1. Go over the top

The first one is actually a mind-set. Your personal blog is your little slice of digital heaven. It’s all yours, and you can do with it whatever you want. So go wild! Go over the top! Show your readers who you are. Here are three examples. From a flash-based rich application to the LSD trip of Matt Mullenweg. The third one is by a datavizualisation guy, as you can tell by the background.

Nalden.net

Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress

Edial.nl, a blog by a dataviz guy

2. Hire a professional for your brand

Unless you’re an artist yourself, I advise you to hire a professional for your brand. Whether that’s a cartoonist (see Yoast) or a designer (see this blog). He or she will give you that look can’t be beaten by some fooling around with Photoshop.

Cartoon of Wordpress guru Yoast

How modest! My own logo

3. Work that header

It’s all about first impressions on a personal blog. You want to present yourself, and just like in real life, other people will make their first – and terribly important – judgment in seconds. So seduce them above the fold and work that header. Here are some examples:

Chris Brogan, right in your face

Screenshot Chrisbrogan.com

Don’t know Chris Brogan? Don’t worry. His name, his expertise and his face are the first things you see when visiting his blog. Nice to meet you too. Brogan has also included a list of pages on which you can get to know him better. You wanna know his life story, contact info, best articles, or would you like to spend some money on him? It’s all there, right in your face.

Same goes for the blog of cartoonist Hugh MacLeod. Those four things make him interesting, so take action!

Buy my art, wine or book and subscribe

You got me confused, Mr. 'Talking of Design'. Yet I like it!

Thanks Istok Pavlovic, all my questions about your blog are answered in the header.

Jeffrey Sarmiento has a lift off

4. Smashable elements

Maki

If you read online marketing blogs regularly, the magna image of the right will probably remind you of a specific blog. Right, Dosh Dosh. It only has one article every week or so, yet this blog by Maki, a Philosophy student in Toronto, is hugely popular. Partly because his style is so recognizable. For example, he adds a magna illustration to every post. That’s some really smashable stuff.

Seth Godin's bald head is smashable (that sounds weird).

5. Show off that book for instant authority

Have you written a book? Please bring it under the attention your reader right-away. Don’t be modest. It gives you instant authority. Ebooks count as well, as long as you have a cover and testimonials, a little switch in people’s mind will tell them that you’re an author, and thus should be taken seriously. Learn from Tim Ferriss:

The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

6. Can’t live without the bio

Sure, tell those readers who you are. Better yet, tell them why you’re interesting. People see so many Twitter profiles, LinkedIn invitations and whatnot every day, so you’ve got to stand out. I work for a well-known quality newspaper in Holland, so that’s one of the first things you’ll see in my bio. And don’t forget to make it look good:

Bert Timmermans

Hi Darren Hoyt!

Douglas Menezes is a cool dude

Juan Diego Velasco says: have a seat and read my bio

7. Popular Posts

In the last bio-part I mentioned that it’s important to convince folks you’re interesting. Another way to do this is showing your popular posts. Even if they don’t like your avatar, people might click on a popular article. In the end, thousands of other readers did that as well. So why not giving it a shot.

When browsing to dutchproblogger.com, this is the very first thing you'll see

Read more: What Every Blogger Needs to Know About Categories

8. Facebook Fanbox: these people love me!

A Fanbox gives your blog a soul. In one glance, new readers can see that they’re actually not alone. There are at least ten pictures of smiling people in there who love the stuff the blogger writes. How about that? So start one, promote it, and give it a good spot in your sidebar.

Read more: Give your blog some soul with a Facebook fanbox

9. Get a second look with your picture

Your blog is personal, so why not revealing your face to the crowd. Use a stunning pic and people will either feel connected or aroused. So find a friend who happens to be a professional photographer as well and get your picture taken. Here are some examples:

Ok, everbody's using polaroids today, but if well executed, it still looks great

Patrick de Laive wants to make sure you'll remember his face

When reading the columns on the blog of this Dutch newspaper (where I work), you can't miss the writer's face

10. Time to connect

Assuming you want as many readers possible, you’ll need to connect with the guys and gals who pay your blog a visit. Like Kevin Kelly said: all that it takes to make a living out of your passion is a thousand true fans. How do you get them? Well, by connecting with them. What’s the easiest way to do that these days? Twitter! Yes! So, show a tweet, or two.

