Perez Hilton fans, take notice, there’s a new blog in town. No, it’s not your typical Hollywood gossip blog. This new site is actually about something relevant to your life: Binghamton.

Joshua B., a Binghamton resident, has joined the Internet world of blogging to bring us BingPop.com, a unique site that discusses pop culture related to Binghamton.

As a graduate from Brandeis University, Joshua now lives full time in our lovely city and uses his blog to comment on and discuss both local and national issues alike. Release was able to chat with Joshua about the history behind his Bing blog and why Perez Hilton should watch out.

Release: How did you wind up in Binghamton and how long have you lived here?

Joshua B: I’ve lived here for a little under three years. Actually, I moved here the weekend of the huge flood of ‘06 — about two days before. It was pretty surreal. I was working at 103.5 KTU, a popular dance station in NYC — but I was producing instead of working as an on-air personality. I wanted to get behind the mic, and so I had to move to a smaller media market. Now, in addition to writing for BingPop.com, I host a morning show on Star 105.7, and I’ve really come to appreciate Binghamton.

Release: Do you have past experience with writing blogs?

JB: No, not at all. Two years ago, I thought blogs were the dumbest idea in the world. Why does anyone care what some random jerk with a PC and an Internet connection think? If these people were any good, surely they’d get picked up by a newspaper or online publication. But then I found a few that I really loved: perezhilton.com, geekologie.com, thesuperficial.com. That’s when I understood their place. There’s a quality of writing that the mainstream media completely ignores. In fact, they’re kind of afraid of it.

Release: What influenced you to create BingPop.com, and when did you create it?

JB: The morning show I do is a whole lot of fun, but it’s limited in terms of depth. People want to hear music as much as they want to hear me talk — and so I can only fit so much into a show. This was an opportunity for me to “stretch my wings,” to use a super-hokey cliche. Plus, there’s plenty of local TV and radio, but there’s not much of an established digital culture. Binghamton needed something with the tone of Perez Hilton that dealt with local topics. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not Perez. But I was inspired by his candor and personality.

Release: What types of things do you write about?

JB: Whatever you want to read about or whatever I happen to care about that day. That’s one of the great things about blogs. People almost expect a certain amount of inconsistency in terms of content. We swing from politics to local hangouts to movie reviews to celeb trash-talk. Sometimes it’s local; sometimes it’s national with a local twist. Sometimes, it’s something bizarre I dug up in some little dusty corner of the Net.

Release: Do you draw inspiration or tips from other online blogs?

JB: In terms of tone, yes. In terms of what makes a blog “sticky,” yes. In terms of content, I try not to. The big bloggers will always have more contacts and resources. But they’re not writing about Bing. And they don’t understand the perspective.

Release: Do you write your blog with a specific target audience in mind?

JB: I write the blog for people like me. I’ve worked in mainstream media enough to understand how to target content. But this blog is my play-thing. Who do I think can appreciate it? Twenty-somethings, 30-somethings. The Jon Stewart/Sarah Silverman/Eddie Izzard/Kathy Griffin generation. A lot of people older than that read the blog; I know because I hear from them. They’re just really, really, really cool older people. Everybody else can go read something else. I don’t care. I’m not about broad appeal.

Release: What makes BingPop.com unique from other blogs?

JB: I wrote it.

Release: Have you been doing anything to advertise BingPop.com or give it more exposure?

JB: I walk around with little BingPop business cards. Then I wander around with a cocktail, start talking to perfect strangers and hand them a card. That’s the only way I know how. Plus I have BingPop T-shirts with snarky little phrases: “Whatever. Our economy collapsed decades ago. — Binghamton, N.Y.” I try to turn other people into walking billboards. Then I encourage people to put a BingPop.com banner on their Web pages. In fact, that’s what you should go do right now. Stop reading this newspaper. Put down the Pipe Dream and go to BingPop.com. Hello, don’t know you know that print is pass√É.√©?