The Honor Roll File

Storing my thoughts outside my head again.

They say if you wanna be a successful blogger you should make a habit of commenting on other people’s blogs. And the ones you like and who like you should add links to because they might do the same. Well, as anyone who’s had the misfortune of my particular brand of crazy driven-by commenting land on their comments section knows, I come out of the sun guns blazing with passion and a wicked gleam in my eyes. I am Snoopy and topic is the Red Baron. Um, Linus is…the moderator? I dunno. It’ll take me a while of freeform associative stream of consciousness lucid dreaming mumbo jumbo and razzamattaz to get it out of my bloodstream and onto the page (Out, out damn spot, I say! Who would have ever thought a swirly-eyed lunatic would have had so much blood in him/her/it?).

So, yes, I’m doing this particular ramble for effect because I don’t write things and post them on the internets for anyone to suction off with their magic tubes for the hell of it. It’s just my style to post a ton and hope everyone else can sort it out. So, while I can add a link without getting too carried away, commenting can take a lot out of me. I don’t do it a lot because unless I have something to add to a conversation I just shut up and pay attention. But when I do add to a conversation, that only means I’ve got a lot to respond to. So, the following is a list of blogs, sites, projects, and various and sundry treasures I’ve stumbled across in my treks across the world wide web. I’ll try to comment on them like a good little blogger should, if I can, but there’s just so much out there and I’d kinda like to post my own stuff every once in a while. So, if I’m not talking to you it’s not because I don’t care for what you’re saying, I’m just listening and nodding along.

In lieu of actual, in person appreciation, I’ve decided I’ll say a few brief words of honor or respect about each and every site I’ll link. We’re just getting started but, then, everything starts from something that isn’t nothing. Then, somehow, moves away in some small way. And again and again and again, piece by piece by piece until a mountain becomes a molehill. Or, in this case, vice versa. And now, a few gracious words:

• Billmon. Billmon is awesome. That someone with so much cynicism and paranoia can manage to get out of bed every morning is an inspiration to everyone who’s ever had a long, sleepless night after reading one of his too damnably insightful posts. Long time fan, long time listener, first time disciple. Gets the top spot because someone has to so it might as well be someone who probably doesn’t even care.
• Wikipedia Knowledge Dump. Found this site while trawling through assorted blogger documentation whilst setting up my own blog. And I really like the idea. Every day an average of 100 entries gets deleted from Wikipedia for any number of reasons. Somebody’s got to rummage through that trash to see if there’s anything worth saving and I’m just glad it’s not me. First link because everything has to start somewhere. So why not start with combing through the rubbish bin of instant history?
• Guild Wars. Guild Wars is the best game I’ve ever had the misfortune of loving. Like any love affair it was a stormy one. I’ve laughed with it, I’ve toyed with it, I’ve liked it, and I’ve hated it and much, much more. But it wouldn’t have mattered if I didn’t care about the game and the people who played it with me. Sorry I disappeared all those times, honest this time, baby, won’t you take me back? But that’s the best part about Guild Wars for me: no monthly fee. I bought the box (a few times) and now I can play it all day or not at all without any obligation whatsoever. Sadly, it’s more of the later than the former these days but my account and characters and loot are all still there waiting for me to get back to them even if my friends still aren’t. Great game and highly recommended if you’re just a little bit sick of MMOs and looking for something a bit different or you’re a M:TG geek looking for an online fix or if you were a fan of Diablo and want to see what the sequel would have looked like if the people who made the first one still worked for Blizzard. Because, um, I’ve met the designers of Guild Wars and guess what? Yeah, it’s like that. Battlenet v2.0, really. I could go on and on and on because I have in the past and I may well again but for now, I’ve gotten out and they’re not getting me back so easily. First non-blog I’ve linked to but, baby, you hurt me so good, you deserve it.
• Chris’s Invincible Super-Blog. Written by the talented Chris Sims, the ISB is easily one of the funniest and reader-friendly comicsblogs around. I’ve looked, believe you me. It’s all empty calories, of course. Candy floss and fluff about imaginary stories – but, then, aren’t they all? I, obviously, do a lot of, for me, heavy thinking but every now and then I like a big bowl of popcorn and a flick with lots of pretty explosions like everyone else. And Sims is the guru of the big explosions and fight scenes and everything else that made the golden age of comics (5, by the way) so great.
• Comics Should Be Good. Everything you need to know is right there in the title. A collective endeavor by a group of great posters and commenters. They’ve got a little bit of everything if you’re into the comic scene. And, of course, you don’t mind that they try to focus on the positive over there. Nothing like a little doctrinal clarity, after all. First collective blog linked to.
• Elf Only Inn. Like anyone who’s been using the web as a method of communication, entertainment, and information for so long, I’ve picked up the habit of follow a webcomic or twelve. Elf Only Inn is about a group of roleplayers inventing their own little world inside the online maze. Completely metatextual and sophisticated premise. Yet, it’s really all about the characters rather than the high concept and the author manages to consistently bring the funny while making me, at least, care about these strange people. So, when he up and pulled the plug rather suddenly I was a little bit sad and a little bit concerned but, in the end, I shrugged and pruned my webcomics pull list and moved on with my life. But rather than just tossing the link in the trash as I’ve done with other dead or disinteresting comics in the past, I set aside the link to EOI in a special, out of the way place, fully intending to check back every now and then on the off chance the author ever changed his mind about continuing. So, when I heard, somehow, someway, that he was back, I dusted that link off and put it back in a place of honor in my collection of favorite places – right alongside everywhere else I make a habit of going back to. I wish I had some better honor now, of course. Because not only is Mr. Sortelli back, he’s better than ever. First webcomic linked. If only for the object lesson that absence really does make the heart grow stronger.

Day 2: A bit tired at the moment so, you'll forgive me if I don't get all panegyric up ins. I promise I shall practice teh ass-kissing and do better next time.

• BeaucoupKevin. Long time reader. First time commenter. Fucker actually responded to me. Now I'm, like, obligated to like him or something. See previous comment with regards to fucker status.
  
• The X-Axis. An excellent site focusing on the Marvel universe through the peculiar facet of the mutant lens. Very insightful, very thorough, you'll find yourself nodding along more often than not. And knowing exactly why not when you happen to disagree. Also, check out If Destroyed, Still True a sister, non-comic related blog. Never know exactly what you're going to get (or when) but I, for one, like that sort of thing.
• The Colbert Report. I would like you to humor me and imagine that I have written Gets. It. in a font just large enough to fill your monitor and repeated it about fifty dozen times in this space instead of this sentence. Would totally have babies with him. And thanks to Formula 401, so can you.