There’s this meme going around where bloggers name their favorite blogs, or, that is, the blogs they feel are “simply the best.” I was genuinely touched and honored to see BTQ show up on Bradley Parker’s blog. I know things have been kind of a hit-or-miss last few months here, but I’m doing a lot better personally and professionally now, and a lot more dedicated to doing good things here when I can find the time. Thanks to Mr. Parker for adding a little inspiration.
So now I need to name my ten best. There are a lot that have already been named that I would list too, but I’ll try to avoid too much redundancy. So I’ll call these ten very awesome blogs that should definitely be considered among the best, divided somewhat by category.
A little bit of anything and everything:
1. Side Salad. The author, Jeff Houck, is a food writer for the Tampa Tribune. The blog obviously has a lot of food-related posts, but there’s also plenty of other Florida zaniness. Here’s his recent fifth anniversary post, with links to some typically hilarious highlights. And don’t miss the Sombrero Project.
2. The Neutral Zone Trap. Cats, hockey, Diet Dr Pepper, teaching, banana hatred. You have to immerse yourself into E. McPan’s blog to truly appreciate it. It’s like a whole other dimension where everything is sort of the same, but slightly off-kilter. Or smaller, like the Small House!
3. The Slog. This is the blog from The Stranger, Seattle’s weekly alternative paper. It’s Dan Savage and all these people he hangs out with talking about movies and music and politics and sex and anything else that strikes them. I skip all the stuff about traffic and local elections, but there’s plenty of good stuff left.
4. Passive Aggressive Notes and My Roommate is a Dick. It’s fun to see other people angry.
Sports:
5. EDSBS. Every Day Should Be Saturday is the best college football blog out there (although SMQ deserves special mention), and one of the best sports blogs, period. It’s always fun, but there’s plenty of insight between the laughs, too.
Law:
6. Sentencing Law & Policy. I probably spend more time on How Appealing or Volokh, and some days Althouse, too. Those are all very good at what they do, but Prof. Berman’s sentencing blog is the best single-issue law blog. It’s truly a model of how a blog and legal scholarship can co-exist and complement each other, not to mention have a real impact on policy and law.
7. Above the Law. David Lat, formerly of Underneath Their Robes, describes this one as a “legal tabloid.” As fluffy as it is, it’s also surprisingly filling. If I were a BigLaw associate obsessed over my salary, I think I would have ATL constantly open in one window, hitting “refresh” every six minutes.
Politics:
8. Big(ger) Media Edition: The New Republic’s The Plank and Reason’s Hit & Run. I probably check National Review Online’s The Corner more often during a day, just because they post so much over there and the lunacy makes me laugh. But I always enjoy reading The Plank and Hit & Run, although you won’t be surprised to learn I agree with one more than the other.
9. Small(er) Edition: Obsidian Wings and Balkinization. The average post on these blogs has more insight than a year’s worth of BTQ posts, especially when it comes to issues concerning the war on terror and national security issues.
Defunctish:
10. I could have a long list of blogs I really miss but that are now on hiatuses of varying lengths. Also known as…the BTQ blogroll! Bah-dah-bump! I won’t list any here, so if you’re mad at being left out, start posting again to complain about it. I will instead use this slot to commend Durham-in-Wonderland. Prof. KC Johnson’s blog played no small part in keeping three innocent young men out of prison by blogging incessantly about the Duke lacrosse case. Here’s legal reporting blog the Lawbeat on D-i-W shutting things down. When the biggest criticism someone can come up with for your blog is that it contains so darn much information, you’re doing okay. Kudos from a Duke alum to Prof. Johnson for all his hard work. And hey, if a full-time history professor can write 1100 posts totaling 870,000 words in 400 days, maybe some of those defunct blogs I used to read can make a comeback and post something every once in a while. And hey — maybe I can too!
Congrats to all these bloggers, and the excellent blogs I didn’t mention because everyone else beat me to it. In honor of these bloggers, I offer the most fitting tribute I can find: