. The Pinkies winter concert is at 7.30pm on Saturday the 19th of January 2008, so get your tickets now.

A Countdown Of Blogs: Premiere

Last season, Andrew, one of the webmasters, decided to do a blog post a day on the run up to the concert. This year, he has invited a 'select' (basically anyone who can be cajoled into doing it - I know about these things!) number of Pinkies to chronicle the run up to our winter performance on the official Pink Singers blog, found on our MySpace page. And, doing the noble thing, he has kicked it off with a post he himself wrote. Here'a a snippet:

Singing with the Pinkies reminds of a jigsaw puzzle, it might take time to put it together, but the end result is always amazing and worth all the effort.

Whether you are coming to the concert or not, and of course I hope you are, it is a great window into the what makes Pinkies tick, and what it takes to put together a performance like we do!

You Have A What?!

Yes, In The Pink(ies) now has a favicon! "What the hell is that?" I hear you ask. Well, it is that little logo which appears in the address bar or the tabs of your web browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 - I'm not sure whether Internet Explorer 6 does this), and acts as a visual reminder of the site you are on. They are especially handy if, like me, you have a huge list of bookmarks because you can see by glancing at the bookmark's favicon where the particular one you are looking for is.

So, the next time you visit, or check up your bookmarks (you do have this site bookmarked, don't you?), be sure to take note of the Pink Insider peeping at you from the top of the page!

Two Favourite Gay Blogs

I am not really someone who read much gay stuff on line, particularly blogs (oh irony of ironies!) since most bloggers tend to be navel gazers. However, there are a couple of blogs which I do read on a semi-regular basis, and even one which I subscribe to the RSS for.

Little Yellow Different
The first is the original on-line diary of an American Chinese guy called Ernie, living in California and originally working for Yahoo! Like most of us, he has gotten lost, he has parents who (still) don't get him, and a sister with problems. However, despite all these trials, Ernie still manages to write with a delicate and sympathetic wit. Strongly recommended.

Jockohomo
I read loads of tech blogs on line and have almost given up entirely trying to read published magazines since the information that comes out is almost invariably out of date. Well, Jockohomo is the on-line equivalent of Attitude, that is loads of fluff, a few interesting editorial pieces, but an easy to read collection of gay and lesbian (but mainly gay) stuff from around the world.

Hey, this week they are linking to a site called 'Screened Out' about gay and lesbian representation in cinema. Really good stuff!

P.S. If you were wondering the picture is of Rex Harrison and Richard Burton playing hairstylists in 'Staircase' (1969)

Southside story: a Southwark Hunt

Rumour has it that the treasure hunt has been organised primarily to search for a certain missing Pinkie. This prominent Pinkie was last seen perched atop a wobbly chair at the back of the Tenor section during a sunday rehearsal. This writer fears that in his zeal to grab just one more sound and/or video clip to cram into his ever bulging pink bits, the teetering Tenor accidentally fell out through the open window and was carried away by a passing pigeon.

His long absence from these pages can surely have no other explanation?

Pink Insider - where are you?

Welcome New Bloggers

This is just a quick post to say that we have multiplied. Yes indeedy, like the musketeers, there are now three mysterious Pink Insiders! See whether you can spot the different posts and writing styles of the new In The Pink(ies) bloggers.

Pikachu - I Choose You!

I do wonder sometimes whether I have a touch of Asperger's. When I was a kid I was obsessed with Star Wars figurines, and with much cajoling and whining, and a very generous aunt, managed to collect nearly the whole set. Then again, perhaps it is simply human nature to seek completeness - witness the success of Pokémon which tells kids, not so subtly, that they "gotta catch 'em all!".

I now have a new hobby though - instead of R2D2s or Pikachus I am collecting Pink Singers. So, if you know of any Pinkies, new, old, current or dormant, who have a blog/ website/ MySpace then please send the link my way. It always surprises me when people turn out to have lives outside of choir, and it is great to have that little window into them. Also, if you're a Pinkie and run a commercial website, hell, I'd be interested in that too! Who knows, this little blog might be able to send a little business in your direction.

Have a look at what I've already picked up in Pinkie Friends in the right hand column.