THE FRESNAN

Have A Bloggy-ass New Year, Fresno!

By now you surely have figured out what you're doing for NYE. You don't need us. Whether you got your ideas from the Beehive or Fresno Famous or Liquor King's cold box selection, the drunk tank's wheels have been set in motion. Please don't drink all the booze before we get a taste.

And since we're ending a decade that saw the invention of the blog (or rise of, anyway), we'd like to thank that person... that invented... blog-ING? (Al Gore?) And to whom ever came up with the dumbass name "blog"... That was really, really stupid.

Come on, how can you ever take what some person says seriously when they say "I was reading a blog yesterday and it said..." It's just plain goofy sounding is what it is.

Locally though, we have to tip our blogger cap to the old lady known as Fresno Famous. You're the one that started this whole Fresno bloggy mess and we salute you.

Anyway, remember to call a taxi cab tonight with your super special blog reading cellphone.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FRESNANS!

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Team Dumb Drum

Damn solid, Fresno inspired week over at Dumb Drum - we always like it when people are inspired by Fresno. It began with Brodiemash turning it around on the Fresno PD ("No, let me see YOUR license and registration!") and somehow managing not to get shot or at least put through a hard_core stripsearch.

Then, Bryan Harley posted about getting Director Jason Reitman to say "Fresno" and maybe visit our airport just to get a FAT tag.

Then, Brodiemash & Bryan team up again for another Fresno influenced The DUmb podcast (with video no less).

Then, Team Bryan and Brodie visit the intersection of Shields & First and tell all Fresno children that canal swimming is back - no, they're just kidding...or are they?:

Then, you add all that up and you've got Fresno's Bloggiest Moment Of The Week.

Fresno Famous Needs Help... with its awards

As we near the end of the year, it becomes time for the inevitable 'best of' lists. Around Fresno, we have three of significance:

• Fresno's Best Magazine Ad Payer Awards.
• The Fresno Bee Choice Awards.
• Famous Choice Awards.

Actually, the last one there, Fresno Famous' awards (the coolest one), doesn't come out for another couple months or so. But, right now, Famous Whitewater is asking for your help. Help in making the Famous Choice Awards better... or at least more suited to your interests.

So check out last year's categories, then go on over and add a comment with your suggestion on what else you'd like to see covered.

Our suggestions:

• Best Local Beard.
• Best Town Drunk.
• Most Popular DUI Checkpoint Spot.
• Best Blog With Fresnan In The Title.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: A Record Posting Holiday

While you were getting drunk enjoying Thanksgiving with family and friends, not giving Fresno's blogosphere a second thought (like any sane person), the Beehive's H-Mac was busy posting videos for those that had nothin' else to do on the holiday than refresh the Beehive. How nice.

Purposely or not, McLane tied the record for Most Blog Posts By A Fresno Blogger In One Day by posting eight times. She now shares the record with... herself.

That certainly deserves a WTF Moment Of The Day and a Bloggiest Moment Of The Week nod, all at once.

The Insecure Fresno Blogger: Veterans Day Edition

What have other blogs been posting about Fresno lately? We like to know these things, because being referenced by outsiders makes us feel more important and special, even if they are sleazy.

>>>California High Speed Rail Blog is posting about Fresno lobbying for a highspeed rail hub and it's generating plenty of Californian comments.

>>>Joe. My. God. is talking about a meet in the middle event going on in the state of Maine that mirrors the one that took place in Fresno.

>>>The Flash Report, a California political blog, posts some video of Governor Arnold talking to the Fresno Bee Editors that he finds interesting because Arnie makes a nice Total Recall reference.

>>>The Splash, a SFGate sports blog, wonders out-loud about the reasons for the departure of Grizzlies manager Dan Rohn. Prompting a commenter to joke "Maybe he was the Rohn choice." Ohhhh, commenter humor.

>>>The Legal Pad, a Cal Law blog, talks about a San Francisco attempted murder case where a dude tells another dude "It's a good time to visit the Fresno Riviera." We think he means he'll "get lost" in a non-existent Fresno place, never to be heard again, if he testifies in the case. Gotta love Frisco sleaze.

And lastly, with much respect for our Veterans on this day...

>>>Home Fires, a New York Times blog written by Americian Veterans talking about post-war life, has a post by Fresno native Brian Turner. Among other things, Brian remembers family friend and Vietnam Vet, Ray Ramos, whom plays taps at Fresno area military funerals. The bugle Ray plays with he found on a dead Vietnamese soldier after a intense firefight.

Regional Nerd Crisis: Fresno Lacking Vloggers

We've been waiting for some time to do a post on Fresno vloggers. Waiting because we were hoping some more would pop up for us to highlight. Well, either we're not looking hard enough (that's what she said) or Fresno simply sucks in the way of vloggers.

But, there are a couple we follow that seem to have a nice following and post on a semi-regular bases. One of them being raz0rsex, whom recently posted about cut classes and furlong days at Fresno State:

Also there's someone we've posted about before: Chronell. Here is a classic Chronell vlog from a couple years back that tries to get Fresnans fired up about downtown:

That's really the only Fresno vloggers we found mildly interesting, with some staying power. There has got to be more though, let us know if you know of any - we'll be waiting.

