Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
Category Archives: Blogwhoring
Blogroll Amnesty Day
Doug’s Blog Round-up
You remember how this works: for B.A.D., we’re supposed to shine a spotlight on less-trafficked (i.e., not “A List”) blogs that deserve more attention. Here’s the spotlight, folks.
Total Dick-Head was the first curious place I found earlier this week. English teacher David Gill writes one of the most focused single-topic blogs I’ve ever read: every last post is about SF author Philip K. Dick. Recent posts include some notes on the crossover between Lost and PKD’s Valis, a review of A Scanner Darkly, and a student essay comparing Deckard (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) and Meursault (Camus’s The Stranger). Gill’s review of Blade Runner: The Final Cut is great. Check it out for the Blade Runner lolcats link, if nothing else.
New B&W reader Raw Dawg Buffalo probably gets more traffic than me, but I thought I’d give him a shout-out anyway as one of the freshest new (new to me) voices I’ve heard in a long while. He’s not always political, but his two most recent posts cover Michelle Obama and calling-him-a-dickhead-insults-penises-everywhere Michael Savage. Check him out.
But I wouldn’t have found Qucifer if I hadn’t paid attention to RDB’s comment threads. I have a bad habit of checking cute women out based on their blogger thumbnail pix — hey, sometimes people DO post a bigger photo on their profile page. Consider it the 21st Century equivalent of gawking at passing strangers (and this shout-out is, I suppose, a 21st Century wolf whistle). Qucifer’s profile page led me to one of her blogs, “Sensual Sex From East Coast to Midwest” (linked on Q’s name, above), and oh boy, do I enjoy reading one woman lecture to other women on blow jobs. I learned a lot from her advice to guys, too. No, I’d never heard of the stupid-ass “pussy-patting” maneuver, but now I know not to bother. Q’s other blog is lots of fun, too. (Just not as much sex.)
I don’t know if Corn Dog gets more or less traffic than me, but who cares. She’s closed up her blog (temporarily, I hope) because her poor little dog Dinky has a tumor. I miss Corn Dog’s voice. Go give her some love.
Recent B&W commenter Tommy Korioth must have found me through Mauigirl, and good thing, too. Over at his blog, Basket of Puppies, he recently wrote a great essay on racism in Texas. Check it out. How can you resist a basket of puppies?
D.
Sharing the love
Blue Gal mobilizes her army:
Skippy and Jon Swift are spearheading Blogroll Amnesty Day this Sunday. If you want to participate, post some love for one to six of your favorite small blogs (defined as blogs with less traffic than your own) on Sunday, February 3.
The idea is to draw attention to some of the lesser known gems of the blogosphere. Rather than pick a few of my favorites, I think I’ll trawl your blogrolls for your little-known treasures. Hopefully, I’ll meet (and introduce my readers to) a few new (new to me!) voices.
The only rules: February 3, blogs with less traffic than your own, and put “Blogroll Amnesty Day” in your title.
Hmm. My office computer is futzing. Won’t let me link to Blue Gal, screws up every time I do anything with a pop-up window. I had better publish before I lose this altogether.
D.
My first award
From Annarella:
Annarella writes,
Balls and Walnuts fantastico quando commenta “The Idiot’s Guide to Getting Girlsâ€, per i post sempre interessanti, ironici e divertenti su vita americana, sesso, politica.
Fortunately for me, Annarella translates, too.
Balls and Walnuts who’s really great when he’s commenting about “The Idiot’s Guide to Getting Girls†and for all his very clever and smart articles about USA, politics and sex.
Yup, this really is my first award. And completely unsolicited, too. And especially tasty since it’s coming from a reader whom I have not met. Welcome, Annarella! Stay tuned for another installment of the Idiots Guide to Getting Girls, this weekend. I’m still waiting for the nasty email from the author. Or from the author’s lawyers. Cease! Desist! Shrivel up and die, blogger!
***
Rough day today. I had a stressful case in the OR which kept me late, and I’m looking at a nasty day tomorrow, too. No doubt I’ll be coming into the hospital this weekend to check on patients.
Upshot, it’s only 9:09 and I’m having trouble keeping my eyes open. When I think back to the things I did during residency, I’m amazed and disgusted by my present wimpishness. Whatever happened to the guy who could take shit from general surgeons, neurosurgeons, ER docs, nurses, and surly patients, stay up all night sewing up drunks, and round in the morning with a smile on his face?
I need a new category: whining. Heck yeah, why not?
D.
PS: I need to come up with an award for other bloggers. It looks like fun. What should it be — Smart Mouth Award? Or perhaps, Smart Ass Award. I’d be qualified to judge that.
Tiny world
This last Thursday’s Thirteen introduced me to the world of Lego Vignettes, or vigs for short. Vigs are scenes built from Legos, typically on a small base. I presume the size constraint provides one of the main challenges.
