Tuesday, January 4

The 2005 Bloggies

Before I go back and look at the year I had in 2004, here are the blogs I nominated for various categories in the 2005 Bloggies. Apologies to Rhys for stealing this idea wholesale. Hey, I'd forgotten that the nominating process had started!

Best Application

Blogger - It's what I use and has done pretty well for the last 2 years, if you can ignore the way it still tries to act like a small start-up company on its homepage. You're owned by Google!
TagBoard - Again, something I've used for a long time. It's a great way of instantly commenting on blogs.
BritBlog - A directory / community that I belong to, solely concerned with British blogging and British bloggers, wherever they may be in the world.

Best Australian or New Zealand Blog

Smiling Politely - Formerly Toodle-oo, a very profound and talented girl runs this blog. I love her writing style, as meandering as my own. She usually says something with more meaning than I do, however.
Weggly's Pillowbook - My guilty pleasure. A highly graphic and comical sex blog, written by someone with much more talent and sexuality than me.

Best British or Irish Blog

Screaming Yellow Fizz Bang - He simply writes his life, which is exactly what I want to read on a blog. It's there, warts and all, for anyone and everyone to read. Terrible music tastes though...
Onionbag - A South Londoner who gets up to much more stuff than I ever do. Great match reports of football, basketball and ice hockey, as well as wry observations on living in London.
Diamond Geezer - Quite simply the most prolifically talented blogger I've yet come across. He seems to have a myriad of topics always ready to be posted, always topical and always written with a particular flair and sense of humour. Top notch stuff.

Best Canadian Blog

Testing The Waters - I've been reading this blog forever, and its sheer simplicity is what keeps me coming back. The life of Sandi, its ups and its downs laid out because that is what she wants to do.

Best American Blog

N Is For Neville - A very funny blog written to avoid doing any work at a crap job. Hurrah for slackers!

Best Photography Blog

NYC London - Beautiful black-and-white photography from across London. Reminds me of home...

Best Topical Blog

Arseblog - It's about Arsenal, duh. It's also very well written and fucking funny. Of course, I might be slightly biased...

Best GLBT Blog

Paranoid Android - Not a blog about homosexuality per se, but written by a lesbian college student, which I guess counts. I like this blog, but I can't really say why. It's written almost in an IM / txt language, which would usually put me off, but for some reason I keep going back to it.
Screaming Yellow Fizz Bang - See above for reasons. He qualifies here by virtue of being gay, although this isn't his reason for writing.

Most Humourous Blog

Diamond Geezer - Darkly funny, with a large dose of wry wit thrown in for good measure.
Smacked Face - Has many laugh-out-loud lines in each post, mainly concerning the night before's festivities. Also has a very good understanding of acerbic sarcasm, for a non-Brit.

Best Writing of a Blog

Smiling Politely - Nominated for her sheer range of writing styles. I love here unpunctuated streams of consciousness, her detailed descriptions of times, places and events, as well as her usage of many, many swear words.
Weggly's Pillowbook - Although the content may not be to everyone's taste, you cannot deny that this girl has an incredible talent for writing. Not only are the descriptions perfect, but the phonetic renditions of accents are a joy to behold. She has a very large output too, with epic posts to rival my own.

Best-Designed Blog

Croila - Clean, crisp and easy to read. Exactly how blogs should be.
Smiling Politely - Currently on its umpteenth design, but they all look fantastic. Minimalist, arty, cute, edgy and everything else in between.

Best-Kept-Secret Blog

Screaming Yellow Fizz Bang - This blog deserves exposure. Why it doesn't seem to have too many visitors is beyond me.

Blog Of The Year

Diamond Geezer - Yes, I absolutely love this blog. Always inventive, always topical, always something to say, always funny, always relevant, and always something new. My favourite blog currently around.

As you can see, I have one or two blogs which I absolutely adore, and a good few more that I read nigh-on every day.

I'm sure you all know by now what kind of blogs I like to read: blogs of people's lives. There are a few notable exceptions (DG, Onionbag), but on the whole the blogs I like are similar in scope to mine. I like reading people's lives, and I like writing my life for others to read.

You'll have noticed that I didn't vote in categories such as Best Political Blog or Best Tech Blog, because I simply don't read them. They bore me, especially seeing as I tend to read loads of political and tech news every day. Newspapers don't, however, publish a person's life every day. The blogs I read do.
Rob - 19:38 - 6 comments

6 Comments:

Thanks for those kind words, Rob! I may not write about the daily detail of my life, but I too am fascinated by blogs like yours that do. And I'm delighted to feature on one of your post-its.
By diamond geezer, at 10:34 AM

Wow, three awards, cheers Rob! But hang on, terrible music taste???? Cheeky.
By Joe, at 1:16 PM

Thanks for turning me on to some great reads. Stop by my place if you get a chance.

Cheers

C'MON ARSENAL!!
By thephoenixnyc, at 3:55 PM

I agree entirely with your comments about London blogs... Mr Geezer really is the nuts, isn't he? ;-)
By obb, at 8:05 PM

Wow, many thanks for your award! I'm really surprised - but it's much appreciated!

Cheers
Croila
By Anonymous, at 12:19 AM

Chuffed I'm sure... Thanks you for your lovely words and my award - I presume the prize is in the post? ;) (And btw I am a Brit - I was just forced to spend the first 25 years of my life in the colonies...)
By Smacked Face, at 12:58 AM