What is Scribnia?

Scribnia is a Boston based startup company that is working to provide an online community for users to review bloggers, reporters, columnists and other online writers. It’s a five month old company that is still currently in private Alpha mode but is expecting to launch publicly this week. Side note, if you can’t wait and want to try out Scribnia today, send me an e-mail. I’ll invite my readers as long as I have Alpha invites to give out. All I ask is you in public beta mode.

Scribnia allows users to rate writers on a scale of 1 to 10. There are also niche specific metrics that allow you to rate a writer based on criteria relevant to writers in that niche. For example, the profiles for sports bloggers like Bill Simmons or Josh Gans list the following three “Context Ratings” on a sliding scale:

1. Statistical Reliance

From “Distrusts stats” to “Stat geek”.

2. Tone

From “Light” to “Serious”.

3. Controversialness

From “Non-controversial” to “Controversial”.

This context scale is a great way to sort authors, but it has one downfall. For writers like me who bounce from subject to subject, site to site, the Context Ratings system isn’t able to capture all the niches multi-topic authors write about and instead hones in on one niche.

For instance, I’m listed in the Blogging sub-category, but I also write about social media, Boston, bicycling, business, sports, and news articles for The Dorchester Reporter. If someone reads just the posts I write at Sports Fan 4 or just the news stories I write for The Dorchester Reporter, they’re not able to fit that material into the blogging metrics. So, in other words it’s not a perfect system but for most writers who focus on one or two niches it works splendidly.

Scribnia Rocks

If Scribnia rocked any harder they’d be in danger of passing Dewey Cox on the list of people/companies that rock/walk hard. The site itself not only kicks major butt, but their contact points are all quick and know what they’re doing too. Scribnia really gets the blogging community, which is huge for a site where bloggers (and other writers) are reviewed.

For Scribnia to succeed they must successfully reach out to bloggers and give us a tool we’ll enjoy. Well, they use Twitter well (@scribnia) and their site gives feedback to writers, which near any blogger will tell you is much appreciated. It also gives bloggers another venue for us to post our opinions.

Speaking of Twitter, they borrowed an idea from the micro-blogging platform and have their own follower/following system implemented directly into the site. It allows reviewers to follow other reviewers and thus see what they’re reading and reviewing. It’s a great way to check out new authors and see what your friends think of other authors. Follow me on Scribnia. Scribnia also has a commenting and thumbs up/down system on each review. Following other users will allow you to see where they commented and which reviews they gave a thumbs up or down to.

So far, I’m really digging Scribnia and think you will too. Much like Yelp I’ve found the reviews are genuine, critical, and well written. They are really on their way to developing a database of online author reviews that will become the main stop for anyone looking to expand their reading collection. When it launches publicly it will become the top resource for online author reviews. So don’t delay, send me an e-mail today to get in before everyone else!

Write up a review of me on my Scribnia profile.

Here’s a few more posts on Scribnia from other bloggers.

• Community Blogging at Scribnia – The Lost Jacket
• The Future of Scribnia – Danny Brown/David Spinks
• Why Scribnia is Valuable to ME – David Spinks
• Scribnia: Connecting Blogs & Readers – Totally Incorrect

The A-Roid Cocktail: It Had To Happen and Here

The A-Roid Cocktail at Bonfire

The A-Roid cocktail is a shot of El Mejor tequila served with a syringe filled with a spicy, smoky tomato juice (hehe, juice, get it?) made from house smoked tomatoes, tomato juice, lemon juice, Tabasco sauce and jalapenos. Yes, it’s as delicious as it sounds and I’m here to bring you the world exclusive first review of Bonfire’s A-Roid cocktail!

Let me start off by thanking the excellent staff for making this cocktail for me, as they are NOT currently selling it (April 6 is its official debut). The staff went above and beyond the call of duty, not just by making the A-Roid cocktail but also in recommending a superb dinner (choice of four tacos for $12, the spicy tuna tartar taco is a must try) and all around doing everything possible to ensure we had a good time. Thank you for making my first trip to Bonfire a pure delight. You will see my face there again!

