Artvoice Best Blogger Nominations And Why They Suck

Artvoice has released their 2009 “Best of Buffalo” nominations and I have a few things to say about the nomination list for “Best Local Blogger“.

Now, if this was BuffaloPundit’s blog, he’d ironically beg you to go vote for him, post a picture of a LOLcat and then bury the post underneath an interminable pile of car reviews and half baked posts based on ECDC press releases.

However, this is my blog and I will now bury you under a blizzard of verbose, condescending wisdom.  After reading it, you’ll immediately wish these thoughts were your own.  So, in that way, you’ll know what it feels like to be BuffaloPundit.

Let me preface all of this with a statement about the editorial staff and nominating committee at Artvoice, they’re good people and I consider some of them to be my friends.  This is why I am pissed that for the fourth straight year, they have deliberately ignored the vox populi and deliberately suppressed my vote count.

I do believe Artvoice has retained the services of election fixer extraordinaire and fabulous swinger, Roger Stone in order to disenfranchise the overseas military vote and absentee ballots from nursing homes, BryLin, and people from Batavia (I’m huge with elderly drug addicts and unemployed mechanics in Batavia).  That is the only viable explanation as to how Alan’s blog consistently pulls in more votes.  It’s either that or the fact that I only write once a week and sometimes this blog goes silent for weeks on end while I steer the massive FAILBOAT that graciously hosts the bloggy diarrhea of one Alan Bedenko.

Now, to be serious for a moment…this post will not serve solely as an attack on Mr. Bedenko (who, for the record, has less hair than I do, likes horrible imitation pizza and has a penchant for buggery) but it will serve as a petition to the editorial staff of Artvoice.  My demands?

Stop lumping all the various bloggers into one category.  The problem is that there are several different types of blogs.  You have blogs which feature awesome, in-depth analysis and opinion (this one), lifestream blogs, sports blogs, technology blogs, blogs featuring writers in desperate need of approval from local Democratic Party operatives (Alan’s), blogs pretending not to be blogs featuring lightweight content about happy shit (Buffalo Rising), etc.  You get my drift.  I think we need to parse the categories of blogs and offer some granularity for the various audiences of the local blog scene. After all, all blogs are not created equal.  Of course, I am quite certain that Geoff Kelly will print this blog post out and proceed to wipe his ass with it, but I’ll press on.

For the record, I define a blog as follows:

1. Hosted on some sort of weblog content management system like Wordpress, Typepad, Blogspot, etc. (Disqualifies Facebookers, MySpacers, SpeakUpWNY and Twitterers)
2. Features a blogroll linking to other blogs (Disqualifies The Buffalo News and Buffalo Rising)
3. Regularly acknowledges the existence of other new media sites (Disqualifies Buffalo Rising again)

Let’s get to some actual recommendations and my choices for the best in each category.  The award for BuffaloGeek’s Best Blogs of Buffalo Award is accompanied by absolutely fucking nothing.  You’ll get no prize, award or t-shirt and you will not be feted at some bullshit party.  Just know that you won the real award and use it build underground cred.

Best Local Sports Blog:

We have a large pool of candidates for this category in Buffalo.  Frankly, I’d put our talented group of local sports bloggers up against any other city’s blogroll any day.

BfloBlog – The original local sports blog and still pumping out quality content after four years.  Kevin is turning into the JD Salinger of bloggers, so he doesn’t take the title of best local sports blog this year.  Kevin is at his best when he is talking about the “sporting life”, telling us about his kids growing interest in their local teams or his memories of being a sports fan when he was a poor, black child in the 1940’s.  He’s a great blogger who writes emotionally and honestly about his love for sports while being analytical when it matters.

The Willful Caboose – Well written, funny, and insightful.  (I know Kate will put this in her sidebar like a book blurb endorsement).  A daily read and one of my favorite spots on the local internets.

