Friday, December 21, 2007

My Favorite Things 2007: On the Web

If it's good enough for Oprah...

While I certainly can't afford to dole out free stuff to my audience, I've been thinking over the past couple of weeks about some of my favorite things (it might be a consequence of having that danged song from The Sound of Music stuck in my head) and I thought I'd share some of them with you. Over the next few days, I'll put up some lists of my favorite media, theatre, websites and other stuff from 2007. Most of it is new or new to me this year, but there are a few perennial preferences stuck in as well. First up: my favorite things on the web.

Comics: The Perry Bible Fellowship sneaks in from my discovery of it last year, but continues to make me chuckle, as does Doug Savage's Savage Chickens and Lulu Eightball. After the Deluge is a fantastic (if a bit slow-paced) telling of the stories of several folks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Also loving: We the Robots and The Abominable Charles Christopher. Related faves: The surprisingly still-not-cease-and-desist-served The Other Family (for those who miss the deliciously mean-spirited antics of The Dysfunctional Family Circus and a daily read of snark for the funny pages, Josh Fruhlinger's The Comics Curmudgeon.

Covet: I've long enjoyed Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools weblog, a compendium of gadgets, software, books and other items that are...well, just cool and useful. Earlier this year, Kevin began publishing Kevin Kelly's Lifestream, an assembled feed from all of his fascinating weblogs. It's become a favorite read. A recent post: Phone Mining from his Street Use weblog.

Theatre Geeks: And I mean that in the best possible way, natch. I stumbled across Man in Chair one day a few months ago and realized that I knew that man. He's writing fondly about theatre from the cultural capital of America, north central Florida. (I kid, I kid.) With an understandable Broadway bias, but with the attention that must be paid to interested regional work, Eric's site is a breezy, frequent read. (And, Man, if you're reading this, I am aware I owe you my side of the story. Stay tuned.) I am not, for the most part, a podcast or videoblog consumer—I simply haven't the time—but I make an occasional exception for Andrew's Blog, the video diary of actor Andrew Keenan-Bolger, friend of a friend. And speaking of pals, I don't miss an installment of the [title of show] show, put together by Jeff Bowen and my old chum Hunter Bell.

Local Color: For St. Louis architecture, urban planning and redevelopment news and thoughts, I keep an eye on B.E.L.T., Urban Review STL, Pretty War STL, Vanishing STL and Built St. Louis. STL Syndicate aggregates news posts from several great St. Louis weblogs.

Old Favorites: I am particularly grooving these days on Girlhacker's Random Log, which consistently digs up one or two links every day that never fail to interest me. Jaime J. Weinman's Something Old, Nothing New weblog is so tasty, you can almost forget he's Canadian. (I kid, I kid. Ow, quit it!) Certainly his "thoughts on popular culture and unpopular culture" align with mine frequently enough, he could be my long-lost Toronto twin. Latest example: His appreciation of a cabaret song I've long loved and occasionally sung. Next up: Scrubbles, Mr. Hinrichs' always-interesting accumulation of kitsch, camp and other words beginning with hard k sounds. Love it. I am also, if you please, beyond thrilled that Mr. Damp Pants his own self has resumed publishing his An Entirely Other Day.

Transit Geekery: CTA Tattler, alongside the Livejournal L or El community, keep me posted on the Chicago Transit Authority and all of its attendant funding woes, while the Chitransit Flickr pool keeps me knee-deep in rolling stock and station porn from up north. Also on Flickr: London Underground pool and Undergrounds and Subways.

Everything Else: Usually safe (enough) for work is Hunk du Jour, a daily dose of guy candy from Chris. I check on T Critic every day, even though I have quite enough t-shirts. (Yes, I also check on Threadless weekly and get more. It's a delightful sickness.) For good—and unexpected—ideas, I love David's Ironic Sans. Even though I've missed him hanging out with the cabal regularly, I am thrilled by (and envious of) my pal Nick's diary of his world-round wanderings on Woolgatherer. Bill Keaggy's reddykilowatt.org is an attempt to keep track of everyone's favorite old electricity spokescreature and, as a kid who grew up surrounded by REC propaganda, I love it. Speaking of advertising, I am grateful to whomever introduced me to ad goodness, a showcase of the best (and sometimes worst) advertising creative. (Another Toronto guy. What's going on up there?!) If you're in the market for a desktop photo that simply sparkles (er, not literally), I am pleased to commend you to Mandolux. And I love, love, love Serious Eats, the amazing breadth and depth of which I've only begun to explore.

Now then, remember, these are just a few of my favorite things. (Like. That. Damned. Song.) I've got a bookmarks list, a del.icio.us account and a feed reader crammed with stuff I've left out. But if after looking over the above, you have a suggestion of a site you're absolutely sure would be a favorite of mine, let me know in the comments.

Next up: My Favorite Television & Movies 2007.