Digital Analogue

Recommended bookmarks

I recently purged my regular-reading bookmarks of stuff that I don't really care if I miss, and added a few that I have been occasionally checking by hand. To celebrate, I figured I'd post the list here, of course.

Daily comics

Little Dee

is a comic about a little girl being raised by a bear, with assistance from a dog and a vulture (who knits). By Chris Baldwin, who also writes Bruno, which remains fairly well written but has gotten so dreary and depressing that I just can't keep it in my list. Dee is much more lighthearted. (No Sundays)

Doonesbury

is Doonesbury. Classic.

For Better or For Worse

is also pretty classic. It always manages to stay pretty topical.

Get Fuzzy

is one of the cleverest, funniest new comics of the last ten years. Often sneaks in political humour under the radar.

Frazz

is a comic about a college-educated guy (obviously a liberal arts college, I think) who chooses to work as the janitor at an elementary school. He has a lock on what's important in life, and hasn't suppressed his inner child; this makes him an excellent role model for the kids, who for their part seem to think he's pretty cool.

Sluggy Freelance

is one of the oldest web comics, still going strong. Now is probably a good time to jump in if you've never read it before; it just came to the end of a months-long story arc, and will probably have a lot of recapping in the near future.

Comics Twice or Thrice Weekly

Venus Envy

is a well-written if not very well-drawn comic about a high-school-age transsexual named Zoë. (Supposedly MWF, though the updates are irregular.)

PhD

was a lot funnier when I was actually still a grad student, but it's still cute. (Irregularly updated.)

The Order of the Stick

is absolutely a must-read if you've ever played D&D. Start from the beginning; it won't take too long. (MTh.)

Penny Arcade

is for all the console gamers out there. The guys that write this spend all their time playing video games, except for the time they spend writing PA, which is good enough that it supports them, which frees them up to play video games. Nice life if you can get it. (MWF.)

Columns

Miss Manners

is much-maligned, but she's quite funny and clever, and very nearly always right. (Wednesdays and Sundays.)

Molly Ivins

is a liberal columnist that has her head screwed on right about a lot of things, including a lot of things high honcho Democrats are idiots about. (Irregular, but usually at least once a week.)

Burt Constable

is my connection to Chicago's northwest suburbs. Always a pleasant read. (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.)

Eric Zorn

writes an excellent column for the Tribune. (Tuesdays and Thursdays, usually.)

The Straight Dope

is written for the Reader by the all-knowing Cecil Adams. The message boards are good, too. (New columns on Fridays; classics and staff reports other weekdays.)

Blogs

Eric Zorn

, the aforementioned columnist for the Trib, writes a great blog with stuff that he doesn't have room for in his column, followups to old columns, and assorted other items of interest. (Weekdays.)

A Partially Examined Life

is by Mike Kimmitt, a grad student in econ at U Hawaiʻi and a friend of mine since my IMSA days. Politically oriented.

One Good Thing

is written by Leigh Anne Wilson, a denizen of Suburban Heck and mother of two who with her husband owns and operates a sex toy shop on Chicago's North Side. Her writing is incredible.

Kathy

is my sister. She doesn't post very often, and her blog is probably of less interest to the general public than the others I read.

Confessions of a Recovering Choir Director

includes a lot of listings of the exact musical content of various Masses this guy attends, but when he posts actual commentary it's pretty interesting.

Nathan's Notebook

is written by Nathan Bierma, who writes "On Language" for the Trib. Lots of assorted observations of interesting linguistic productions.

Language Log

is in the same vein, but with contributions from a dazzling assortment of linguistics professors from around the world.

Naked Translations

is a blog in French about the process of translation. When I'm too tired and want to cheat, I jump over to the English translation.

"Lack of confusion isn't one of the services offered by the CNS." --Kevin Price