Meagan Fisher show her last tweet on Owltastic

Jeffrey Sarmiento and his latest tweet

That INDIE Dude uses a comic balloon in the header

Read more: Develop a Twitter Landing Page

Have I missed an aspect of personal blog design? Please let your fellow readers know in the comments!

• A fanpage gives you a good overview of who your readers are. As you might know, on the average blog only one percent of the readers comments on posts. With a Facebook fan page you’ll make a fair amount of that other 99 percent visible. And that helps, especially during those lonely rainy Sunday afternoons.
• You can aggregate content that is relevant for your blog (but didn’t make it to a blog post). Like interesting links, videos, or random thoughts. Basically anything you’d post on Twitter. A lively community around your blog will be the reward.
• More promotion: people’s activity on a fan page will show up in their feeds. Hello there, new friends!
• It looks great when people hit your page for the first time. ,,Wow, all these people are fans? I better read this stuff then!”
• It makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside

Fans are fun. Photo: Roger Marshutz

• You’ll have less comments on your blog, since people will comment on Facebook.
• It will look silly the first day. Check out my box in the sidebar, only five fans. I love them though.

Did I convince you? Head over to facebook.com and look up the application ‘Ads and pages’.

Hence the Houellebecq ref. It’s a grand writer, a modern thinker, and it’s very fashionable to love him (sorry ’bout that). So that might just be the reason you kept on reading. ,,If this guy knows Houellebecq and is going to talk about him, I might as well pay attention”. I referred to something greater. And it worked.

This attention-getting strategy came to my mind when walking in the New York Halloween Parade. My friend Edial Dekker and I breached security so we could see all the smashing costumes from up close. Yet all of a sudden, we were in the middle of the spotlights. People shouted at us, took pictures, interviewed us. A group of beautiful Chinese girls opted for a group hug. Edial and I had only applied some weird make-up to our faces, and that was about it. No weird costume, no weeks of work. Yet we felt like rockstars.

Why? Because we’ve referred to something greater. We’ve painted our faces just like the Joker. That was enough to get everybody’s attention. We were now representing a hugely popular movie character. ,,I really like the actual Joker”, a slightly geeky guy told us. And every five minutes or so, people shouted the Joker’s most famous quote at us: ,,Why so serious?” (We weren’t really serious btw, we acted like lunatics).

Jokers on a roof in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Photo Allison Maggy (click for her website)

In a way, during that Halloween night, we profited from a multi-million dollar campaign of a Hollywood blockbuster. We had associated our appearance with the brand ‘Joker’, which was a guarantee for a great Halloween night.

How can you use that for your blog? Simple. By using examples that people like. I did it in this post with the band MGMT and in this presentation with LSD & the sixties. Or like Copyblogger did with this Quentin Tarantino Guide.

So, how are you gonna use it?

I wanna wake up in a city….

Retrospect

Nov 3rd: So, the vacation has ended. Here are the stories I’ve blogged:

• The discovery of a great band
• Back to a sober yet pumpkin spiced life
• New York doesn’t allow you to relax
• Postmodern tourism
• How Edial got himself a NYC date
• Let’s talk about sex, and newspapers, baby
• Tattoo your mouth
• Halloween in the dirtiest hotel of the USA
• Snap shots

Oct 22, 09:57: This is a test post from the train. Almost missed the train, which is always good sign when traveling. It means adventure is on its way. You think I’m kidding? Watch The Darjeerling Limited to see what I mean.

