What weblogs will make me smart and interesting and beautiful?

January 29, 2008 12:42 PM

What are the best weblogs?

My google reader is overwhelmed with celebrity gossip weblogs, and I'd like to replace those with something slightly more edifying. I'm looking for blogs on a specific subject, not just personal weblogs like Dooce or something. I have a wide variety of interests, so pretty much any topic is welcome. (Things I love: art, fashion, interior design, crafts, cooking. Things I would love to learn more about: finance/economics, politics, web/graphic design, SCIENCE!, &c.)

I've browsed though past questions and pulled some recommendations from there, but I need more!

posted by logic vs love to computers & internet (33 comments total)

Things I would love to learn more about: finance/economics

pfblogs.org is an aggregator of personal finance blogs. I found several good finance blogs by browsing the posts there.
posted by burnmp3s at 12:46 PM on January 29

For a behind-the-scenes look at an art museum you could try Eye Level from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (full disclosure: I work there).
posted by Taken Outtacontext at 12:47 PM on January 29

The daily life of a very cute dog: Bringing Up Shelby
Producing theatre in NYC: Producer's Perspective by Ken Davenport
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:50 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Ask a Korean provides information about aspects of Korean and Korean-American culture in an entertaining way.

Hmm. It appears that I do read mostly personal weblogs and news. I could use suggestions, too!
posted by ignignokt at 12:51 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Lots and lots of science blogs over at Wired.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 1:01 PM on January 29

I'm pretty fond of the Gawker blogs, specifically The Consumerist, io9 (sci-fi), Kotaku (video games) and Lifehacker (productivity/DIY). I've discovered quite a few other favourites via links from these sites. Lifehacker is especially good at pointing to other sites/blogs that are rife with usefulness.
posted by Nelsormensch at 1:06 PM on January 29

Damn Interesting lives up to its name.
posted by drezdn at 1:06 PM on January 29

Kottke - NY, sometimes web design, "Liberal Arts 2.0"
Daring Fireball - Mac news, some web design stuff
Subtraction - Design, his dog, etc.
Zeldman - Used to be be about web design, now mostly about how hard it is to find good service these days.

Very web design-centric, but that's how I roll.
posted by kpmcguire at 1:07 PM on January 29

art, fashion, interior design

Drawn! I know you're sort-of joking about blogs making you smart and interesting and beautiful, but this blog actually does make me look good--my coworkers all think I have great taste in illustrators, most of which I discover through this blog, one way or another.
Design*Sponge
Apartment Therapy
Book By Its Cover
Jacket Whys
First Second Blog
posted by lampoil at 1:14 PM on January 29

For science, Pharyngula, 3 Quarks Daily, and Cosmic Variance.
posted by peacheater at 1:48 PM on January 29

here's my list of non-personal, mostly non-gossip sites--sorry, i didn't have the time or wherewithal to do all the links. google is your friend here.

* 3 quarks daily
* addictionary
* andrew sullivan
* apartment therapy
* arts & letters daily
* big happy funhouse
* boingboing
* cute overload
* daily kos
* david byrne's journal
* design*sponge
* facing south
* freakonomics
* futility closet
* gawker
* go fug yourself
* grammar girl
* hendrik hertzberg
* identity theory
* indexed
* interesting times: george packer
* jezebel
* kottke
* language log
* make
* maud newton
* mediabistro
* neatorama
* neil gaiman's weblog
* owen and mzee's zoo blog
* postsecret
* readymade
* shelterrific
* the athanasius kircher society
* the huffington post
* the kitchen
* the new york times
* the notion
* wonkette
posted by thinkingwoman at 2:08 PM on January 29

the nonist.
posted by Armitage Shanks at 2:25 PM on January 29

For web/graphic design

Smashing Magazine
456 Berea Street
CSS Beauty
Molly.com
Veerle
Vandalay
Andy Budd
Stuff and Nonsense
Vitamin
Mashable

Keep an eye on the webdesign / css / design / tutorial tags in delicious for a couple of days and you'll find so many good reads you'll be sorry you asked ;-)
posted by ceri richard at 2:29 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

Damn Interesting deserves more mentions.
posted by sien at 2:30 PM on January 29

MoCo Loco: "your source for modern & contemporary design news and views. "

We Make Money Not Art: "We visit art galleries, listen to conferences, cover art and design events, take a lot of pictures, interview creative people, and we document these findings in order to share them with you."

