Two of a kind: Time Out and Sydney Agenda
It seems to Dr Mumbo that we’re reaching the point that there are more city lifestyle blogs than there are nightgoers.
He could swear that every other person was writing reviews in the kebab shop the other night.
The latest new arrival is Sydney Agenda, which launched last month. How on earth can a small team possibly cover everything hot and new, Dr Mumbo wonders.
Perhaps there’s a clue here…
Take Time Out Sydney’s review of Bloodwood in Newtown, by veteran reviewer Myffy Rigby posted at the end of February and compare it to Sydney Agenda’s item, posted last Thursday.
There are some subtle similarities both in the structure of the review, and indeed the menu choices.
For starters, both reviewers are obviously big fans of KFC.
According to Time Out, the restaurant offers: “fried chicken wings so meaty and crisp they’d make the colonel jealous.”
Or as Sydney Agenda puts it: “chicken wings, so crispy they’d make the Colonel weep with envy,”
There again, there’s a familiar feel to both intros too:
Time Out: ” Bloodwood, the brand new restaurant from ex-Claude’s chefs Jo Ward, Claire van Vuuren and Mitch Grady is open.”
Or as Sydney Agenda puts it: “When three chefs from Claude’s, one of Sydney’s finest, get together to open their own funky Newtown restaurant and bar the result is unsurprisingly a huge hit.
Still, there’s a whole lot of gap-bridging going on too, and referencing of the restaurant Oscillate Wildly, come to that.
Time Out: “Bridging the gap between Thai food at Bank and a nine-course molecular journey (at) Oscillate Wildly,”
Sydney Agenda: “A restaurant and bar that bridges the gap between Newtown’s proliferation of Thai and Vietnamese offerings and the gastronomic flights of degustation fancy of Oscillate Wildly”
Mind you, the choices of what to eat may have been similar, but at least the order they ate them in was subtly different:
Time Out: “dishes such as the mix of pork, crab and shiitake mushroom”
Sydney Agenda: “We filled up on delectable bean curd rolls (filled with crab, pork and shitake)”
And do you know what? Both reviewers found them “moreish” too.
And…
Time Out: “But you’ll also find the best polenta chips in town here, all golden and super crunchy, with a gutsy gorgonzola dipping sauce on the side.”
Sydney Agenda: “as did the polenta chips which, along with their gorgonzola dipping sauce, were demolished with very ungenteel gusto.”
No doubt it’s all just an amazing coinicidence though.
Why work when you can steal? Now that’s an agenda.
User ID not verified.
I’ve noticed similarities in the content between other sites as well. There are some industry sites which appear to borrow a lot of their content as well!
User ID not verified.
lol pwnd
User ID not verified.
Nice one, Mumbrella
User ID not verified.
FAIL.
User ID not verified.
“…there are more city lifestyle blogs than there are nightgoers.”
Bwahahahahahaha!
User ID not verified.
If Myffy is a veteran at 30 does that make Terry Jurassic?
User ID not verified.
Thanks for the mention Dr Mumbo. As the writer of the Agenda article I’ve followed up your concern with the Colonel, and the comparison still seems apt even if a little obvious. The chicken wings are still crispier and infinitely tastier than his, so I’ll stick by that.
I’ve also compared notes with my baby son who was sitting on my lap when I was out at Bloodwood with some friends just before I wrote the article, and he’s still gurgling and giggling at the memory of those polenta chips… and, yes, we did all polish them off with ungenteel gusto. Between us we tried the other items we mentioned too.
The gang from Claude’s has done an almighty job bridging a dining gap in Newtown and I guess that’s why they deserve the attention they’re getting.
One thing we promise is that we review only the best of the most interesting places we visit. Personally I really enjoyed Bloodwood, which was the reason for sharing it. On the way back there right now, for some more of those delectable bean curd rolls.
User ID not verified.
Hmm…That is a pretty lame response. The articles are far too similar for there to have been no connection.
User ID not verified.
@ADW
“On the way back there right now”
Are you sure?
If you read Time Out’s review again, you will see that Bloodwood doesn’t open until 5pm.
Busted again!
User ID not verified.
I can’t remember who it was who said ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’ so I’ll just say we coined the phrase. This, however, is not so much imitation as plagiarism – as Dr Mumbo has pointed out, several phrases are suspiciously similar. I’m sure this was a one-off mistake from these guys, though they don’t seem to be admitting to it. At least we know that Time Out is very much on SAD’s agenda, just as it is for 200,000 other people in Sydney. And it goes to show that Time Out is leading the pack. SAD can borrow that phrase too if they like.
User ID not verified.