The discovery of a great band

Oct 23, 06:29: Freaking jetlag. After fifteen hours of traveling, checking six hotels across Manhattan for a room, having drinks and singing with the pianoman at old speakeasy Bill’s Gay Nineties (54th, Park Av), beers and bands at The Suffolk (Suffolk & Rivington), two dollar beer from a can in Welcome to the Johnsons and lounging in the lobby of The Rivington – after a 30 hr day -, I’m still awake at this point. So yes, that’s when the blogging comes in. At your service. We’ve seen one of the most upcoming bands by accident: Surfer Blood (see video), our armpits were sniffed by a Spanish t-shirtdesigner and we’ve got a ridiculously expensive suite. I guess that only means one thing: welcome to New York.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Back to a sober yet pumpkin spiced life

Oct 23, 15:48): Quick update from the overcrowded yet beautiful Apple Store on Fifth Avenue. No luxurious lifestyle for Edial and me the coming four days. We said goodbye to the suite and hi to a hostel on 118th street. And we’re sharing the room with eight other people. Oh well, it’s probably the kind of traveling we’ll miss in a few years. No crazy stuff happened today, although we did meet some people who fish in the Hudson to feed their families. And Edial drank pumpkin spiced coffee this morning. Other than that, just the regular tourist stuff. I won’t bore you with that and make it up tonight. In the crazy nightlife of the Lower East Side (120 blocks from our hostel). Oh and for a great lunch in Soho, check Bread.

New York doesn’t allow you to relax

Oct 23rd 17:29: So while Edial is fixing some stuff for his company back in Berlin, I’d like to share a thought about NYC. I remember when I got here in January 2007 for my internship at the UN, I had a couple of days reserved for leisure. Man, those days sucked. I came to NY to live there and suddenly I was some sort of tourist. NY doesn’t allow you to relax. She wants you to participate. To work. To have coffee meetings and lunches. To walk fast. To hold cabs. To have take out food. Nights out with friends. NY doesn’t want you to just wander around. Just work. That’s the most efficient way of getting to know the city.

I’m thinking about that while strolling the streets with Edial. We can’t just walk around. We need action.

Postmodern tourism

Oct 26 (11:32): Having a BBQ with live music, weird people, a homeless ‘Nam veteran offering you a bite from his hotdog and a couple of Budweisers is a great way of spending the Sunday afternoon. Especially when that BBQ is taking place on Coney Island. Finishing the Sunday with a pre-Halloween party (pumpking carving) in a girls-only dorm of Bernard University is also something I’d recommend.

Coney Island BBQ

It’s kinda weird though, having a BBQ with raging alcoholics, hobos, and some Keith Richards look a likes. In a derelict themepark. The whole situation was so messed up that it became beautiful. As if we were in movie. There was even that one pretty girl – that everyone liked. Postmodern tourism?

(This situation still makes me laugh: on the 1 train, in Harlem. A middle aged man sings along with his iPod for ten seconds, than sort of wakes up and starts apologizing.)

How Edial got himself a NYC date

Oct 27 (15:07): As Edial and I are running down the stairs, we realize that we’re gonna miss our train. We don’t want to be late for our movie, so we’re descending so fast that it almost becomes life threatening. And useless, since it’s a mission impossible. Then, out of nowhere, two indie girls emerge. One looks willing to sacrifice an arm for getting the subway, as she holds it between the closing doors. With success. The doors open again. As we get in, the girl realizes she lost her ring during her heroic action. ,,I’m such a dick”, she shouts – with a British accent. Another traveler points at the door, saying – with a Spanish accent -, ,,your ring’s right there.” It shimmers between the rubber doors. The girl gets her ring back with a key, ignoring an angry MTA employee. Edial and I get out at West 4th street, still impressed by the scene we just witnessed. Then, as we’re about to get on the A train, one of the two girls – not the British one – makes her way to Edial. She hands him a note with her number on it – ,,for whenever he’d like to get some coffee.” ,,What the fuck, dude”, Edial exclaims – the gentleman.

That was Sunday. Now it’s Monday evening. We’re having PBR for 2 dollars in our favorite bar, Welcome to the Johnsons. Edial texted the girl a little earlier that day. Her name is Berit, yet she still accuses Edial of having a rather uncommon name. After an awkward phone call, Edial choses for the ‘fuck it’-strategy. He sends her text, inviting her to come to the Lower East Side. She doesn’t reply. Of course. Edial is pretty, sure. But it’s 11pm on a Monday night and the girl lives in Brooklyn. We continue our talks about the Velvet Underground, girls, Talking Heads, girls, and even write our own song.., about girls. Then, out of the blue, the girl emerges. SHE GOT ON THE TRAIN! I know my job, I leave. Edial got himself a NYC date. Oh what a night.

