Phillyist
We have been invaded from the North by mauve. Gothamist, a slick, snarky New York Cityguide, has spawned replicants in Austin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Paris, San Francisco, Shanghai, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.
And now, Phillyist.
It opened for business today. It's edited by John Carroll, who is no carpetbagger. He's a Philly-reared Penn grad of the most recent vintage. He's worked at 34th Street Magazine and the reborn Evening Bulletin. Has his own blog as well.
Jake Dobkin is the guy behind the guy, founder of Gothamist, a New Yorker and Columbia B-School brain. Dobkin came to town in May, buying beers for bloggers, and recruiting an editor. Carroll has recruited Star C. Foster, author of Sarcasmo's Corner. Also Katie Donnelly, and a host of young others.
Initial offerings: A piece on The Caesars, the stars of the iPod Shuffle ads who are coming to the North Star Bar tonight. A gooey chocolate cookie recipe. A gooey appreciation of Bronson Pinchot. An ad! for the New York Times. A gooey review of Pasion! (This is a well-heeled site. They have software that lets them put in that accent over the O.) A lament about the Phillies. A chef interview. A beer round-up.
We wish them well, and wonder how our close friends at Philebrity will weather the competition.
Thanks, Albert. I have enough trouble getting cutlines to work.
It's their first day, so I'll cut Phillylist some slack, but Philebrity won't have anything to worry about. Their reviews of TV shows kept telling us to "skip it." Think I'll do the same with Phillylist. Go back to New York!
Philebrity is incomprehensible, and unbearably smug.
And just to add to a full portrait of the "Philly for-profit blogging" playing field, there's http://philadelphia.metblogs.com/ , which launched on June 28th. Call me a hopeless optimist, but I'm enjoying the wealth of Philly's blog culture, rather than thinking in Darwinian competitive terms... (Full disclosure: I am one of the Philly Metbloggers)
We're going to need a scorecard. Wait, that's what I'm trying to do.
And there will be more sites like this coming down the pike. Philly is attracting all sorts of attention online now. It bodes very well for the region.