The A-Roid cocktail will make its official appearance on Red Sox opening day, April 6, 2009. However, as my former sales manager at Vector Marketing would put it, I used “the ol Pieniazek charm” to coerce gently persuade the staff to pour me a sneak preview, which basically boiled down to me shooting off my sad puppy dog eyes at the bartender. Nevertheless, you can’t argue with results and simply put you cannot pass up this drink if you’re a Red Sox fan. Heck, if you’re a fan of any baseball team, besides the New York Yankees, you owe it to yourself to try this drink.

Hmmm, cheap, delicious tacos

Technically, the drink I had was not quite the A-Roid cocktail as they do not yet have the El Mejor tequila in stock (so don’t ask until April 6!) but a substitute premium tequila was used and did not affect the presentation at all. Besides, the tequila is simply not the major attraction here. That’s right, an alcoholic beverage where the actual alcohol comes second. This cocktail is all about the experience and the souvenir syringe filled with juice. I know what you’re all really here to read about, and that’s the juice.

The smoky tomatoes and supplemental spicy ingredients complement the tequila perfectly. You can drink this cocktail anyway you wish, but I chose a traditional process, putting a pinch of salt on my tongue, shooting the tequila, sucking the lime, followed by injecting the delicious tomato juice into my mouth (careful not to get it in your eyes, it is hot and will burn). Normally, I’m not a huge fan of tequila, but the tomato juice so cleanly chased the tequila that I became a quick convert.

After downing the shot and injecting the juice, I felt on top of the world and ready to conquer all. Minutes later, I felt my iPhone vibrating and after a quick conversation, was offered a contract to play for the New York Yankees. Of course, as a lifelong, born and raised, Bostonian and Red Sox fan I succinctly declined, with the obligatory Yankees Suck, Let’s Go Red Sox thrown in for good measure. Sorry, I’d rather continue my career as a struggling writer than join the ranks of A-Rod and the rest of the evil empire. Besides, pinstripes make me look too skinny.

In the interest of avoiding a libel suit from the evil empire, let me note that the entire preceding paragraph was false (aside from the Yankees Suck and pinstripes bit).

I then proceeded to go outside and hit 500 foot dingers while a crowd gathered around me in awe.

For fans wishing to only drink Red Sox beverages, rather than anti-Yankees drinks, there’s also the Matsusake, which is TyKu junmai ginjo sake, shiso, cucumber & sour mix served with crushed ice. My buddy and I agreed, it was a very tasty drink. The cucumbers match the smooth rice wine well and if you’re not careful this concoction can get downed quickly.

The Bonfire's Matsusake

There will also be a Red Sox food menu, developed by Executive Chef Robert Bean, which will include: Francona’s Franks, Pedroia Sized Buffalo Chicken Bites, Truffled Papel-Corn, and Guinness “Big Frapi.” Sounds yummy!

My final verdict?

The A-Roid cocktail’s fine tequila, spicy tomato injection, and overall presentation deserve and get a 11/10, A++, a game ending grand slam. This type of alcoholic ingenuity is a big part of why I love the City of Boston. It’s literally the best theme drink, ever. Period. End of argument. Way to be Bonfire!

Put it on your calendar, April 6, 2009, opening day for the Boston Red Sox and the official launch of the A-Roid cocktail. Join me at Bonfire for A-Roid cocktails and hopefully a big Red Sox win. If you stop in, make sure you let Heather, the exceptionally creative bartender responsible for the genius A-Roid cocktail, know that Adam P referred you! Oh, and if you have a dog and would like to treat him or her, check out Heather’s The Collared Canine site to order a comfortable yet classy collar for your pup!

P.S. Make sure you sign up for Only The Internet’s Best Reviews’ post feed (or head to OTIBR.com to sign up for e-mail updates) for the latest reviews, including a comprehensive review of Bonfire’s drinks and food (coming soon).

Let’s end this review with a resounding:

Let’s go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Let’s go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. Let’s go Red Sox! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

I won’t go into too much detail in this review, but will rather go through a few points.