Let’s talk about sex, and newspapers, baby

Oct 28 (09:50): Last night, Edial and I had a discussion about the future of newspapers and online news. Again. We agree on a lot of points, yet there are two differences. Edial wants everything open. And I accuse Edial and the likes of not adding value to news. Luckily, we had a great discussion partner last night: Freek Staps, US correspondent for NRC Handelsblad & nrc.next. I’m afraid he was expecting to just have a beer with a colleague, yet the whole night became a succession of thought experiments. From whether you can compliment a girl with her eyes (without looking like a guy who wants to get laid) to why it feels so good to have a story in an actual newspaper (note: paper). Earlier that day I had that newspaper discussion with Robert Kloos, whose the head of the culture division of the Dutch consulate. Oh and yeah, I introduced Edial to the lovely UN ladies over dinner. All they wanted to talk about was sex. And that is, I’ve learned from a specific tv series, a very New York thing to do.

Tattoo your mouth

Oct 29 (13:37): Let’s start with some good old trendwatching. That’s exactly what Edial and I did yesterday, and something struck us as peculiar: tattoos in your mouth. It’s sort of cool, since you can decide who sees it. Yet it loses a lot of the coolness when you choose for the text: ‘I’m rat’ – like one of the girls we met yesterday did.

Tattoo in your mouth

Halloween in the dirtiest hotel of the USA

Looking back on Nov 3rd: Ok, so at some point Wordpress couldn’t handle the mobile blogging anymore and it crashed. So that was about if for my blogging adventures in New York. Anyhow, the last couple of days were too hectic to blog anyway. We found some Italian friends in Williamsburg, rode the subway with morning commuters – while under the influence and smelly from a night’s out -, visited gorgeous exhibitions – from Kandinsky to Rock Photography -, had a light saber fight, stayed in the dirtiest hotel of the USA (seriously!) and penetrated the security to join the Halloween parade. The last thing made us feel like rock stars. We were dressed as Jokers, carried machine guns and scared everybody by shouting ‘why so serious’ in their cameras. Many pictures were made that night, we’ve found some back on Flickr. Later that night, we joined an illegal Caribbean parade and a rooftop party in Williamsburg.

Joker on Times Square

Click here to view the embedded video.

Snap shots

Here are some photos I’ve made with my iPhone.

(In random order, descriptions by IMDB & trailers from YouTube)

The Hunting Party (2007)

How can they find the world’s most wanted war criminal when the C.I.A. can’t? [by actually looking]

A young journalist, a seasoned cameraman and a discredited war correspondent embark on an unauthorized mission to find the no. 1 war criminal in Bosnia; they find themselves in serious jeopardy when they are mistaken as a CIA hit squad and their target decides to come after them. (7.0 on imdb).
Suggested by Antonie

Click here to view the embedded video.

Harrison’s Flowers (2000)

Sometimes love is the only proof you need.

When a Newsweek photojournalist disappears in war-torn Yugoslavia, his wife travels to Europe to find him. (7.2 on imdb).
Suggested by Alec

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Meet New James Bond

James Bond heads to stop a media mogul’s plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage. (6.4 on imdb).
Suggested by Lorenz

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nothing But the Truth (2008)

Don’t Reveal the Source

In Washington, D.C., a female reporter faces a possible jail sentence for outing a CIA agent and refusing to reveal her source. (7.5 on imdb).
Suggested by Claire

Click here to view the embedded video.

His Girl Friday (1940)

She learned about men from him!

A newspaper editor uses every trick in the book to keep his ace reporter ex-wife from remarrying. (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by Boy van Dijk

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brüno (2009)

Borat was so 2006

Flamboyant Austrian fashionista Brüno takes his show to America. (6.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Thomas

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Love. At any cost.

A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife’s murder, big business, and corporate corruption. (7.6 on imdb).
Suggested by eyewhypee

Click here to view the embedded video.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

His news is bigger than your news

Ron Burgundy is San Diego’s top rated newsman in the male dominated broadcasting of the 1970’s, but that’s all about to change when a new female employee with ambition to burn arrives in his office. (7.0 on imdb).
Suggested by Zoe

Click here to view the embedded video.