The VignetteBricks blog features vigs from different creators and also provides an extensive links list. From that list, I found this disturbing vig from the Brickshelf Gallery:
My mother is always reminding me how artistic I am, just because I did well in high school and college art classes. (Yes, that’s what moms are for.) I suppose I could exercise my talents here; after all, my son has about a billion Lego bricks scattered about the house, and a google search for “erotic Lego vig” failed to reveal any vig-artistes with my unique set of interests.
Live-blogging tonight, and I’m going to shoot for 7 PM PST. Also, if I get a chance, I’ll review Chapter 2 of the Idiot’s Guide to Getting Girls — and this chapter truly is for idiots. Stay tuned.
D.
My day to whore Daily Kos
. . . a site which hardly needs blogwhoring, I know, but this is huge.
Really huge.
Pastafarianism hits the big time.
But this weekend marks a new era for The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM). This weekend, His Noodly Appendage will make an appearance at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in San Diego.
According the Associated Press
The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion’s annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes.
Three University of Florida students majoring religion in popular culture have gotten a panel on FSM-ism on the agenda at one of the field’s most prestigious organizations. The AAR web site has abstracts for each of the papers to be presented:
You’ll have to read Carolita’s diary (linked above) to check out the abstracts. Okay, while I’m waiting for folks to show up for live blogging, I’m going to buy me some Pastafarian holiday greeting cards!
D.
Support your local writer
Oy, the Writer’s Strike. Will those evil corporate minions ever learn that they are no match for organized creative talent?
For those of you who are suffering JSSCWS (Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert Withdrawal Syndrome, which is only a little less damaging than Priapic Sleep Arousal Syndrome), The Daily Show’s writers have put together an entertaining YouTube video, showcased over at DailyKos. Enjoy.
D.
Porno Pimpage!
O’Brien did it. I could only imagine doing it, but she did it. She wrote a Thursday Thirteen composed of YouPorn video links.
Admittedly, it’s not a Thursday Thirteen (it’s a Thursday Nineteen, by my count), not all of the links go to YouPorn, and the links are so varied one would have a difficult time finding some overarching theme. Except for the porn, of course. “Favorite” YouPorn videos? No, some of these are pretty gross. “Most Interesting” YouPorn videos? Naw. She missed the one of the guy who put his whole head into a woman’s vagina*, and that one she’s watching here? I have standards. I won’t watch any YouPorns with a rating below 2.
(Seriously, that looked like one boring video. Far more interesting, and erotic, watching O’Brien’s reaction to that crappy video.)
She did it all for the sake of journalism. Once again proving that I chose the wrong profession. To think, right now I could be groveling before Mistress Matisse, and when Karen complains about it, I’d say, “It’s for this piece I’m writing. Deal with it.” Then I would race into the other room for my, “Bwahahahahahahaaaa!”
On the other hand, if I ever publish my romance, I can declare that my next novel will focus on the BDSM community, and I Must Do Research!
Yeah. That’ll work.
D.
*And another personal favorite, Woman Giving Birth To Cell Phone.
The Fix goes live
The Fix: Short Fiction Review.
I’ll be an active reviewer after the first of the year. Until then, not so much. Got hospital chief of staff biz to worry about.
D.
A real Chi Weenie
Not this kind of Chi Weenie.
For this morning’s procrastination, I’ve been drinking up the posts at Neurotopia, a ScienceBlog authored by The Evil Monkey, a neuroscience postdoc. The Evil Monkey has eclectic interests (not unlike yours truly), and has recently written about the Marry Our Daughter website, the effects of bisphenol A exposure, more Intelligent Design idiocy, and the use of statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) to treat Alzheimer’s.
In the linked post, The E-M posts a YouTube video of a Filipino martial arts expert who demonstrates how an ancient ritual makes him invulnerable to injury. Not.
The E-M’s conclusion?
I think we can consider Chi and the like one more debunked philosophical construct. Just because you believe something, that doesn’t make it so. Any nice sharp sword will demonstrate that concept.
Enjoy.
Live blogging tonight, beginning no later than 8 PM PST. See you all there!
D.
I love this guy.
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich has a blog, and now that he has a new book, you can no doubt look forward to appearances on The Daily Show and Colbert Report.
Watch him not hawk his new book, Supercapitalism.
Interestingly, on his blog he recommends tax cuts to help avert the coming recession — but not tax cuts for the wealthy, who he correctly points out already spend as much money as they please:
It’s middle and lower-income Americans who spend more when their taxes are cut. And because the biggest tax they face is the payroll tax, the payroll tax needs to be cut in order to keep them spending and avoid a recession.
I say exempt the first $15,000 of earnings from payroll taxes for a year, starting as soon as possible. Sure, this may cause the budget deficit to widen a bit. But if the economy goes into the tank, the deficit will be far bigger.
Makes perfect sense to me . . . and we could easily offset the tax cut by rolling back some of W’s breaks to the super-wealthy.
D.