• Heath Ledger deserves an Oscar for that performance.
• I’m a huge Morgan Freeman fan; any movie with him automatically gets 3 / 5 stars.
• This movie felt like we were watching a graphic comic book. It’s got a great feel to it.
• It was 2.5 hour long and did not drag at all.
• Maggie Gyllenhaal filled in well for Katie Holmes.
• If Heath Ledger does not receive the Oscar for best male performance, then the Oscars have lost all authority.
• Yes, Heath is that good in this film.
• Batman has some damn cool gadgets that put Apple to shame.
• Batman has some damn scary surveillance technology that puts Big Brother to shame.
• Go.See.The.Dark.Knight.

My highest review yet:

4.99999 / 5

I don’t believe in perfection, which is the only reason this film did not receive a 5/5. If you’re looking to get immersed in another world, go watch The Dark Knight.

We start off with Matt of HookLineSinker fame. He’s been sick lately but is finally starting to feel better. Being sick sucks so let’s all wish him a super quick full recovery. At least Matt’s sickness gave him a chance to see a great movie, Into the Wild, the story of Christopher McCandless‘ journey into the Alaskan wilderness. It’s a fantastic movie and I recommend all my readers check it out. If you like Pearl Jam you’ll love the soundtrack to Into the Wild, as it’s an all acoustic album by Eddie Vedder. Matt also saw the new Angelina Jolie movie, Wanted, this weekend and saw a stark contrast to the simple but sad beauty of Into the Wild:

Wanted is a great example of 100% American Hollywood. They try to get the audience of people who have boring jobs (99.9%?) and make them feel like they could be a world class assassin and be around hot women and fast cars and blah blah blah. I enjoyed it for what it was but the whole time I’m thinking, I’d rather not have to deal with riding the top of a train, getting shot at, being beat down repeatedly, getting stabbed and cut repeatedly, and just get away from that whole mess and live a normal life. The movie ends with the line “What the @#$% have you done lately?” … How um, cheesy? For starters I overpaid for movie tickets to a movie theater that has sub-par seating and projectors.

I love how Matt describes the chase scene and getting shot at as mundane tasks. I’ve yet to see Wanted, I intended to but will hold off based on that review. I’m perfectly content with my life right now and don’t really need to escape from it. Sounds like a movie I’ll eventually rent but for now the four free passes I have to the movies will go towards seeing Wall-E, which sounds absolutely amazing. Also Matt, I’d highly recommend you go ahead with your plan to get rid of one of your cars and highly encourage you at least consider bicycling to work. Buying a bicycle is easily one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and it’s already paid for itself through sheer enjoyment and improved health!

Next up is Ahmad Farid from Unleashing Thoughts. Ahmad witnessed an interaction on a bus between the driver and a passenger that was rude on both parts. Ahmad makes a dark realization that:

Two people who have never seen anything bad from the other are just treating each other as enemies.

Unfortunately it is human nature and history that automatically makes us confront others as enemies. Ahmad wonders:

Why do people like to show anger and hatred? Is it for showing strength? Dignity? Honor?

The answer, I believe, lies with our ancestors. They were forced to analyze everyone as an enemy first in order to protect themselves and their family. Those people who assumed everyone was friendly most likely died quicker due to more evil people taking advantage of them. Eventually humans start grouping themselves into communities and were able to overcome sinister individuals and were forced to act nicely to each other but as my post from six days ago and the passenger and driver on Ahmad’s bus show, our angry and aggressive tendencies have a way of showing themselves. It is why many of us must make a conscious effort to be nice but experience anger without thinking about it.

It’s now my distinct honor to introduce the next President of the United States, Douglas Ragan, from The New Pundit. I’ll let himself explain why he’ll be the next President:

I am not actually running for President of the US for a few reasons. One reason is that I am 33. Another reason is that I have no political experience. And lastly, I am a very reasonable person who does not enjoy lying, therefore no one would ever vote for me.