Salvador (1986)

Based on a true story

A journalist, down on his luck in the US, drives to El Salvador to chronicle the events of the 1980 military dictatorship, including the assasination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. (7.5 on imdb).
Suggested by Peter

Click here to view the embedded video.

Zodiac (2007)

There’s more than one way to lose your life to a killer

A San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer. (7.9 on imdb).
Suggested by joscha & kamisir

Click here to view the embedded video.

La Dolce Vita (1960)

The Sweet Life

Journalist and man-about-town Marcello struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome’s elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer. (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by joscha

Click here to view the embedded video.

Under Fire (1983)

This wasn’t their war but it was their story…and they wouldn’t let it go!

Three journalists in a romantic triangle are involved in political intrigue during the last days of the corrupt Somozoa regime in Nicaragua before it falls to a popular revolution in 1979. (7.0 on imdb)
Suggested by Michiel Frackers

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Pelican Brief (1983)

Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead. Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth.

An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead. (6.3 on imdb)
Suggested by Renato Valdés Olmos

Click here to view the embedded video.

Män som hatar kvinnor (2009)

Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson’s novel about a journalist and a young female hacker. (7.6 on imdb)
Suggested by Pawelotti

Click here to view the embedded video.

Network (1976)

Not since the dawn of time has America experienced a man like Howard Beale!

A TV network cynically exploits a deranged ex-TV anchor’s ravings and revelations about the media for their own profit (8.1 on imdb).
Suggested by davidus

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lions for Lambs (2007)

If you don’t STAND for something, you might FALL for anything

Injuries sustained by two Army ranger behind enemy lines in Afghanistan set off a sequence of events involving a congressman, a journalist and a professor (6.2 on imdb)
Suggested by Peter Engel

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yet at the same time a little voice inside my head kept telling me all those tapes were a waste of money and space. Within a few years, DVD would be the standard and tapes would be hopelessly old-fashioned. In fact, I was already late with adopting the whole DVD revolution. That’s why the tapes were so cheap.

It was only a few months later that I got my first DVD player. The stack of tapes had become pretty useless.

I’m writing this down because I’ve got a similar feeling now when it comes to books. A few weeks ago I looted a second hand store. Huckleberry Finn, Brave New World, and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest were mine for only 1 euro and 75 cents. Yeah. But then the little voice came back…

Photo Flickr / Chotda

Let’s be clear: reading the books is not the problem. But whenever I’ve finished a book and put it back in my bookcase, I feel guilty. All that paper. All those books. Just collecting dust. That’s a bad thing, for two reasons:

1. Ebooks are the future. As soon as the Kindle touches ground in Europe, I’ll say goodbye to the paper backs. I got that ‘a-ha’-moment when I read Steven Johnson’s piece for The Wall Street Journal called
   How the E-Book Will Change the Way We Read and Write
2. The great works by Thompson, Kerouac, Safran Foer, and Wolfe are basically rotting away in my little personal library. I should give every single book away to friends and colleagues. By doing that I’ll share knowledge and great stories.

Although I dream of a library with a Chesterfield and green carpet, I think I’ll have to get rid of my collection. I should make other people happy with it and read digital books. When proposing this to my Twitter followers, I got some interesting replies:

@JayHootsen: I gave away about half of my books last month. Not because of eBooks or so, but it made some people happy anyway.

@Alper: As soon as I can get my entire library digitally on my iPhone, I probably am doing something similar.

@loekessers: Of course, books are here to be read. And if you want to read a book again, you’ll support the author by buying a new one.

@RemcoBron replied that giving away books hurts authors, since people won’t buy the book anymore when they get it for free. I replied that books can go viral then. @erwblo; then said that books always have been viral. Hence the libraries, said @alper.

@obk and retweeted by @pastoorponcke;: Keep your books. They’re worth it. If not, change what you read.

@_Pim_: Dude, you won’t even look smart!

@Jerryhtmn;: I’ve always wanted a whole bunch of stuffed book shelfs, just because it looks really intellectual. So I’d keep them.

@LeanneRoos: ebooks would make your books antique or retro = money

What do you think? Do you recognize my sentiment or are you still aiming for that Chesterfield?

