blog recommendations.

If you look to the right side of this page, you’ll find the usual links to other blogs. Most everyone seems to do this. Some people put every blog they ever visited or anyone that ever commented on their blog. Not me. Nope. I am pretty hard nosed about who gets on my blog list.

French School Confidential – I realize I’m biased with this one, which is why it tops the list. It is written by my very best friend, roommate, and girlfriend (all the same person). She is the one that got me caught up in this blog thing despite my aversion to the very word blog. French Panic is a brilliant writer and quite funny. I am grateful that the content is so good, otherwise I would link with a sense of duty, not honest admiration.

Death Bed Moment – I stumbled on this blog while hitting the next blog button. At least that is how I remember it happening, but my memory is often blurry. I don’t know this person in real life, but she is from Saskatchewan and the friendliness of Saskatchewan people seems to run deep. A little Canadian prairie perspective helps out when the big eastern city I live in feels uncomfortable and cold.

Jen Sees World – An art student in Baltimore that posts her drawings from time to time. I am always impressed with animation. It is one of my first loves. Even her avatar is pretty.

Sanctimony – I believe she came to my blog through visiting French Panic. She boldly posted one of my photos with a caption I wrote... and she fully credited me. The fact that I made someone in California laugh filled me with joy for a full two days. But I wouldn’t have added her to the blog roll if not for good writing.

Brian Garson – This is an old co-worker. We worked for the same nasty man. He was the first one to caution me about the jerk. When I started, I wondered why he was quiet and rarely smiled. A year later, when I was the only employee left in the office, I understood his emotional state. I believe that we share the record time for working for the man. I also believe that he probably smiles more now. We also share a love of photography and his fashion and skateboard photos blow my mind.

Kate Neckel – I think someone else had featured this New Yorker’s pen drawings on a more different blog. An excellent and unique artist, and a denizen of New York cafés. This is someone I would like to be friends with in real life. (Not that I wouldn’t be friends with anyone else featured here).

Painting Small Things – This blog is now abandoned which makes me very sad. It was done by a good friend of mine. He and I spent sometime together smashing walls and learning how to install hardwood floors. What he did was to make a painting a day and the subject matter was always something that most of us would think of as junk. To him, all junk has some inherent beauty in it. He doesn’t write any words. I don’t think he cares for writing words too often.

In(parent)thesis – What a clever little title. What a clever writer. She is the wife of the creator of Painting Small Things. She prefers writing words to painting. She is also a real life friend and more well read than me. Apparently she wrote a novel a month ago or so. At my suggestion/insistence she did include monkeys that are spies but she hasn’t let me read it yet.

Homestarrunner – This is not a blog. It is brilliant. If you have not visited this site before, [and if you haven't, you know nothing of the internet] I encourage you to stop reading this cross promotional drivel and set aside the next hour. Click the link NOW! It is the sort of cartoon that makes me laugh... without resorting to a well placed ‘fuck’ or ‘shithead’... so it is appealing even to kids. It is my dream to make a living the way the creators have; no advertising... at all. All money is apparently made by selling t-shirts, DVDs, etc.

There is a lot of crap on the internet. The featured sites appeal to me because they are not pretentious or boring and because most all of them have pictures. I need pictures to read better. Please take the time to visit them and leave comments. Everyone loves comments.