So, he won’t actually be the next President but by not enjoying lying I already have more faith in him than either of the mainstream candidates! The New Pundit continues to act non-Presidential and gets right to work addressing a huge issue for many Americans, oil and the environment:

There are some economic minded types out there who believe that the green movement may be the next big thing in the economy. Some of the ideas would create many new jobs and there are a number of companies who would greatly benefit by getting their green ideas off the ground.

As one of those “economic minded types”, I’ve got to agree that the green industry will be the next big business in the USA and around the world. It’ll require a shift in consumer and corporate behaviors, from planned obsolesce that requires continual consumption to a sustainable model that focuses on local communities and thus strengthens the nation as a whole by strengthening each of our neighborhoods. If we focused all new development in the US towards green methods we could slowly but surely reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and ensure every citizen would have access to clean and cheap energy. It’s a win-win for everyone except the current behemoths of the economy.

Justin from LifeofJustin brings us some good news and bad news. A few days ago his iPhone stopped working:

So at this point, I am ready to barge in to the Apple store here in Phoenix and see what is up with this thing. I am really hoping to get a replacement of some kind. I just hope they don’t make me wait to get a new phone in the mail.

As a fellow iPhone owner, I feel Justin’s pain as the device becomes almost an extension of yourself, when it’s working right. I’ve had a few issues with my own iPhone so I especially understand the frustration of the expensive phone not working perfectly. My own problems have involved poor service, slow response time, and frequent freezing. I’m past the warranty but I might make a trip to the local Apple store and see if they can help me out too, after all Apple’s customer service is supposed to be phenomenal.

The good news from Justin’s life is that he went to Hawaii for the weekend. I’m a bit jealous that he got to just up and go randomly to Hawaii, especially since one of my good buddies just came back from there and had an amazing time there. It’s made me start thinking of taking a trip somewhere myself, though I’ll for sure be biking there once my injuries are healed and bike is fixed so Hawaii is out of the question for now. I’ll be going to the Saco river at the end of the month but want to go somewhere new too. Any suggestions?

Finally Casey from Volunteer Boston discusses a pretty cool non-profit group that helps Bostonians plant orchards in their urban environment.

EarthWorks is a non-profit that works with community groups to plant and maintain urban orchards in Boston. They concentrate on communities with limited resources where they can have the biggest potential impact. EarthWorks tries to connect the neighborhood residents with nature – something that seems quite far off in the middle of the city.

It sounds like a very cool organization. I’ve been considering planting a pear tree in our backyard lately and Casey’s post might just inspire me to go ahead and do so. We already have a small garden but we have just barely enough land for a few trees too so might as well!

Thanks again to all my readers for making June the best month in this blog’s history.

The way the site works is a user submits any online coupons or promotional codes they find to the site. Then, the coupon is voted on by the community and the top discounts get put on the front page. You can also browse for savings by company or site name and check out existing deals and their vote rating. For instance, a few days ago I was buying up a ton of domain names (for reasons I’ll reveal sometime soon) and went looking for GoDaddy promotional codes. Thanks to the voting system on savings.com, I was able to quickly find codes that actually worked.

There are tons and tons of coupons on the site for all sorts of stores so if you’re doing any shopping check out savings.com. I’m now slightly wealthier thanks to savings.com, which I can’t say for facebook, digg, reddit, myspace, pownce, or any other social network site. If you liked this post, there’s good news for you as I’ll be launching a site revolving around money in the coming weeks. The site will publicize saving opportunities, saving tips, and historical information about money. I’ll post to this site when it’s live, but subscribe to my feed to ensure you’re up to date.

Score: 4/5

Their site streams all these episodes and the streaming happens quite quickly. The quality of the video is also very good. I did happen upon a glitch where one episode (Mystery of the Urinal Deuce –hadn’t seen it before and the title reminded me of an incident on my dorm room floor in my freshman year at USC, but that story is for another post, another day) skipped forward six seconds at the start but otherwise the site runs flawlessly.

So the site is cool and the idea works very well. I’m a big advocate of media such as South Park and other TV shows and movies being free and ad-supported. Another very sweet feature of the South Park site is the ability to create your own South Park avatars. The selection is a bit limited right now but you can still come up with some cool and unique characters.