Bloggiest Moment Of The Week: Starline Tuff Guys and Horny Drunks

 

It's been bubbling under the surface for some time. We've heard the stories before: A lot of folks have a problem with the way Starline is run... or policed.

But nothing quite became the catalyst for a big public discussion until a Mike Oz post about a incident with a Starline staff member and two musicians. Members of Yesterday's Chonies were playing their horns a little to late and to close to Starline for one dude's taste and a small fracas ensued.

The post hit for the blogging cycle:

• Extremely active comment section (100 plus and counting).
• Basically an original post/story.
• Both story participants commenting on the post.
• People talking about the post in public, afterwords...in real life, not the internets.

The best thing is, if it wasn't for the blogoshpere, this would have never been a story...anywhere. Maybe Tower folk and some musicians would have passed the story around, but other than that...

Bless you, local blogoshpere.

[Photo stolen from Milesgehm]

Bloggiest Moment OTW: The Fulton Mall

Maybe it's not the most shopped mall in Fresno but it sure as hell is the most blogged about - this week especially.

The Fulton Mall blogging opened up on a positive note as The Lofts are picture perfect and ready for you to move into. Things quickly got creatively depressing as Milano announced its closing just before it hosts the screening of the short film "Fresno: A City Reborn" - a film about the building of the mall and the reasons behind it and how progressive it was. Finish it off with a James Collier review of the film and a Bryan Harely posting of a 21 year-old LA article depectiting the failure of the Fulton Mall. [sigh]

One day we hope to stop talking, having meetings and studies, presentations and blogging about what the Fulton Mall is, was and could be and we'll just accept it for what it is or maybe it'll be so awesome we won't need to talk about it. One day.

[Photo cred: Vintage Fresno]

Milano's Closure Bursts Fresno's Creative Bubble

The Milano closure (first posted by Mike Oz) hits Fresno's blogoshpere especially hard - along with the local artist community, filmmakers, foodies, podcasters, musicians, cyclists, festival organizers... The point is, co-owner Kendall Simsarian opened his doors to the creative community like few businesses have in Fresno. We in turn promoted, talked about and went to Milano's as much as we could (very similar to Cafe Corazon - another closed Fulton Mall business).

And it still failed.

Among other things, we believe this shows the creative community has little pull outside of "the bubble." Bubble? Yeah, you know, Fresno's creative class rarely getting the average Fresnan to notice or care what we think about Fresno junk... at least it seems like it from this little blog/podcast's perspective.

Sometimes we're just talking amongst ourselves in our nerdy bloggy bubble, not connecting to folks outside of it.

Also, is this sending a big message to Fresno entrepreneurs looking at the Fulton Mall? The message of: Unless you want to open up a discount store, don't bother with the Fulton Mall for a while. Because, no matter how hard you try or how creative you get, one day you'll be closing your doors.

*An example of what we'll miss at Milano's:

Bloggiest Moment of the Week: Indie Bloggers Impress

This week's moment is expanded to two, because, dammit, they both deserve some recognition. They were not just posts about other stuff going on (like this one), they actually created something that wasn't there before and wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for it indie blogging:

MOMENT #1
Dumbdrum.com blogger, Bryan Harley, wasn't satisfied with Google Street View's limitations of mapping only streets their little geeky-picture-taking car can drive down. So, rather than waiting around for Google tricycles?, Bryan took his own shots of, in this case, the Fulton Mall and posted them on a site made for just a thing. So now, courtesy on an indie blogger, you can take a virtual drive down the Fulton Mall and re-ask yourself: "Should the Fulton Mall be reopened for traffic?"

MOMENT #2
Kiel Famellos Schmidt. He's not just an architectural design nerd, he's a blogger too. And, like most of us, he doesn't get paid for blogging. But that didn't stop him from doing a pro-style interview with Diego Velasco of M.W. Steele Group. They are the group that is helping with the Tower District Streetscape Plan and participated in Saturday's meeting on said plan.

BONUS MOMENTS
>>>Where are the best spots to park downtown? >>>Mike Oz adds Kathy Griffin to his growing stash of celeb interviews. >>>Blake Jone's wonders how to get the "Regular Fresnan" pluged in to what's going on. >>>Will Farm Aid come to Fresno?

Keep up the good work, Fresno bloggers. See ya next Saturday night at 1:01 for another Bloggiest Moment.

Bloggiest Moment of the Week: Teenage Lurkers Steal The Show

Who knew you could ask people to review a fake music concert, they'd be all over it? Who knew you could give a Adam Archuleta and Demi Lovato concert such an in-depth (sorta) and serious review? We did not. We did not. You know what? We *sigh* suppose that makes the Bloggiest Moment but we're not happy about. It's a weird pick, we know. Where did these lurkers kids commenters come from anyway?

What were some other active (and maybe more worthy) Fresno blog moments this week?

