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To steal a corny phrase, blogs are like snowflakes -- no two are the same. While the same shared-life topics are well-covered (parenthood, food, politics, environment, photography, travel, race issues, religion) there are a concentrated few who specialize in randomness (Awkward Family Photos -- is it endless?) and execute with consistent brilliance.
Take, for example, Kat DeBurgh. The Sacramento-based blogger has taken the high falutin' world of opera and melded it with the engineering-porn-beauty of Legos. Here's how it works: Each week, Sean Bianco, of Capitol Public Radio, broadcasts a complete opera on his show, "Friday Night at the Opera." Kat then reacts to the opera through a complete Lego scene recreation and posts a photo on her blog, Lego Opera, a brilliant take on high art expressed through "toys."
In addition to the photo, each post includes a brief comment about the scene depicted and two final links -- more info about the opera itself and the actual opera broadcast. Oh yes, Kat is quite mad, and the blogging world could use more like her.
"In Act 2 of this opera by Stravinsky, the hero, Tom Rakewell, throws his wig at his wife, a bearded lady. I couldn't make this stuff up."--Lego Opera
Thankfully, there ARE more like her.
Bethany Keeley, a full-time grad student, half-time TA and soon-to-be-bride, finds time somehow to blog about all the unnecessary quotation marks in the world, the work of a grammatical superhero. The "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks features photographic evidence (taken by Keeley and readers) of overzealous marketers and sign-makers who clearly remain unclear on the quote marks concept, often with hilarious results.
Keeley's snarky post titles and ironic commentary make this a fun stop for all language nerds who adore stumbling upon blatant fuck-ups. My favorite recent post shows a shop sign touting a New Zealand "foldable" shopping bag:
"Lots of things are 'foldable' if you don't mind breaking them."
(If you love this blog, you'll also dig Apostrophe Abuse, Grammar Bitches, Font Police and Literally, A Web Log.)
Then again, sometimes you don't need the follies of others to supply blog fodder; sometimes, life delivers it to your doorstep. Meet Holly, an Illinois-based blogger who finds herself in a career pickle. In her words:
"I'm a twenty-something college grad with a masters degree and a loving husband. I did everything I was supposed to do -- went to college, got top grades, was the President of my sorority, volunteered, went on to a graduate program -- yet somehow, everything turned out wrong."
Meaning, she now works at K-Mart. In her brutally honest blog, Diary of a Twenty-Something, Holly deals with the harsh realities of a recession and the humiliating grind of discount retail. A recent post:
"Tuesday, an old man who could barely hear me hugged me after I helped him find a shirt. Yesterday, a cross-eyed woman wandered in to my stockroom, looking for the clearance underwear. Thus go my first 2 days back at work after vacation. Color me surprised."
Holly's "clearance underwear" era is surely a painful blip for such an insightful, funny young woman. The blog would be flat-out depressing if it wasn't written by a sharp survivor who will inevitably go on to great things post-'Mart. In the meantime, share her pain.
Meanwhile, at a "medium-sized" public library somewhere in Michigan, fellow librarians Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner occasionally come across a book that is so unbelievably atrocious, it must be shared. Hence, their delightful blog, Awful Library Books, which often poses the question: Keep it or weed it? (Meaning, return to the shelf or get rid of it.)
Most of the books are quaint relics of the past, and some are just downright disturbing. A large amount come from the '70s (love those leisure suits on the cover of Going Sane) but one of the more skeezy specimens was published in 1991, The Complete Guide to Meeting Women, complete with cover shot of a hairy dude in a hot tub flanked by two brunette babes. Author Don Driebel's advice includes a special chapter on "The High and Loaded Woman" that suggests hanging out near the ladies' room. Yeesh!
Now, all of us have to work somewhere, doing something, and we all get that one tired question from the public/boss/colleagues. One sharp lady turned that eye-roller line into an entire blog. Do You Come with the Car? is told from the perspective of anonymous
