The only one of those categories containing more than one blog I've actually read was Left-Wing Blog, so I voted for Hullaballoo. Legal Fiction just doesn't have enough words per week.
On an unrelated note, this is a thread into which some gifted writers might add some content.
1: isn't that weird? I can't believe it. I think of TPM as pretty much the gold standard of blogging, in some ways, while Lileks has a moderately cute Americana song and dance. It also surprises me that Glenn Greenwald is second. And it completely stuns me-- I'm serious, this isn't (just) a dig-- that The Anchoress has a following. That's like Chuck Simmins territory. Oh, wait, he gets Instalinks.
I do not call myself a gifted writer, but I have contributed.
Doesn't The Anchoress have breasts? Those are always good for a few hundred votes.
And it completely stuns me-- I'm serious, this isn't (just) a dig-- that The Anchoress has a following
Preach it. I'd never read her before, so when I saw her on that list, I decided to see what the blog was like. I seriously went to Google twice to find the "other Anchoress" because I kept thinking "no fucking way is this in the running for "Best Individual Blog"
Lileks's appeal doesn't surprise me. I know tastes differ, but Lileks can legitimately attract someone not just looking for the partisan Outrage of the Day. He posts Bolivian bank notes; he posts short sequences from 1950s ads. He writes the occassional very memorable sentence. Dr. Josh may be a best-in-class political blogger, but he's rarely funny and almost never whimsical.
These are the wingnut awards, by and for wingnuts. It would be more surprising if non-wingnuts won anything.
Ogged, the breasts are bricked up in a cathedral, you pervert. Besides, Lileks' are bigger.
gs: it's puzzling-- I mean, everything about that site looks clunky, from the visual to the syntax. Go figure, I guess.
Baa, you know I share some sympathies with the pro-Lileks aesthetic. I think I'm just blinded by these fat social security checks I keep cashing.
Sure, Lileks is a reasonably skilled writer. It's just that about 3/4 of his output is the pinnacle of banal.
TPM kind of lost me, actually. It became inaccessable if I wasn't reading all 30 posts per day on which congressman admitted declining to deny not saying something negative about a proposed plan under consideration.
Oh wait, I had the Anchoress confused with the Atlas Shrugged woman.
13: Maybe. But it's not like most webblogging is Tolstoy. Writing 500 words a day while holding down a fulltime job is just awfully difficult. And the purpose of the medium is more flashes of insight and amusement than a consistent level of quality. I don't read lileks with much consistency, but on the occassion that I do there is usually something there (a 40s matchbook, whatever) that sticks in the mind.
It became inaccessable if I wasn't reading all 30 posts per day on which congressman admitted declining to deny not saying something negative about a proposed plan under consideration.
Precisely! Inside baseball to the nth power. That said, if one wants the savvy dem take on a sleazy GOP state senator in Nevada it's the bee's knees.
13 - Are you saying Googie, T-Shirt, Brat: An Interminable Golden Bleat, in which The Gnat's profundities uttered in the Target parking lot explain to maimed Iraqis why they should just shut up and thank us, isn't going to stand the test of time?
He has a good eye, I'll give him that.
God, I remember reading that comment thread linked in 18 at the time and marveling at the moral and intellectual vapidity of the Rah Rah America crowd. It really hasn't aged well at all with three years of hindsight seasoning.
"You didn't have the stones." That's not a fine moment.
These are the wingnut awards, by and for wingnuts.
If the presence of the Anchoress and Dan Riehl in the "Best Individual Blog" category didn't convince you of this -- let alone the near-total absence of actual centrists from the "Best Centrist Blog" category -- then a little gander at "Best Blog" makes it even more obvious. LGF, PowerLine, Malkin, Instahack, and the Corner are all there.
Labs, you have practically Christlike forbearance for some completely out-of-touch loons. I don't know whether to smack you or wash your feet.
I'm a little rusty on the appropriate referents.
"scourge" would work nicely, too.
Googie, T-Shirt, Brat: An Interminable Golden Bleat
snarkout lives up to his name -- and how! I will be laughing when I think of this for at least the next couple of hours.
Actually, my parents exhibited amazing foresight.
14: A bit, but it's still very useful. Whenever one of the 'inside baseball' stories gets interesting, TPM's the way to follow it, reliably and in detail.
And I share everyone else's bemusement at the idea that people read the Anchoress. But I'm judging her on the basis of having looked at her blog maybe three or four times ever -- maybe she's been sane or interesting when I wasn't looking?
No, you just have the wrong kind of eyes.