D'Amato launches Pestiside

A few weeks ago, Erik d'Amato invited me over to his place for a peek at a project he was developing. I was intrigued, but he couldn't convince me that Budapest really needed its own version of Gawker.

Now that I see the result, Pestiside, I've changed my mind.

On his 'about' page, Erik promises "spicy and incisive original items about the things that make Hungary actually worth living in or visiting, pithy recaps of the most important and colorful local news, and unbiased information and reviews of locally-available goods and services you are actually likely to use."

So far, Pestiside delivers. Recent topics include kooky Magyars petitioning the government to be officially classfied as 'Huns', a serial dog killer in the village of Rábacsanak, and Hungary's recent porn Oscar awards night. (Ironically, that item got Erik a link in Nick Denton's Fleshbot - congratulations!)

I especially like Erik's parody news summaries. The 'Serious New Update Service' seems to be items off the MIT newswire, or perhaps from Hungary Around the Clock. 'Sun Screen' presents the latest from Budapest's venerable paper of record:

Here at Pestiside, we read the Budapest Sun so you don't have to! And thanks to our patented Sun Screener™ we can offer you all the important highlights of Budapest's de-facto English-language newspaper of record, with none of its headache-producing rays and toxic emission.

Yes, even though I live in Budapest, I usually can't be bothered to pick up the local English-language newspapers. And when I do read it's usually the Budapest Times, which features Erik's popular gossip column, Stink. Naturally, the column is regular fodder for Pestiside.

It remains to be seen whether Erik can keep up his enthusiasm for the project (apathy being the leading killer of weblogs) and whether this project can actually make money. Erik hopes to build up enough of an audience that he can earn an income selling advertising. That may or may not happen, but I believe Erik has made his first point. Budapest is ready for its own version of Gawker, and Erik looks set to deliver.