Joe Blog's Interview #115 The Iraqi Dentist

Name : Omar
Age : mid-twenties
Location :Baghdad
Vocation :Dentist
Philosophy : yet to choose one

Sum up what your blog is about.
Iraq and the war on terror, that's what it's pretty much about.

Why are you doing your blog?
To tell the world what's going on from an Iraqi perspective.

What’s the funniest entry on your site?
No funny entries on my blog as far as I know. War and politics at a time of war leave little, if any, space for humorous writing.

What is your writing style?
I honestly don't know. I haven’t received any training for writing so I just write whatever comes to my mind and feel is worth mentioning...I simply let the ideas decide the shape of the posts.

What do people commonly say about your site?
Things range from "excellent, informative, reliable" to "fake, propaganda, full of lies".

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing your blog?
Pulling and filling more teeth.

Why should someone visit your site?
I think the visitors can answer this one better, maybe because they enjoy our reporting or because they want to know what some guy in Baghdad thinks about the situation in Iraq.

What did you learn from your first love?
There was no such thing,

Are there any blogs, you enjoy reading?
Yeah, there's a bunch of blogs that I read quite often including Instapundit, Mudvill Gazette, The Fourth Rail, Michael Totten, Sandmonkey and many others.

What makes you feel positive about Iraq today?
The resiliency of our people and their love for life.

What conclusions have you come to over the situation in Iraq?
In what respect? Books can be written on this, you know!

If you could invite anyone to a dinner party who would it be and why?
I have made friends with many people through the blog whom I hadn't meet thus far, I'd like to invite those guys if I could.

Tell us about a good deed you have done recently.
Recently? Nothing.

Tell us a random funny story that comes to mind.
hat's funny to me might not be funny to you and vice versa. There are rare times when I laughed at a joke told by a westerner so let's spare everyone the embarrassment.

What advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?
To spend more time on reading.

Any interesting travel stories?
That would be my trip to the States a couple years ago but I prefer to keep it for myself.

What’s the most incredible thing that ever happened to you?
Nothing significant thus far, but I'm expecting something big quite soon. Will talk about it when the time comes.

Your Site Address : Iraq The Model

Joe Blog's Interview #114 The Cartoonist

Name : Royston Robertson
Age : 39 (genuinely, not in an I'm over 40 and don't want to admit it way ...)
Location : Broadstairs, Kent, UK
Vocation : Full-time freelance cartoonist
Philosophy : is the name of the second track on the Ben Folds Five debut album. It's brilliant.




Sum up what your blog is about.
Back To The Drawing Board – Cartoons and thoughts by Royston Robertson, UK freelance cartoonist.

Why are you doing your blog?
To promote my work, give it another outlet on the web, and so I can talk a little about the process of cartooning.

What's the funniest entry on your site?
I couldn't really comment on that – hopefully one of the cartoons,

What is your writing style?
The key thing I bear in mind is to try to be brief with my entries! There are far to many over-wordy blogs and not enough hours in the day to read them.

What do people commonly say about your site?
That they like the insight into how I come up with gags, the stories behind each cartoon, how it was developed etc.

What would you be doing if you weren't doing your blog?
Drawing more cartoons, ideally.

Why should someone visit your site?
For a laugh.

What did you learn from your first love?
Wow, this suddenly got personal!

Are there any blogs, you enjoy reading?
Mainly cartoonists : Mark Anderson, Mike Lynch, Wilbur Dawbarn, Rod McKie, Drawn!, Chewing Pencils, Matt Buck, and Linkmachinego, which is not about cartooning but always has lots of interesting links.

Tell us about the process you go through creating a comic.
For gag cartooning, it goes like this: Think up the idea. Pencil the drawing. Put pencil drawing on lightbox. Ink on a piece of paper over the top (keeps it looser than inking the pencil lines, I find). Scan. Make any adjustments on screen. Add colour or tone if needed. Add caption plus name and contact details. Hope that it sells …

What is your favourite sketch you have done?
The most recent one. No, forget that, the one I got paid the most for ;-)

Now it's your turn! Ask me one question, anything you like.
Is Joe Blogs your God-given name?

Joe Blogs : Maybe, but I know drawing isn't my God given talent. Check out Royston's Blog, he has been commissioned by a multitude of publications, including Readers Digest, and Private Eye.

Your Site Address : Blog : Back To The Drawing Board Website : Royston Robertson

Joe Blog's Interview #113 Flea

Name : Flea
Age : Old enough to know better
Location : The Annex
Vocation : Musician
Philosophy : If all else fails, read the instructions

Sum up what your blog is about.
Politics and pop culture as seen from Northanger Abbey.

Why are you doing your blog?
My Hyde Park soapbox is not handy for Toronto so I am not left with much choice. I would quite desperately like to stop blogging, actually, but if I did I fear my pineal gland would explode.




What's the funniest entry on your site?
I think my review of CBC logos was quite witty and of interest even to foreigners and those of us who tend not to watch the CBC (excepting Coronation Street broadcasts and the title sequence of Hockey Night in Canada).

What is your writing style?
Seventy-five words per minute on a USB Hansen Writing Ball means I write with more of a flourish than is strictly necessary.

What do people commonly say about your site?
They only read it for the articles. And the totty.

What would you be doing if you weren't doing your blog?
I would sleep in until 7am and quite possibly represent the people of Trinity-Spadina as a Member of Parliament.

Why should someone visit your site?
It is that or I stand outside the front door rattling a tin cup and crying (slowly at first). Trust me, nobody wants to see that twice.

What did you learn from your first love?
Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus.

Are there any blogs, you enjoy reading?
Oh yes, lots. I start my day with Rantburg, for example. I stroll down my blog roll through the course of the week.

If you could invite anyone to a dinner party who would it be and why?
From beyond the grave: Gwen MacEwan, a poet who explored the Toronto inside Toronto. I would like to thank her for everything.
From the here and now: Christopher Hitchens. All this bourbon is not going to drink itself.

What do you dislike in 21st century culture?
The 21st century has a culture? How fascinating for it.

Tell us about a good deed you have done recently.
So much of good manners and common courtesy takes the form of forbearance. Many of my recent good deeds are in the form of things I have not done.

Tell us a random funny story that comes to mind.
I have a rather clever story about funding research in the UK heating/ventilating and air-conditioning industry but it is a bit convoluted for this context. Suffice to say the British government is the clear origin of Vogon planning permission etiquette.

What advice would you have given yourself 5 years ago?
Quit your job. Live the life you were meant to.

Any interesting travel stories?
I was arguing so vehemently the merits of my hypothetical black-and-blue garden over Vita Sackville-West's white garden that I missed the train station for Sissinghurst. Though I think that was more amusing for those who were present at the time that it sounds in retrospect. I was right, by the way.

Do you have any strong opinions you would like to debate with me?
You can defend single malts while I advance the cause of Irish blends.

Joe Blogs : Single malt is whiskey as it should be, back in the day they used to call it the water of life. So single malt is pure quality. An Irish blend is like decaffeinated coffee, not drunk as God intended.

What's the most incredible thing that ever happened to you?
Noticing spirals in her eyes.

Now it's your turn! Ask me one question, anything you like.
You have an opinion about whether it was an African or a European swallow, don't you? J'accuse!

Joe Blogs : Oh your refer to Monty Python And The Holy Grail! I'd need to know the airspeed velocity and colour of the swallow my friend. What is this the Spanish Inquisition?

Your Site Address : Ghost Of A Flea