Blogging – 2008 and Beyond!

My travels done and my internet access renewed, it seems like a good time to look back at the year that was in blogging – at the good, the bad, and the disturbing.

Jon Swift has once again done a great deal of work in compiling the "Best Blog Posts of 2008 (Chosen by the Bloggers Themselves)." This year's edition is new and improved – with original lolcats! Mr. Swift's own entry, "Great Moments in Election-Year Blogging," is an epic tour through the many, um, important stories unheralded by the MSM but championed by right-wing bloggers. It would have been a saner but less funny year without them.

On a related note, Roy Edroso compiled "The Top 10 Rightblogger Stories of 2008" for The Village Voice, with bonus entries for #11-15 on his blog.

But why stop there? The Poor Man Institute has opened voting for its 2008 Golden Winger Awards for Excellence in Wingnuttery, with stiff competition for The Palme D’Haire, Wank of the Year, The Soggy Biscuit, The Creamy Baileys Nobel Peace Prize for Science, The Purple Teardrop With Clutched Pearl Cluster, The Fluffy and Chickenhawk of the Year. Whew.

Meanwhile, the Weblog Awards Finalists have been announced, and it's nice to see recognition for many worthy blogs. Best Liberal Blog finalists include Hullabaloo and Crooks and Liars, but a special shout-out is deserved for one-woman show Blue Gal.

Other blogrolled sites that are finalists in one category or another include skippy, Shakesville, Orcinus, Sadly, No, Brad Blog, Pharyngula and driftglass, among many others. But do check out all the finalists for yourself.

The aforementioned Jon Swift is nominated for Best Humor Blog, and has helpfully cross-referenced the finalists with his "best of" post, so you can read several finalists' best posts of 2008 for yourselves.

Looking forward, I think it's also an apt time for blogging resolutions for the new year. I plan to finish several entries in a war series I've been kicking around for too long, write more on torture and human rights because I feel the national discourse is very badly skewed at the moment, and on a lighter note, I want to write more about the arts. Certain events make that a wee bit easier (and thanks to MBR).

(Cross-posted at Blue Herald)