Bloggie Awards

(This is the sort of activity that goes good with a cup of coffee.)

It's the annual Bloggie Awards. I'm not nominated. I happen to know a nominee and so, while voting for her, I have decided to vote in all the categories. I am now checking all the nominees in all the categories, making new acquaintances and evaluations using the "I'll read the uppermost post and if I like it and the layout, and said first post isn't just about being nominated and fishing for votes, I'll vote for it." (And in case you want to vote, too, voting ends January 31).

Since I'm sure I don't have the power to sway millions (just the handful I know of), I shall now happily tell you which blogs I voted for and why:

• best web application for weblogs - I have no clue about such things, so I voted for what I use: Blogger.
• best australian or new zealand weblog - Tokyo Girl Down Under. I liked the layout and what's not to be fascinated by when the first thing that the blogger tells you is that she can't use her arms.
• best asian weblog - I love typography. Not because I'm in the biz myself (graphics designer/typographer), but because I didn't like any of the others, and this one didn't suck at all. When it comes to blogs, I rarely fall for the "just art" types, which several of the nominees were.
• best african weblog - west africa wins always written by a woman living in Liberia. Here I had two blogs that both looked interesting to me, but went with the Liberian one, because that's something I want to read more about.
• best european weblog - Iceland Weather Report OK, this one got my vote because, well, sometimes the choice of decor, number of ads, sidebars, and lack of contrast between text and background colors assaults the eyes. Some blogs I never even try to read because the design makes it so darned hard to find and focus on the text. So, anyways, Iceland Weather Report in unadorned and unaltered Blogger basic didn't bother my eyes. And was not a bad read, either. I know next to nothing about our neighbor to the west, so here's a chance to learn.
• best latin american weblog - Venezuela News And Views Another blog about life in another foreign country, in this case a country that apparently is deteriorating. It's also the only one in English of the nominees (though I did use Babelfish to find out what another interesting-looking blog was about).
• best canadian weblog - The Redneck Mommy The Redneck Mommy makes a fun blog both in design and content. I enjoyed her humor and even clicked on a few links. I think I've found me a new regular read.
• best americanUS weblog - Lifehacker I already read this blog regularly and am happy to see it nominated.
• best photography of a weblog - I Can Has Cheezburger This ended up being a no-brainer because I don't like pictures of fashion or food and Dooce I got tired of ages ago. But I like funny cats.
• best art or craft weblog - Post Secret What?!? You want me to decided on something in the category "artsincrafts"? Thank goodness that Post Secret showed up in this category (too).
• best food weblog - Gluten Free Girl Oh, no, please, I wanna go back to artsincrafts! Food?!? OK, that was easier than I thought, because Gluten Free Girl is a good writer and wasn't trying to get me to cook. A good writer can write about anything and get a reader.
• best fashion weblog - Go Fug Yourself We are not done with the icky categories, yet. Go Fug Yourself is the only "fashion"-related blog I have ever read. Too bad it's not nominated in the gossip category, too. I told you we aren't done with the icky categories yet.
• best weblog about music - 3hive I will never get the concept of writing about music. I did try, way back when I was a teen, trying to find what was cool in the music world, but I simply do not understand the lingo, and also never shared the taste of any music critic. 3hive gets my vote because I actually ended up reading more than one post. Good writing will do that.
• best gossip weblog - Dlisted The problem with blogs in this category is that they tend to be snarky. Dlisted "wins" simply because it was the only nominee I scrolled all the way down for. Judging by the headlines and choice of photos, there's little snark there.
• best entertainment weblog - Buzzsugar I need another cup of coffee - and lunch. Too much fluff in a row. Ah, perfectly ripe avocado, split in two, sprinkled with herb salt. Now where were we? Oh, yes, entertainment blog. Buzzsugar gets my vote because for someone not interested in glitz nor entertainment, it went down the easiest. Much like a perfectly ripe avocado. Now, where's my coffee?
• best sports weblog - Up In Alaska LOL! Sports blog? I have to vote for that??? And I thought the entertainment stuff was bad. Well, well, well. This turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I'm not into cycling but here the cyclist also offers photographs of dramatically beautiful Alaska.
• best weblog about politics - The Daily Kos Luckily, I have some politically interested friends so I've heard of several of the nominees in this category. The Daily Kos, it is. It made me scroll.
• best computers or technology weblog - Gizmodo I could've nominated Lifehacker again, but Gizmodo got me scrolling and I found myself charmed by the report of abike made entirely out of wood.
• best topical weblog - The Consumerist In the category topical blog not about the topics already mentioned, I vote for The Consumerist. I have read that blog regularly, not because US consumer issues affect a person in Norway, but because it gives me insight into what's going on in regular people's lives "over there" and has actually given me some tips about the US before traveling there. In some ways, it's just another gossip blog, but this time the gossip's about customer service.
• best glbt weblog - Puntabulous Back to the hard categories to evaluate. This was tough. I thought I had a winner then discovered that I didn't, and went back and looked over all the nominees again. This time, reading the first post/page wasn't enough. Puntabulous brought up the Cookie Monster, so he gets my vote. COOOOKIE!!!! (Yes, I'm that easy.)
• best teen weblog - Sarcastica Wondering what I'd be in for, I discovered another good writer with quite the sense of humor. Some things aren't generational.
• most humorous weblog - Cute Overload Granted, Overheard in New York is funny, but I had to go with my personal addiction.
• best writing of a weblog - Confessions of a Pioneer Woman A happy new acquaintance, complete with photo stories (it's got cowboys and horsies!). Next year, I'm nominating Badaunt in this category. Somebody remind me, please?
• best group weblog - The Consumerist Finally, an absolute no-brainer because the nonimees, nominees, whatever, were already familiar. (Waiting for second cup of coffee to kick in.)
• best community weblog - Overheard in New York Even though "community" and "New York" together sound like a conflict of interest. The blog isn't, though.
• best-designed weblog - Web Designer Wall The fun part about doing this Bloggie Award thing, is tripping over some unique blogs - some in content, some in look, some in both. This blog wows my senses. You can bet I'm going to dig into the code on this one (and the other one I was considering voting for) in order to learn.
• best-kept secret weblog - That Night Because she does what I do: Think deep thoughts and trivial thoughts all in the same thought.
• best new weblog - Sarcastic Mom The whole reason why I'm doing this! Met her over on Blog365, and I did check out her competition and she does deserve my vote.
• lifetime achievement - Dooce What the dooce. It's not like this category asks for anything other than staying power. (And my blog qualifies, people! It's been going on since before January 1 2003. HINT! HINT!)
• weblog of the year - Lifehacker Ah, the end. And not an easy decision to make. Lifehacker got the vote, simply by virtue of having updated while I was checking. Look, you make decisions your way, and I, since I can't be bothered to find my dice, make decisions my way.

Truly the end. That took all afternoon! All my votes are now in my RSS-feed, to be read/followed regularly. That was a lot of work and surfing and still I miss categories for science and health, for example.