Blogroll | Patrick Calder

I don’t have a blogroll on this journal, and can’t foresee ever adding one. The concept does go back to “friends” pages on the earliest personal websites. But I can’t remember the last time I ever went looking for random people to go visit. I get more than enough referrals to new people directly. And if there’s someone really says or does something worthy of mention, I’ll eventually end up linking to it anyway.
Doesn’t stop me from the occasional pang of guilt for not pimping my friends and sources, though. Most of my random visitors to this site come from blogrolls and profile pages.
Here’s a list: the pages and sites I check once a day, usually to relax at the end of the day. The list is in a constant state of flux, with sites being added and removed on any whim. some people stop writing. Some people stop being interesting. There used to be more academics and professionals on the list, but they have a tendency to either abandon their blogs or switch to lighter topics (ie. Joi Ito and Lawrence Lessig).

Katie West

Boobies! No… um… sorry. Really. She’s an incredible model, with a real fire in her head.

Washington, DC Livejournal Community

Every stupid question you could ever have about Washington DC, answered over and over and over and…

The Cranky Professor

Found him while looking for bloggers in my home town. Stuck around for the occasional update on life in East Bumpafuck, and more than an occasional post that reminds me of all I learned in my Art History courses.

Merrideth Y

She’s just really cool. She’s every wild, bohemian, dramatic friend you ever had who went to the big city to live their dream life of performing and living and… and, unlike all your friends, she seems to be successful at it.

Max Barry

Author of several really good books. Seems to be one of the few authors who really maintains a blog just for the joy of occasional communication instead of promoting an agenda.

Laurenn Mccubbin

Okay… I sooooooo have a fan-crush on her. Really cool. Really smart. Really talented. And really cute — with tattoos! She always seems to be doing amazing work, with cool people, in interesting places. I’m still upset, two years later, at having missed her when she was at SPXpo.

Jason Kottke

Yes. The uber-blogger. Everybody knows kottke, and everybody reads kottke. I would say the quality has gone down in recent years, especially when he “went pro” and practically stopped posting (ironic?). He occasionally slips and falls behind everyone else for a few weeks. But he has enough remaindered links that still interest me. And he’s the only one posting about design that I regularly read.

Warren Ellis

Trying to find a definition I wrote of him a few years ago, but it’s gone *poof*. He seems to fancy himself a vocal observer of popular and sub-popular culture. But he’s more like an agent provocateur for some deviant society. Damn good writer, though, when he doesn’t try too hard.

Rain Polsky

See Merideth Y (above), with a little less adrenalin.

Rion Nakaya

Just … good photographs. Originally based in NYC, but now living in Paris.

Stuart Hughes

A BBC reporter, famous for losing his leg while reporting the Iraqi war. Has become an advocate against landmines and an impressive athlete — handicapped or no. He still jumps on a BBC plane anytime something explodes, and files reports through his blog as often as he does through the BBC.

Bruce Sterling

One of the current generation of writers, who has practically define speculative fiction. Pop culture and design guru.

DCist

Professional bloggers staying half a step ahead of the Washington Post. Not particularly exciting, but at least they’re truly local, without resorting to all-politics, all-the-time.

Gothamist

Same as DCist, but based out of NYC.

BoingBoing

The Mecca of group blogs. Consistently voted the best at everything in the world. They may not be as much fun as they once were, but they’re no less prolific. And unlike most successful blogs, they have no compulsion against wearing their heart on their sleeve, and pushing their own agendas to the illogical extreme.