Blogs of note.

I've been hitting the 'NEXT BLOG' button repeatedly over the last few days, and I've come to the conclusion that I find most blogs to be incredibly boring. I click past all the knitting blogs, religious blogs, political blogs, blogs in languages I don't speak, and blogs about the mundane details of peoples' lives. I won't say that these blogs are bad, they're just not up my alley.

There are bad blogs out there, though. The html scams intended to get search hits and collect the ad revenue are kind of annoying. I really despise the MySpace-style illiterate attention-whore blogs. They're like PDF files: landmines of the internet. I usually spend about a second at each blog before I click next, but when these pages come up they hog up all the memory with extensive and obtrusive graphics (but zero actual content) and I'm forced to spend a few seconds waiting for the computer to catch up. I really preferred the internet of my high school days, when idiots couldn't figure out how to get online, much less have their own page on the web, and you had to be at least somewhat of a nerd to stick something on the internet. It guaranteed a certain level of quality, as your average illiterate person was unable to figure out how to get their incoherent ramblings onto the web.

Short rant aside, after clicking through hundreds of blogs, I have found three that are genuinely enjoyable:

The 4th Avenue Blues is a blog about the author's interactions with various homeless people where he lives. I've befriended a couple of homeless people, which may contribute to my appreciation for this blog, but the writing is good and the stories are interesting. I think a lot of people try to imagine they're invisible or don't exist, but I'm always wondering about them.

Behind the Counter is a blog about working the returns counter at Wal-Mart. I hate to say it, but sometimes stupid people are very entertaining. The author documents his encounters with layaway addicts, scammers, and foolish Wal-Mart shoppers of all stripes.

YOU'RE WALKING TO DENVER!? is "a blog following the wanderings of an anarchist drop-out." This is the closest thing I've found in the blogosphere to the punk zines that used to occupy so much of my time. This guy is walking/hitch-hiking from (I'm guessing) Arlington, TX to Denver, CO, and documenting his adventures on the way. This is fascinating to me because it reminds me of myself before I stopped being so idealistic, sold-out, washed the glue out of my hair and got a job. I picked up a similar character who was hitch-hiking years ago, and thought he was a great and inspirational guy. I ended up accidentally leaving him in a town when I got lost trying to find where I let him out to look for his friend while I got gas. I still feel horrible about that, even though he was homeless. I always wanted to go on an adventure like this, but the closest I've ever come was a mere 20 mile journey. (Short version: I went to a party, got kicked out for being way too hammered, and then tried to walk home but was too drunk to realize where I was. I went the wrong way, and by the time I sobered up I realized I had no clue where I was. Nobody would pick me up because I was a filthy, spikey-haired punk rocker, and when I finally realized where I was, I was way the fuck out of my way.)

In other blog news, my good friend Lew has started a blog of his own, and I've started another one, full of nothing but blatant lies.