Here’s me in the 4th grade:

Look how happy I am in my grunge gear, towering over all the other kids at the playground.

Let’s fast forward thirty-five years and check out future me:

My, how times have changed. Happy grunge me has turned into a balding vigilante with a gun living in exile in Mexico. Well, at least I’ve got a mohawk mullet thing going on. Chicks are sure to dig that look in the future for its maximized business in the front, party in the back, rebellion down the middle efficiency.

So, all in all, South Park Studios, even though it is still in beta, is already a sweet success.

Score 4/5

Another nice feature is the ability to edit clips right on Hulu and embed the trimmed down clips on a site. When you click the embed clip button, a screen comes up with a scroll bar at the bottom that lets you decide where the embedded clip should start and where it should end. Already I wish youtube had this feature, as it’s very handy when you just want to show someone a part of a clip, not the whole video. Here’s how the editing screen looks:

Pretty cool eh?

The same editing feature is available under the share button, where you can e-mail your friends a link to either the full original video or an trimmed down clip. It all works smoothly and quickly. Quite impressive.

Check out this clip from the end of the Family Guy episode, Play it Again Brian:

Hulu would be better if the advertisements just scrolled at the bottom of the screen or played in a sidebar while browsing the Hulu site, but as is they’re about as un-intrusive as can be. One very irritating part of the advertisements is that many times the same ad gets played over and over again through the course of an episode. While it’s not too annoying while watching a short 20 minute episode of The Simpsons or Family Guy because there’s only two or three ads, it becomes very annoying over the course of a 40 minute episode of The Office. Hulu needs to figure out someway to rotate ads around or require advertisers to submit more than one ad. In either case, seeing the same ad five or six, or even more times over the span of 40 minutes quickly destroys any urge to buy the advertised product.

There is also a HD Gallery on the site which streams high-definition videos. Right now this collection of high-def videos is limited to ten movie trailers but the quality and speed of the streaming is very, very impressive. If they’re able to upload full-length HD movies and shows Hulu is going to receive tons and tons of traffic from people like me who have a nice big monitor with a limited amount of HD content to view online. Though, if movies were to get interrupted every twenty minutes by an ad it might not be such a big hit.

It’s still early but my experience with Hulu has been great so far. Over time I hope Hulu alternates advertisements so it’s not the same ads over and over again. Another big concern is whether they’re able to stay afloat financially without increasing advertisements. Have you had a chance to explore Hulu? What did you think?If not, want to?

Score: 3.5/5

Derty
The album starts out with one of my favorite songs, which is a great song all unto itself, but gets extra points for introducing Bill Simmons’s podcast. It’s been a lot of fun watching this song progress from his YouTube video to a more refined version posted on his blog to this album cut. Since Ronald describes this song so well, I’ll let him take over:

“It’s got a real dirty sound, like a rusty steak knife cutting through a well aged steak.”

Damn right it does RJ. Who needs soap when dirty sounds this good?

Score: 6/5

Neptune
Ronald switches gears from the viciously loud Derty to the slow and gentle cascades of Neptune. Though it’s a bit slow for my tastes, it has been growing on me. The synthesized violin on this track and Ronald’s mad piano skills complement each other so well you’d think there’s two other musicians in the room with him. Nope. It’s all Jenkees!

Score: 4/5

Canon in D Remix
Whoah, this track starts off sounding like quaint ballroom music and turns into a steadily building crescendo of synthesized guitar, piano and violin. You start off thinking what the heck Ronald and before you know it you’re playing air guitar. A soaring stroll through a synthesized land of rocking out.

Score: 5/5

Clutter
Jenkees drops the glassy beats quickly and cleverly. Constantly tantalizing with what seems like a million glasses of water, being banged away on by a small army of clinkers.

Score: 4/5

Super-Fun
Is it just me, or would this song sound right at home in a Japanese role playing game, along the lines of Final Fantasy? Though it’s not quite my cup of techno-ish tea, the song builds to a fiery and rousing electronic symphony.