The Goose’s Roost – Best sports blog of 2009, hands down.  These guys are still in college, so they stay up around the clock, watching games you would never bother to watch because it’s 3AM and you’ve got a job.  On top of the volume, their content is fantastic and a much better read than the columnists at The Buffalo News.  Gets better each month.

Personal Blog:

The personal blogger is what Artvoice 2009 nominee Jennifer Smith of AllThingsJennifer would normally be considered.  Lots of frequent updates about what she’s making for dinner, tales of moping/happiness, shopping, being tired, books, magazines, coffee, friends, boyfriends, etc.  These blogs don’t usually feature a lot of in-depth opinion or analysis of current events (while there might be some commentary on such things) it’s not the focus of the writer.  The focus is on the writer and his/her general relationship with the people and world around him/her.  We have a plethora of these blogs in Buffalo but only two nominees for the 2009 Geek Award:

Byzantium Shores – Blog writer Kelly Sedinger is one of my most regular reads.  I really look forward to his posts, event though I share very few interests with him.  He’s a big fan of science fiction novels/movies and a plethora of other things that I don’t really care about.  That’s not meant to be dismissive by any means.  I think it says something about his skill as a writer that he makes those things interesting for me while I am reading his blog and I’ve learned quite a few things reading his musings.  He’s really that good.  Plus, I really love his unidentified earth series.

The Amazing Adventures of jen14221 – Best Personal Blog of 2009.  This is my favorite blog hosted by a cranky Mother of One who lives in Niagara County, EVER!  Her daily tales about being a Mom with an unconventional job, passion for buying shit she doesn’t need, weight loss, airline anecdotes and namedroppings of web celebrities like Greg Fornasiero make me laugh and cringe.  She’s a personal blogger who keeps the whining to a minimum and has a lot of fun dealing with the problems in her life.  She’s kind of a female Larry David with 100% less Jew and 70% more hair.

Lifestream Blog:

These bloggers put their entire lives online for you to watch and read about.  They solicit interaction with their readers through multiple channels for content ideas and are always posting.  Their content is a daily/weekly digest of everything they do, warts and all.  There are only two nominees in this category although there are a dozen or so of these blogs in WNY:

Buffawhat – Nate’s “Snap!” feature and frequent updates about his daily use of public transportation, obsession with expensive vinyl toys, horrendous eating habits, boyfriend, multiple jobs, etc. are all very entertaining.  His frequent links to cool music, trends and alternative news are also a great reason to stop in regularly.

Theory Is The Reason – Best Lifestream Blog 2009.  Kevin Lim is a self-described social cyborg.  He videotapes pretty much everything that happens to him on a daily basis and has a geek tool belt that would make the guys from Revenge of The Nerds green with envy.  He’ also a talented writer, technology tastemaker and doctoral candidate at UB.  He’ll be leaving Buffalo at the end of the semester and in his last year of eligibility for this first annual award, he’s the winner.

Political Blog:

There can be only one.  While Alan is thinner than me, he’s inferior in every other way and thus will not be nominated.  The other blogs which I will not be nominating belong to fringe libertarian egomaniacs, willfully ignorant Republicans, or simply struggle to find an audience.

Albany’s Insanity – Rus’s blog would be much more interesting if he turned it into a video blog.  I love to listen to him rant and he’s been successful in organizing people against local and state government waste.  If 10% of the local populace was as passionate as Rus, this town would be on its way back.

BuffaloGeek – Best Political Blog 2009.  Yes, I’m arrogant enough to give myself an award.  Someone needs to recognize my brilliance, might as well be me.  I think this site is well-written, thoughtful, and strikes the right tone of condescension, derision, snark and genius.  I don’t go a day without reading it, that’s for sure.

I was going to fill out a couple of more categories here, but it’s 1AM and my 8 month old daughter is screaming due to teething and I’ve gotta be up in three hours for work.  I’ll continue the nominations and awards tomorrow.  Upcoming categories include niche/hobby sites, food blog, video blogger, podcaster, business blogger and hyperlocal group blog.  I’ll probably come up with a few other categories as well.