That’s why I asked on Twitter (I’m @dutchproblogger) which journalism movies my Twitter contacts liked. They came up with a great list, which I happily share here. So next time you’re wondering which movie to see, get inspired by these great journalism movies.

(In random order, descriptions by IMDB & trailers from YouTube)

All The President’s Men (1976)

At times it looked like it might cost them their jobs, their reputations, and maybe even their lives.

Reporters Woodward and Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Nixon’s resignation (8.0 on imdb).
I started the discussion with this movie.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shattered Glass (2003)

Read between the lies.

The true story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was found he had fabricated over half of his articles (7.5 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo & Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

Parallax View (1974)

There is no conspiracy. Just twelve people dead.

An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator’s assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the worlds headlines (7.4 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Foreign Correspondent (1940)

MYSTERY IN WHISPERS that cracks like THUNDER!

On the eve of WW2, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Year of Living Dangerously (1982)

A Love Caught In The Fire Of Revolution

A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer (7.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Killing Fields (1984)

He was a reporter for the New York Times whose coverage of the Cambodian War would win him a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. But the friend who made it possible was half the world away with his life in great danger… This is the story of war and friendship, the anguish of a country and of one man’s will to live.

A photographer is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot’s bloody “Year Zero” cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million “undesirable” civilians (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Professione: reporter (1975)

I used to be somebody else…but I traded myself in.

A frustrated war correspondent, unable to find the war he’s been asked to cover, takes the risky path of co-opting the I.D. of a dead arms dealer acquaintance (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

Citizen Kane (1941)

365 days in the making – and every minute of it an exciting NEW thrill for you !

Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance (8.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer & Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Insider (1999)

Warning: Exposing the Truth May Be Hazardous

A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a “60 Minutes” expose on Big Tobacco (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

Good Night, and Good Luck (2005)

We will not walk in fear of one another.

Broadcast journalist ‘Edward R. Murrow (I)’ looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Infamous (2006)

There’s more to the story than you know

While researching his book In Cold Blood, writer Truman Capote develops a close relationship with convicted murderers Dick Hickock and Perry Smith (7.2 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Control Room (2004)

Different channels. Different truths.

A documentary on perception of the United States’s war with Iraq, with an emphasis on Al Jazeera’s coverage (7.8 on imdb).
Suggestion by Arjo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Runaway Jury (2003)

Trials are too important to be decided by juries.

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer (7.1 on imdb).
Suggestion by Steven van Vessum

Click here to view the embedded video.

Charlie Wilson’s War

Based on a true story. You think we could make all this up?

A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson’s covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects (7.4 on imdb).
Suggestion by Steven van Vessum

Click here to view the embedded video.

Final Edition (2007)

After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009.

Read the story on the website of The Rocky Mountain News. Below is the whole (!) movie.
Suggestion by Joris van Meel

Click here to view the embedded video.

Wag the Dog (1997)

A Hollywood producer. A Washington spin-doctor. When they get together, they can make you believe anything.

Before elections, a spin-doctor and a Hollywood producer join efforts to “fabricate” a war in order to cover-up a presidential sex scandal (7.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by @jack_nl

Click here to view the embedded video.

Frost/ Nixon (2008)

400 million people were waiting for the truth.

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by: Jelte Nieuwenhuis & David Noël

Click here to view the embedded video.

A Mighty Heart (2007)

It was an event that shocked the world. This is the story you haven’t heard.

Mariane Pearl embarks on a frantic search to locate her journalist husband, Daniel, when he goes missing in Pakistan (6.8 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

État de Siège (1972)

A film about a journalist’s inquiry into the Uruguayan junta

In Uruguay in the early 1970s, an official of the US Agency for International Development (a group used as a front for training foreign police in counterinsurgency methods) is kidnapped by a group of urban guerillas (7.7 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

Give us your brain for two hours and you will never be the same again…..(Icelandic)

An oddball journalist and his psychopathic lawyer travel to Las Vegas for a series of psychadelic escapades (7.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Henriëtte Klijnstra & Arjo

Click here to view the embedded video.

Syriana (2005)

Everything is connected

A politically-charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it (7.1 on imdb).
Suggestion by David Veneman

Click here to view the embedded video.

