The Rhine River

Maneuvering the Francosphere

Nuno of Rua da Judiaria presents as useful set of links in his year-ending "Golden Stars of David": a list of exceptional blogs (this notice also acts as shameless self-promotion for yours truly). Many of them are Portuguese, which begs the question: why are Lusophonic bloggers so active ... and so successful?

One of the blogs that he singles out is the Francophonic Pointblog, a self-described "magazine of blogging" by Emily Turrettini and Cyriel Fievet. It reviews and introduces blogs on a variety of subjects, which makes in an invaluable guide (better than taking shots in the dark on Technorati), as well as discusses the proliferation of technologies, platforms and uses for blogs. Among the new arrivals is EUROPEUS, a group blog consisting of journalists and Euro-politicians from France dedicated to discussing the politics of the EU. Many of them, to my joy, are Strasbourgeoisies, which is probably logical considering the parliament meets in that city. Among them is Catherina Trautmann, the former mayor of Strasbourg as well as minister of culture and Euro-deputy, who has been critical of cultural centralization in France. And better than Becker-Poser is Europe: pour ou contre la Constitution (Europe: for or against the constitution), an offering by Le Monde.



Blog à part, subtitled cartoons of recent events, is a visual treat of editorial humor by Julien Laurent. Here is his take on the recent, quasi-controversial ascension of Girard d'Estaing to the French Academy (as much as he has been an important politician, his literary career has been meager).

Turrettini and Fievet also point out new features, like this one: Gnomz, a site that allows you to create your own comic book!

posted by Nathanael @ 9:20 AM