Non-LJ weblogs.

[rivka]

serenejournal asked which non-LJ weblogs people read. I read a lot of them, so I'm going to choose ten good recommendations. I hope this is a meme that spreads - I'm always looking for more things to read.

In no particular order:

1. Making Light. My favorite weblog in the world, but alas only sporadically updated. Teresa Nielsen Hayden writes beautifully and movingly, and she covers much, much more than the standard political-outrage-of-the-day you see everywhere in the blogging world. She's also got the best comments section I've ever seen.

2. Real Live Preacher. I've posted about him before, when he wrote a blistering indictment of anti-gay Christians. His story about a parishoner with AIDS spoke to my soul. And he's also screamingly funny.

3. The Julie/Julia Project. A young woman in a crappy New York apartment and a dead-end job is cooking her way systematically through Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking and blogging about every ugly, and tasty, detail. Fear the aspic.

4. Big Dead Place. An infrequently-updated site with fascinating articles by and about the non-scientist workers in Antarctica. If you ever thought that traveling to Antarctica would be cool and romantic (in the adventurous sense), you'll get over it quickly. Or feel guilty in advance.

5. Tapped, the weblog of the magazine The American Prospect. I find the magazine itself kind of dry, but I love the weblog. Lots of good links to stories and commentary about U.S. politics, efficiently put together with sensible commentary. Liberal, and not whacko-left.

6. Dean 2004 weblog. well, of course it would make my list. This frequently-updated unofficial campaign blog is the best one-stop source for information about Howard Dean's campaign, links to news stories about him, analysis of the Democratic candidates from a Dean-centric perspective, and strategy advice for Dean supporters. Plus, Dean's campaign manager Joe Trippi often participates in the discussion through the comments sections.

7. Wil Wheaton Dot Net. Okay, so the blogging has been kind of thin while Wil's been working on his book, but there sure has been a lot of really cool stuff over time. I'm impressed with how willing he is to bare his soul, especially when there are still a lot of idiots out there who hate him for being Wesley Crusher.

8. Kathryn Cramer. I've just started reading this one, but I like it a lot. I met Kathryn at Capclave once. She writes engagingly about parenting, politics and culture.

9. Electrolite. When Patrick Nielsen Hayden is blogging, which hasn't been lately, he writes sharp, incisive commentary. Patrick also has good recommendations for other sites to follow.

10. Talking Points Memo. Joshua Micah Marshall is sort of a cross between a blogger and a traditional political writer. He has sources, and does interviews, and so forth, and publishes articles in political magazines. Talking Points Memo is where he writes about politics for fun. He tends to stick with a subject for several long posts - like this series about the Texas Democrats' walkout, or this about the odd absence of references in the media to spy Katrina Leung's close ties to the Republican party. Another good solid source of liberal political analysis.

What blogs do you read?

Comments

[snippy]

Some of the same ones you do. Here's a short list with comments:
The Sideshow Avedon Carol's page
James Lileks' Bleat Can't miss this, weekday rants by a stay-at-home dad who also writes.
Instapundit For breaking rumor and news
Neil Gaiman's Journal What's Neil up to today?
Tal G. in Jerusalem An Israeli Jew
Damien Penny's Daimnation Canadian conservative
Nick Denton New York City liberal

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Some of the same ones you do. Here's a short list with comments:
<a href="http://www.sideshow.free-online.co.uk/">The Sideshow</a> Avedon Carol's page
<a href="http://www.lileks.com/bleats/index.html">James Lileks' Bleat</a> Can't miss this, weekday rants by a stay-at-home dad who also writes.
<a href="http://www.Instapundit.com">Instapundit</a> For breaking rumor and news
<a href="http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp">Neil Gaiman's Journal</a> What's Neil up to today?
<a href="http://talg.blogspot.com/">Tal G. in Jerusalem</a> An Israeli Jew
<a href="http://damianpenny.blogspot.com/">Damien Penny's Daimnation</a> Canadian conservative
<a href="http://www.nickdenton.org/">Nick Denton</a> New York City liberal
<a href="http://www.sgtstryker.com/>Sgt. Stryker's Daily Briefing</a>Group blog by current and former members of US and British military
<a href="http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/weblog.php">Little Green Footballs</a> Virulently anti-fanatical-arab website; I ignore the comments sections which tend to attract degenerates.
<a href="http://dogslife.blogspot.com/">A Dog's Life</a> A patent guy who raises and shows Borzoi
<a href="http://www.yourish.com">Meryl Yourish</a> New Joisy gal who just moved to Virginia; strong focus on Jewish issues, also on The Hulk
<a href="http://www.denbeste.nu/">USS Clueless</a> An engineer with outspoken political views
<a href="http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/view.html">The View from Chaos Manner</a> Jerry Pournell's blog
<a href="http://www.hfienberg.com/kesher/">Kesher Talk</a> Jewish group blog
<a href="http://www.windsofchange.net/">Winds of Change</a> Political group blog
<a href="http://www.baraita.net/blog/">Baraita</a> Jewish tenure-track professor; lots of Buffy/Angel analysis
<a href="http://world.std.com/~emg/followme.html">Follow Me Here</a> Very liberal, political and science-focused blog
<a href="http://www.boingboing.net">BoingBoing</a> If you don't know this already, there's no explaining it.
<a href="http://silflayhraka.blogspot.com/">Silflay Hraka</a> Funny group blog, some political, some family stuff.
<a href="http://crankyprofessor.com/">Cranky Professor</a> Tenured professor at some US school who teaches a course in Italy every year.
<a href="http://bias.blogfodder.net/">Cut on the bias</a>
<a href="http://www.janegalt.net/">Asymmetrical Information</a>
<a href="http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/">John Scalzi's Whatever</a>
Electrolite and Making Light, which you already mentioned; and this is about half of the total list in my bookmarks, the most interesting ones, I think.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Did I ever thank you for turning me on to Real Live Preacher Man and his LJ feed - as well as the Julie/Julia Project? Both delightful.

I don't read a lot of non-LJ blogs, but I do enjoy Dave Barry's Blog (davebarry.blogspot.com) (which is largely a compilation of all the bizarre links people send him...)

[geekchick]

Mostly I read Neil Gaiman, Real Live Preacher and Will Wheaton via RSS feeds here on Livejournal. Today I found (via dglenn) Bloggus Caesari: "The original warblogger", heehee! ;)

[thbeatnik.livejournal.com]

Many of the good blogs are mirrored in LJ; I know Gaiman's blog is, for instance.

I've looked in on Real Live Preacher ever since you made your entry about him; he's a breath of fresh air.

While Samuel Pepys' Diary is mirrored on LJ, I still enjoy reading it at it's own site, http://www.pepysdiary.com/
for the sake of the annotations made by fellow readers.

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for this list! I love them. I'm thinking of starting my own cooking project, maybe with a vegan cookbook. It could be fun/scary.