Capote (2005)

Truman Capote (Hoffman), during his research for his book In Cold Blood, an account of the murder of a Kansas family, the writer develops a close relationship with Perry Smith, one of the killers (7.6 on imdb).
Suggestion by Jan-Albert Hootsen & Arjo

Click here to view the embedded video.

State of Play (2009)

Find The Truth

A team of investigative reporters work alongside a police detective to try to solve the murder of a congressman’s mistress (7.6 on imdb).
This movie gave me the idea of making this list

Click here to view the embedded video.

Almost famous (2000)

Experience it. Enjoy it. Just don’t fall for it.

A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour (8.0 on imdb).
Suggestion by Albert Nijmeijer

Click here to view the embedded video.

And some series

The Wire, season 5 (2007)

Read between the lines

Baltimore drug scene, seen through the eyes of drug dealers, and law enforcement (9.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Alper Çuğun: ‘In season 5 the focus is on the inner workings and cutbacks at the Baltimore Sun.’

Click here to view the embedded video.

State of Play (2003)

Sometimes you have to read between the lines

A thriller set in London, in which a politician’s life becomes increasingly complex as his research assistant is found dead on the London Underground and, in a seemingly unrelated incident, a teenage drug dealer is shot dead (8.7 on imdb).
Suggested by Tijs Teulings

Click here to view the embedded video.

Live from Baghdad (2002)

The Gulf War, 1991. No story is worth dying for – but this was the story of a lifetime

A group of CNN reporters wrestle with journalistic ethics and the life-and-death perils of reporting during the Gulf War (7.3 on imdb).
Suggested by Jan-Albert Hootsen

Click here to view the embedded video.

Missing a great journalism movie here? Drop a line in the comments!

Writer Janine Warner wrote a couple of books about the Internet and journalism. She recognizes the very same phenomenon that I’ve just described. At the International Symposium on Online Journalism, Warner said: ,,journalism students still dream about their name in the byline of a newspaper article. That’s the moment you’ve made it as a journalist. Even for me, it’s sometime hard to take Internet journalism seriously.”

What Warner wants from students is an entrepreneurial spirit. She encourages students to find their own publishing channels and to start building their networks. That’s where blogging comes into play.

Blogging meant the beginning of my network. I interviewed my journalistic heroes for Spotlight Effect, chatted with web celebs who knew my blog The Next Web and commented on articles written by people I admired. Thanks to my rather unusual name, some folks remembered my name. One of them happened to be Hans Nijenhuis, who hired me for nrc.next.

The Eye of the Storm. Photo: Flickr / Tim Caynes

Thanks to blogging, I was introduced in journalism heaven. I’ve written about the journalistic skills I’ve learned at nrc.next earlier, and I think it’s fair to say that those experienced journalists made me a better blogger. Even though they had little or no experience with blogs. They’ve taught me the basics of researching and writing good articles.

So now that I’ve used the traditional journalism techniques for blogging, I might as well share some information about the digital revolution on paper. That’s why I wrote a newspaper article about digital nomads, for which I interviewed TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher, Wordpress’ Matt Mullenweg and writer Paul Carr.

The big picture here: it’s incredibly important for journalists to train bloggers and for bloggers to inform journalists about the changes we’re going through.

• Journalists are the professionals who have the channels with thousands of followers and know how to produce great content
• Bloggers understand the shift in publishing and have an entrepreneurial spirit

How exciting is it when you combine that? Dan – fake Steve Jobs – Lyons already gave the answer during the Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco conference in April 2008, he said:

We, the Web 2.0 attendees, are in the eye of the storm. No, we’re creating the storm. [..] A beautiful media future is lying ahead of us. We’ve built a strong foundation for the online dream, and it will get better when the big media companies jump in.

US newspapers are dying, now it’s time for us to come up with exciting solutions. Let’s forge forces.

Let me start with a basic assumption: you blog to get your ideas and stories under the attention of others. If you’re not and treat your blog as a diary or personal archive, that’s perfectly ok. The idea behind this post though, is that you want to get your word out.

