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Asia Blog Awards (2)

Well, that wasn’t quite what I was expecting! I mentioned last week that I felt somewhat indifferent towards the Asia Blog Awards, and one reason was that I felt fairly sure who the top five or so would be, and reasonably confident that I would be somewhere around the bottom of the top ten. Nothing to get excited about, right?

Well, Simon has now announced the ten blogs that have been shortlisted for ‘Best Hong Kong blog’, and I am mildly perplexed to find that only two (Gweilo Diaries and Shaky Kaiser) of that "top five" are included!

No BWG, no Flying Chair, and no Simon World. Also missing is Chase me ladies, I’m in the cavalry, which is certainly the funniest blog I read regularly (in Hong Kong or anywhere). However, the latter two have been shortlisted in other categories, presumably because of the limitation of ten for each shortlist. Nevertheless, the absence of the first two is surprising, as they have both been around a long time and have each built up a loyal following (not to mention appearing on TV to frighten the children).

I’m pleased (but slightly surprised) to see Discombobulated Mia in the list, and Spirit Fingers is an impressive piece of work that deserves to be there. I can’t argue with the inclusion of Hemlock’s Diary (if you treat is as a blog), and Ordinary Gweilo seems to have scraped in as well.

It’s amusing to see Glutter there next to the Gweilo Diaries. Not company that Yan would wish to keep, I think. I read and enjoy Glutter, but Yan has deliberately estranged herself from the "circle" of Gweilo blogs because she disapproves of Conrad and others, and feels that the rest of us are guilty by association because we link to them. I have to admit that I don’t read Yoga Yuga so I can’t comment on it. I think it used to be a Taiwan blog but the author has just moved to Hong Kong.

The shortlist is as follows:

and you can vote here

[post updated because Simon has added EastSouthWestNorth]

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17 responses to “Asia Blog Awards (2)”

  1. Ron avatar
    Ron

    While I decided to keep out of the awards, I am surprised to see Fumier missing!
    I mean, that was the first blog I nominated there in my comment above Yoga Yuga (and all others, but I understand about “only 10”).
    I can see that BWG was also nominated there, but not sure about Flying Chair (as he was the previous host). But I see some blogs there in the list for whom no one had posted a comment or submitted any nominations!
    At least not in that post or that category as far as I know, or maybe, I must have misunderstood the “Rules.”
    Anyway, at this stage I am forced to say, what gives?
    I can only conclude that the owners of the respective blogs who were nominated but did not appear, privately asked Simon to drop them from his list and/or nominations. Or at least, that is what I hope!
    Cheers!

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  2. Mia avatar
    Mia

    I was most surprised to see myself there as well! And even more surprised to see that as of a few moments ago I had 2 votes!

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  3. fumier avatar
    fumier

    Ron – after some thought I asked Simon not to include me (though I’m not sure I would have made the ‘cut’ anyway), though your nomination of me was much appreciated.
    What I am surprised about (and I commented to this effect on Simon’s site) is that no one nominated Hemlock in Funniest Blog. Maybe, like me, they assumed that plenty of other people would nominate him so didn;t bother.

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  4. Eshin avatar
    Eshin

    Crap. I’m in the shortlist??? Didn’t know I was even nominated.

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  5. Simon avatar
    Simon

    I’ll just say certain blogs aren’t on the list either because they asked not to be, like Fumie, or for other reasons. Plus I thought it’d be good to open the thing up a little and didn’t think it right to include my own.
    In hindsight I maybe should’ve not included Gweilo Diaries given its current status.

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  6. Chris avatar
    Chris

    I thought Fumier’s blog had been excluded because it’s a big pile of poo…
    The position with SimonWorld was a bit confusing to me. I thought it wouldn’t appear at all as you are running the thing, and when it turned up in another category I became confused (a common occurrence, and usually my own fault).
    Not sure what you can do about the Gweilo Diaries. If it re-appears tomorrow the poll would look a bit silly without it, if it has gone for good then it will look a bit silly if it wins. Has anyone heard from Conrad?

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  7. fumier avatar
    fumier

    Well, yes it is a big pile of poo, and I did suggest a “Crappiest Blog In Hong Kong” section in which I could slug it out with Dr. George.
    Re Conrad inclusion/Henners exclusion, there are bound to be glitches, so full credit still to Simes for doing this for the blogging community, especially since he would have had a good shot at a title himself if he were not self-excluded.

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  8. Eshin avatar
    Eshin

    Now see, if you had the Crappiest Blog in Hong Kong section, I wouldn’t have minded that I was nominated! Should have had a most annoying blog category…
    And without the presence of certain other more qualified bloggers, I’m not sure my being in there really matters all that much. I say vote for Shaky! Shaky for President!

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  9. Ron avatar
    Ron

    A “whois” search on http://www.gweilodiaries.com reveals that the domain (gweilodiaries.com) was created on 2002-11-26 and expired on 2004-11-26.
    It has not been renewed since (I last checked), and the last update of whois database was on 2004-12-15 04:58:05 EST.
    In other words, Conrad must have had enough time to realize that his domain has expired. But I wonder why he isn’t renewing it.
    Moreoever one of the two Domain Name Servers (DNS) listed under gweilodiaries.com says there is no website configured at this address.
    It could be that Conrad has a direct interface to his website and therefore does not have to go there via usual address. This would mean he is unaware that his domain expired.
    However, I doubt that because he must be checking his sitemeter counter that has now dropped to 58 hits (average) per day.
    I wish he came back online soon.
    Cheers!

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  10. Simon avatar
    Simon

    I did exclude myself, but a few people nominated my site for best design, and given I didn’t design it I thought it should be OK…especially given how honest I am.
    Top marks to Fumie for being such a good chap. Must buy him that beer…but only if Mia and Spirit Fingers turn up.

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  11. Mia avatar
    Mia

    I’ll turn up if I win. 🙂

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  12. fumier avatar
    fumier

    You can send the money over, if you’re busy, Simes. Mia, SF and I will manage.

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  13. Spirit Fingers avatar
    Spirit Fingers

    I’ll turn up if Mia wears one of those corsets. That would turn any straight girl. Phwoarrr.
    Seriously I think the best HK blog is one of the hardest categories to vote for because so many of them are evenly matched (and I mean that in a good way).

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  14. Mia avatar
    Mia

    SF, but not the gold one, right? 🙂

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  15. Hack avatar
    Hack

    Has anyone noticed what a huge asshole QQ at NTSCMP is?

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  16. Adam George avatar
    Adam George

    Is that not the truth?

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  17. Born Free avatar
    Born Free

    One of the candidates is missing:
    http://keithdevens.com/weblog/archive/2004/Dec/22/Conrad.Gweilo.gone

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