• The power of Twitter. Dumb Drum's, Bryan tweets the director of "Moon" about Fresno not getting a showing of his movie and BAM the movie is playing in Fresno.
• How does posting of a picture of a bad tattoo get so many damn comments? It just does. It just does.
• Mike Scott may have quickly posted about Saturday night's roller derby, but he is still not the Blogfather.
• Rebbeca Plevin drives rural Fresno roads and likes it.
• Edward Stewart's thoughts on the death of some singer.
• Ms Solitaire gives some tips every bar patron should know and gets linked to from ESPN...WWFS is jealous.
• Gustav's Groupie starts a serious discussion about calling something a hate crime and our tiny brain now hurts after reading it.
• A nice blogging week at Weird Fresno begins with the already famous MJ Ghost video.
• Mike Oz noticed there's plenty of activity at the Tower Theatre.
• ArcHop is using Twitter and other sites to network architecture nerd style.
• People on FF were still in mourning Monday after the previous big loss.
• Apparently a shitload people (618 comments and counting) want to see Harry Potter for free. We agree, we don't want to give JK Rowling any of our money either.

Have a good week, bloggers and readers. Be back next Staturday night at 1:01, with next week's moments.

The Fresnan Presents: Dorktown Podcast #74

So. Dorktown. It's our podcast. Been doing it for four years. We're having an anniversary party that you're all invited to on Thursday night at Audie's Olympic/Club Fred. It's going to be all kinds of awesome and free to attend. We hope to see you there. But first we have to podcast with our podcasting brothers, Ed and Adam from The View Looks Good From Here, Fresno.

Download: DorktownEpisode74.mp3

What to kinda expect:

• Where did Ed and Adam begin getting awesome?
• The first ever Fresno Pacific discussion, anywhere, ever.
• Bells translates for Becky.
• The Bee is all small now.
• Ed gets into a blog war.
• Everyone (especially Eli) should come kick Mikey's ass at the Dorktown Anni show on Thursday!
• Why did Adam and Ed start blogging? Why would anyone?
• ShamWow jokes.
• Is there anywhere to go in North Fresno?
• Pecha Kucha presenting takes balls.
• ACDC is coming to your Fresno.
• Beer break.
• Podcasting discussed.
• iPhone/Star Wars battle.
• Or games.
• Fonzy eyyys for the second time.

>Contacting the dorks: mike@thefresnan.com or bells@dorktown.net

>Download the show here: DorktownEpisode74.mp3 Or use the player below:

Anniversary show details:

Deadly Annoying: Chupacabra Attacks Preventing Fresno Nerds From Blogging

We're sorry for the light posting and lack of diversity this week. We've been suffering through late night Chupacabra attacks and they've been using up our blogging time. The Chups have been relentless and we believe they are being controlled by some rival blog, or the city of Clovis.

This would be a good time to bone up on Fresno's favorite creature (after Bigfoot and Pat Hill's Fu Manchu), in hopes that WE can figure out how to control a Chupacabra of our own.

• The classic Wikipedia rundown. (How are there not Valley sightings on the page?)
• Report of a Mendota Chupacabra via Weird Fresno.
• Listen to Tokyo Death March's song "Chupacabra".

And finally, we need to sit down and watch the definitive (meaning the only) Chupacabra movie:

Was that really you, Sallah? *sigh*

Bloggiest Moment of the Week: 100 Things To 'Blog' In Fresno Before You Die

The Beehive's Mike Oz has done it again: created an awesome Fresno post. The "Blogfather" took a LA Times blog and a Fresno tweet and turned it into one FresnoTastic post: 100 Things in Fresno to Try Before You Die.

The post and comments are FresIncredible and are too numerous to mention here. If you haven't yet, go over and check them out and add one on. We'll be busy firing somebody here for not thinking of this post idea for The Fresnan. Shit!

MORE FRESNO BLOGGING HIGHLIGHTS
There were some other FresnoTastic posts this week. Check: Ed Stewart's Brown Bag Lunch and Toast of the Tower reviews, Famous Whitewater biking to work in Fresno, a freakin' awesome map that Bryan Harely made via a post on FresnoMagBlog, Rebecca Pelvin going to the Fulton Mall Farmers Market, local blog Dumb Drum turning 2 and our little posts concerning the wiping out of a Fresno center and a venue closing.

Bloggiest Moment of the Week: Fresno Bitches, err, Protests

A couple of different kinds of protesting dominated Fresno's Internets this week...

MARCH FOR WATER

• Our brand new favorite Fresno blogger is Rebecca Plevin from Vida En El Valle. She did a ton of great stuff this week about the west side's water problems and the March for Water - and Daniel Cásarez had some good stuff too.
• Burn Fresno Burn explains that even environmentalists are done with the Delta Smelt.
• Jim Boren calls out the Obama Administration.
• Fresnoise points out that KMJ's coverage was too "wind filled".

TEA PARTIES

• The Bee's Opinion Blog is filled with teabaggers.
• Burn Fresno Burn laments about the tea parties.
• Fresno MagBlog doesn't want to get involved.
• A Fresnan reader sends some choice pics from the Save Mart Center.
• The Beehive had their own Teabagging Party - hope they cleaned themselves thoroughly, beforehand...always key.

SIDE NOTE

Why hasn't Fresno's blogoshpere been paying attention to Vida En El Valle's blog, before this? We suck.