Score: 4/5

The Rocky Song Remixed
This song just might get Slyvester Stallone to make another Rocky movie, which actually makes it lose one point. Rocky Balboa was OK but it’s got to STOP!

Score: 4/5

Snap
Some marketing company is going to offer Ronald buckets of cash to use the first 30 seconds of this beat in a commercial. Luckily for us, the rest of the track is just as good. A catchy beat with diverse enough changes to keep your interest over the whole track. Love the tapping of keys on a keyboard. Tippity tap tap!

Score: 5/5

The Sunfish Song
Ronald Jenkees comes at it hard on this song, with a thundering piano and thriving bass, this track is pleasantly chaotic. His talent at manipulating the piano to his mind’s content shines on this track.

Score: 4/5

Loui
My comment yesterday, “A slow jaunt through a dreary landscape with hopeful peaks” explains it pretty well. Ronald takes us on a techno-ish journey here and builds and drops the mood of the song continuously while still maintaining a coherent vibe of hope.

Score: 5/5

Gold Spinners
Funky, energetic and soulful. Smooth from start to finish, like a nice cold beer after a long day’s work, this song just makes you plain feel good. A synthesized saxophone casually pokes in through Ronald’s smooth piano notes and warm beats. It’s got the feel of a salsa song which the soul of a blues song, it’s one of my favorites from start to finish.

Score: 5/5

Remix to a Remix
Begging for a talented hip-hop lyricist, this beat is hot.

Score: 5/5

Almost Undamaged – So good I bought it twice. It’s the perfect beat for walking around your city or neighborhood on a warm summer afternoon, there’s thing this called soul that is sorely lacking from many modern musicians, but gigabytes of Ronald’s comes through on this track. Parts of the song have this clapping type noise that almost sounds like a train chugging along down the tracks, and that seems to be the flow of the song, to keep pushing forward, because everything is all right.

Score: Infinity/5

56K

Please hold my calls cuz I’m using the phone
Dial up modem analog connection.

Rap about 56K modems = comedic genius. Nuff said.

Score: 5/5

Ain’t No Thang

Here Ronald takes a look at rap culture, laid over a classic hard southern beat. Ronald pokes fun at the extravagant rappers who rap about their blinged out cars and piles of cash by rapping about his situation:

My cash, my jewels, my car it ain’t no thing

We also see Ronald can’t afford no speeding tickets:

Tapping on my brakes to the sound of my beats
I got the red lights blinking at the sight of the heat

Ronald’s not gonna win any awards for his rapping, but it’s all about having fun and it’s easily apparent he’s having a blast on this song.

Nuh uh. You cant coax me to floss.

Even though Jenkees doesn’t sample music, he does get a lot of inspiration from The Neptunes beat on Drop it Like It’s Hot on this track. Synthesized tongue clicks…wow.

Score: 5/5

[Edit: Ronald corrected me on a few of the lyrics and I thought I'd post it here for accuracy's sake: "The real lyrics: tappin on my breaks to the sound of this heat (just meant the heat coming off the track)..can't coax me to flow (can't trick me into rapping) But don't change a thing (unless you want to). The lyrics don't make much sense anyways, and it still makes me laugh!!" Thanks Ronald!]

As the scores above show, there are no duds on this album. The YouTube videos and Ronald’s blog previews gave us all expectations about this album and built the hype to epic proportions. Ronald smashes past all those expectations and delivers a soulful, energetic record of thoughtful beats. He says it’s all about having fun, but there is a level of authenticity streaming throughout these beats that shows thought rarely seen in today’s commercialized music world.

Ronald says more here with his beats than many artists say over their whole careers. He pours himself into his music and shares it with us all, hoping we’ll like it but not catering to us. Well, Ronald, we love it! If anything, it’s not enough fun! You’ve got the album down, now it’s time for the Ronald Jenkees world tour!

The Ronald Jenkees self-titled debut album is available at the music store on his blog Amazon.com for the bargain price of $10 $8.99, with individual tracks price at $1. Check it out now!