Show addictions

Hey everyone, it’s blog Thursday.

So this time I thought why not talk about something that we all love to watch though of course we all have different preferences. Some of us are more into comedy, others prefer action and drama and yet others are more into mystery, science fiction and fantasy just like me. There are even those who love soap operas. If you still have no clue what I’m talking about, it’s TV shows.

I have to admit that I myself love TV shows of any kind and currently watch at least 10 different ones, not to mention those which unfortunately no longer air but of which I mostly own DVDs. Sadly, I’m now at a point where I constantly discover new shows I want to watch including some older ones which are no longer produced but I’m rambling on again.

Actually, I wanted to introduce you to one of my new current favorite shows. It’s called The Tomorrow People and has a really amazing storyline. The plot revolves around a new species of human, named the Tomorrow People, who have special powers such as telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation. They are hunted by Ultra, a secret organization that focuses on research in order to eliminate their powers. In my opinion, this show has a lot to offer. Not only there is a lot of action combined with lots of plot twists and a compelling storyline but also really great actors, who are portraying the characters, among them my favorite actress Alexa Vega.

So you guys should really check this new show out, even if you’re normally not into science fiction, give it at least a try. I promise you won’t regret it.

 

Here’s the trailer:

Food blogs

Hey guys :)

Since I was blogging about the characteristics of a successful blog last week, I thought why not talk a little more about blogs. By the way, I’ll try to write a post every once a week considering the fact that the most widely read blogs stick to a fixed schedule. So I’ll introduce you to Blog Thursday (which might be procrastinated to Friday or Saturday if I can’t find the time to write a post).

Well, to start off, this time I’ll be talking about my favorite food blog. There a few good one’s out there on the internet but my favorite one is by far this one which is all about American food: http://www.scoop.it/t/american-food

Not only does this blog give a lot of information about typical American food in general but it also provides links leading to detailed recipes and interesting articles about food-related topics. What makes this website particularly special is that Christine Szalay-Kudra, who is in charge of it, also posts her insights on these chosen topics and in this way clarifies them more or less. In addition, she also adds appealing pictures of the discussed meals and matters together with a very nice and easy-navigable layout.

 
Especially the scoop titled “10 extraordinary homegrown American foods” caught my eye because I was really amazed about all the different influences that establish typical meals in a certain state or region but also make them very hard to find anywhere else across the country.
 
So just check it out for yourself, I’ll highly recommend it and I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you, too.

Characteristics of a successful blog

Since I try to improve my blog and make it more interesting for you guys I thought about all the qualities that are part of a good blog. So here is what I’ve come up with so far:

At first, a noteworthy blog should captivate its readers interest and address them, too. Of course sufficient and correct language is very important as well as a variety of expressions to avoid dull writing but all in all content is even more important. I mean how enjoyable is it to read a post which contains marvelous expressions but basically just rambles on without actually saying anything at all. Obviously these types of writing also have some positive aspects since you can learn quite some useful expressions from them but honestly when I want to get to know more about a certain topic I don’t want to spend hours reading through a text that ends up giving me no sufficient information at all. Do you know what I mean?

Another important aspect about blogging is to write in your own words instead of simply copying and pasting a text from a website to your blog. Not only is it unfair towards the person you take it from and pretend it’s yours but it also becomes clear pretty easily that it’s most likely a different level and or style of English which you wouldn’t write when you’re writing it yourself. For example there is a huge difference between those two extracts:

 

• Keep It Simple. This is where minimalism can be applied to any blog, irrespective of its genre. No need to place superfluous advertisements or widgets all over your site; stick to the basics and remove anything you don’t need, remove anything that doesn’t add value.

• Try to stick to a simple style, this applies to any blog, no matter what type of blog and what topics it tackles. You don’t need to add any advertisement or special widgets to your site. Just try to keep it as basic as possible and get rid off anything unnecessary which doesn’t make your blog more valuable.

The first one is part of a post on http://www.theminimalists.com/blog/ and the second one is my rewritten version. They are quite different, right.

This aspect leads me to my next point: If you find any helpful sites concerning your chosen topic give them the credit they deserve by posting their link at the bottom of your post or wherever it fits best. Same goes for relevant pictures or videos. (They will also make your blog more intriguing ;))

All this talking about topics might make a few of you thinking “but what’s a good topic to post about?”. Well, I kept asking myself that question for quite some time as well until I realized the best topics are those you got experience about or interest in. Not is it only easier to write about something you already know a great deal of information about or eager to learn more about but it will also be (hopefully) more interesting for your readers since you put more work into it and try harder in general.

In case you want to write about something but feel like you don’t have enough knowledge about it do some research beforehand in order to know what you’re talking about.

Keeping all these steps in mind, I will hopefully become a more successful blogger this semester and maybe helped out one or other of you guys.

 

If you need any further advice, check out the link I included above, you can find quite some helpful tips there as well.