I'm sure this musician wants an audience. Photo Flickr / Guido van Nispen

Blogging is all about telling stories and having conversations, I’m with Blom on that one. There’s only one difference between Blom and a lot of other bloggers: he already had a reputation, a personal brand as you will. For those of you who are not from Holland: before Blom started blogging, he already was an influential in the Dutch music and new media scene. With such a great track record, you never have to start from scratch.

A lot of beginning bloggers don’t have such a large network. When I started blogging, I was studying communication science. Just like 300 others that year. In order to get attention, I had to use certain strategies. Like video taping an argument between the Dutch prime-minister and a famous tv journalist. Or interviewing the 100 top marketing bloggers about their blogging adventures.

For beginning bloggers who don’t have an impressive track record yet, branding strategies are of the utmost importance. Otherwise you’re just blogging for yourself.

So if you’ve just started blogging: think of non-intrusive ways to get attention for your blog. Don’t spam your influentials, always keep in mind that you have to add value for others. Interview them, write a post in which you share your best tips, do something extraordinary.

But most of all, take the advice of Blom for granted. Write those beautiful stories. And while you’re at it, don’t forget to think of some techniques to reach the people you want to inspire.

Want to read more?

• Here’s how I interviewed the 100 top marketing bloggers.
• If you’re Dutch, Blom’s personal blog is here. Not from Holland? Read the posts I’ve written about him on this blog
• An excellent post about personal branding and getting attention on Skelliewag: How to Start (or Start-over) Building Your Personal Brand
• The Blog Promotion archive on Problogger.net

Drawing by the great Thomas Hawke

Hunter S Thompson is a hero of many. The writer of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the most honest book about the Hell’s Angels appeals to thousands of young journalists. He invented Gonzo Journalism. A journalism genre that finds its roots in New Journalism, where the old distinctions between journalism and creative writing were blurred. Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote are two of the most famous New Journalism-writers.

Gonzo Journalism took things a little further. It’s more colorful, wilder and more extreme. As the BBC puts it: ,where Tom Wolfe politely declined an acid tab in his iconic Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Hunter S Thompson denied himself nothing. (..) The writer became the story. Structure was thrown out of the window, replaced by a shambolic, yet magical, rollercoaster ride of artless hedonism.”

So Thompson died in 2005. You’ve read all his books. What’s left? Pointless nostalgia? Or can we reinvent this genre? Give it a twist and adapt it to the digital revolution which took place? Let’s find out.

What’s there to write about?

To get an idea how we can reinvent Gonzo Journalism we should come up with some ideas for stories first. After that we can brainstorm about how we could cover these subjects in a new and rocking way. I posted the following message on Twitter yesterday:

Want to experiment with Gonzo Journalism (coined by Hunter S Thompson) and thinking about spectacular subject. Who has an idea?

Some stories that need Gonzo style reporting

Olaf Koens, a Dutch correspondent in Moscow suggested to send a reporter to war-zone, since that’s one of the subjects where Hunter S Thompson had flaws. A few hours later, he added:

Antonie Fountain from the band Little Things That Kill suggested to investigate trafficking and forced prostitution on the Red Light District.

Tom Rovers said that we should go to a music festival since most festival reports are boring and can use some Gonzo style reporting.

Twitter user Gumbah said we’ve to investigate coffeeshop suppliers by posting outside their doors. ,,Gonzo style would be to infiltrate their system,” I replied. Then he came up with the brilliant idea to start our own shop.

Journalistic talent Loek Essers has sent me a direct message with two story ideas and even mentioned who should write them. Firstly a story by Antonie van Campen about the world of the Roma in Europe and secondly Adriaan Alsema should write a Gonzo story about gang wars in Colombia.

Last but not least, Sjeltur had a gonzo tip that sounded somewhat familiar: ,,Start a political party. Make a weird movie. Get elected and become THE new politician! :)”

Those ideas make a great start, what’s next?

So the idea of reinventing Gonzo Journalism has been coined, the first story ideas have been submitted, what’s next? Well, I’d say two things:

• Let’s come up with even more story ideas
• Let’s think about how we can use new technology for the reinvention of Gonzo

I can’t wait to see your comments and ideas and write another post about them. Gonzo style!

(anybody who says Gonzo 2.0 must buy the other commenters a bottle of whiskey)