benomatic

benomatic's blog.

This blog makes me feel: Like I've reached an important milestone.

Oh, go ahead and click this puppy. You'll get a whole lot of nothing. My first "dead" blog. It's like my first kiss, only... no! There will be no "only!" There is no way to metaphorically link my first kiss to finding a dead blog. I will not be that guy.

So, it was back to Shanon Wheeler's blog. That's the way I'm a gonna play this game. This time, I'm going for thingpart's blog. He get's rave reviews from Shanon. An exciting excerpt: "also, check out, and ad thingpart. He rocks." Shanon, I can't be held responsible for your spelling. Or mine. Proofreading is for losers.

(Note: Dead blogs will not effect my degrees of bloggeration title. Thus why I am still on "3 degrees".)

3rd Degree

Shanon Wheeler's blog

This blog makes me feel: self-reflective.

Something about Shanon Wheeler reminds me of... me. I mean, here is a guy who is hailed as a great cartoonist by many people. People genuinely like his "Too Much Coffee Man" cartoons. Apparently he's good.

Not that I would know. I perused his blog for a good long time, and I think I read about one cartoon. I was much more fascinated about how bad Valentine's day sucked for him.

I could probably go on a rant about how this is the result of the dumbing down of entertainment... how I am the product of the "Reality TV Generation" and that I can't appreciate true entertainment. And I wouldn't want to do that because, when ranting, one generally wants to include themselves on the "back when things were good" side of the rant, rather then make bold statements like, "I am the problem!"

Instead, I'll veer towards the fact that I can relate to Shanon more on a personal level then on a cartoonistic level. For one, I can't draw a stick figure that doesn't look like it rides a short bus, so art is often times lost on me. But I can appreciate a guy who gets bummed when a Hallmark Holiday comes around that seems to exist solely to remind us that all of our friends are eating fondue and getting laid later. My advice to Shanon: drink it off. The agony of a wicked hangover wears off quicker then the memories of hugging that teddy bear you won at the fair and crying softly while listening to "Air Supply".

Completely shifting gears, I am slowly becoming a connoisseur of blogs. Well, if blogs are like wine, I can now tell the difference between a chardonnay and a merlot. From a blogisseuer's perspective, I like those handy histories that a lot of blogs have. That way, you can read a blog from it's onset. Shanon's blog has the "previous" post button, so it's like watching this weeks episode of "Heroes" and working backwards. Extremely disconcerting.

Finally, I would like to apologize for the irregular postings of this blog... I figured out that it helps to have internet access outside of work! Just one of those obvious statements that makes me realize I'm not nearly as clever as I think.

From Shannon's blog, I am taking a leap of faith and venturing to benomatic's blog. This is all I know about benomatic:

A. It sounds like his name might be Ben.

B. According to Shannon: "thanks again to benomatic for baby-walking me through this thing and tell him to update his journal."

I feel the need to tell benomatic to update his journal.

Shanon's blog in one quote: "I'm about to open a second bottle of wine and sing karaoke...."

2nd Degree

The Silent Penultimate Panel Watch

This blog makes me feel: Inspired

Alright, I will admit: this was actually the blog that inspired me to start my Journey through the blogs of the world. Something about Mr. Gill's steadfast dedication to something so... mind blowingly odd... was fascinating. Thus, I decided to create this blog based on this one great blog to blog experience.

Gill tracks comic strips in which the second to last panel is silent for comic timing. I caught this blog right at it's end, as Gill is now tracking the use of the term "rock star" being used in the media. I think this is how I like to catch blogs. It's like renting all the seasons of Laguna Beach on DVD and watching them straight through. When will LC learn...

Anyways, this blog is fascinating, and I do suggest at least a visit. Turns out, one comic actually added a penultimate silent panel just to see if it would catch the attention of Gill. I thought that was nice, so I am jumping ship to my next blog, To Much Coffee Mans' creator Shanon Wheeler's blog. And thus the Journey continues...

Steve's blog in one quote: "If a lazy gag points out the fact that it is a lazy gag, is it still a lazy gag?"

1st Degree

Slumbering Lungfish

This blog makes me feel: like peeing my pants.

I had to start my Journey somewhere; why not with the first blog I ever read? I happened upon Lore's work by, off all nerdy pursuits, reading PC Magazine. At the age of 22. It mentioned The Brunching Shuttlecocks as a great site for random funniness. Now defunct, Lore was a member of the Shuttlecocks, and the site was indeed frickin hilarious. From there, I explored more of Lore's work. I can actually say I have read every entry of The Book of Ratings, in which Lore rates things from "Breakfast Cereals" to "He-Man Characters" on a classic "A" to "F" grading scale. Pure genius. It's one of those ideas you look at and say, "Damn! I wish I had thought of that!"

Thus, Lore is the 1st Degree of Bloggeration. For every blog I visit, there will be another degree. From his page, I chose to move on to Silent Penultimate Panel Watch. Lore describes the author, Matt Gill, as "oddly compelling". I hope one day, this blog is described as "oddly compelling". Or at least not "the maggot infested interior of a broken man's soul". That would not be good.

Lore's Blog in one quote: "I guess I won’t be there, although I wouldn’t rule out a wacky scheme involving sneaking in the back door dressed as a pastry chef."

Thus, the Journey begins

How did this epic Journey come to be, you ask? Well, I have not been a big fan of blogs, but I do every so often visit my buddy Tim's. I also have been a faithful reader of Lore Sjoberg's blog. From Lore's blog, I clicked on a link to another blog, by Matt Gill. Somewhere is there, I started thinking of how cliche it would be to write a blog about blogs, and how I would do it "differently". So I decided to make this into a Journey. I like to capitalize Journey because it reminds me that Steve Perry rocks! And just so you know, he is no longer with the band...

I have set some ground rules for myself. First off, I am telling no one about this blog except for the owners of the blogs I visit. Also, I will only move from blog to blog via links on the blog. I expect to run into some dead-ends. If this is the case, I will back up to the most recent blog with multiple links and try again.

For every blog I visit, I will give a breif synopsis, plus how that blog makes me feel. I won't judge others by rating their blogs, but I will give my opinion. Which, in essence, means I will be judging. To start things off...