Bruce Sterling and Warren Ellis are very edifying.
posted by bru at 2:34 PM on January 29

Zen Habits.
posted by hazyspring at 2:41 PM on January 29

Some good interior design shtuff:
Hewn and Hammered
The Mid-Century Modernist
posted by Typographica at 3:05 PM on January 29

Kottke is good.

I've enjoyed, randomly -

ModBlog - Body modification and tattoos
COACD - Fashion and model scouting
Watchismo Times - Watch design
John K - Classic animation
Joe's NYC - Photographs
Bent Objects - Funny
Morbid Anatomy - What it says on the tin
Filles Sourires - Female singers
Observations on film art - Cinema
Sartorialist - Clothes and fashion
posted by fire&wings at 3:16 PM on January 29

NOTCOT, Veer's The Skinny, and the Creative Review Blog will serve your general web/graphic/interior design desires nicely. A List Apart and A Brief Message will give you some in-depth insights into web design. If logo, branding, and identity design strike your fancy you can go check out Brand New.

And when you're done being all highbrow you can visit Go Fug Yourself for bitchy fashion commentary that doubles as celebrity gossip. Win-win!
posted by Smallpox at 3:44 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

design porn: better living through design
fun facts and intersting-ness: mental floss
genuine [intelligent] hilarity : Graham Linehan's* "Why, that's delightful!"

* Creator of Father Ted, Black Books, and the IT Crowd
posted by rhinny at 3:48 PM on January 29

Seconding futilitycloset, which is published by a MeFite!
posted by theiconoclast31 at 4:03 PM on January 29 [1 favorite]

chipple.net for his occasional posts on life in japan, his agenda for shibuya-kei related releases

angry asian man for pop culture and news related to asian americans, and racialicious for a more in depth analysis

valerian for photography

damn you kozo for hong kong cinema silly
posted by sardonicsmile at 5:03 PM on January 29

Language Log

Again With the Comics

Marginal Revolution (Tyler Cowen)

Opacity (Nassim Taleb)

Seconding LifeHack and NOTCOT
posted by fan_of_all_things_small at 5:08 PM on January 29

My favorite blog:
The Weblog (Adam Kotsko and friends - very, very smart)
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:48 PM on January 29

imeanofcoursebesidesmetafilter
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:48 PM on January 29

I like The Amateur Gourmet. He's funny and talks about food. Sometimes he makes videos. Serious Eats is a great resource for recipes and all things food related. Japanese Food Report has some really esoteric interesting stuff about Japanese food and preparation thereof. Ezra Klein is a young political blogger who works for The American Prospect and focuses mostly on health care policy analysis. Lastly, I have bb's link blog, which has all sorts of fun shiny stuff.
posted by calistasm at 6:28 PM on January 29

For funny stuff, Permanent Monday, the Comics Curmudgeon and (Metafilter's own) defective yeti are some of my favorites. I also like Arts and Letters Daily, mentioned above; it's more of an aggregator for high-minded magazine and newspaper articles than a blog.
posted by whir at 10:44 PM on January 29

Bruce Schneier's blog on security is fascinating. His thoughts on what security is and isn't are vital for understanding so much of what is going on today.

Street Use looks at technology as it used in real life, adapted by people who have real needs. Great.
posted by clockworkjoe at 12:43 PM on January 30

I have been a long-time reader of waiterrant. Good writing about eating out, from the waiter's perspective.
posted by Shebear at 1:34 PM on January 30

There's this ask metafilter site I like, they have good stuff sometimes. Other than that, I try to limit myself to the sartorialist, BLDGBLOG, boingboing, william wray, kottke, and slashdot. Even with those few, seems like I'm always struggling to keep up.

oh, but william wray is great and I recommend his feed highly.
posted by Chris4d at 8:23 PM on January 30

in addition to the oft mentioned sartorialist-
sensory impact is a nice little design blog about the "culture of objects"
and current tv has a website created by posts from viewers that include links and videos on everything from music and fashion to international politics and scientific studies.
posted by flaneuse at 10:55 AM on January 31

Staggeringly beautiful: BibliOdyssey

Mind expanding diversity: growabrain

Oh wow cool stuff: designboom

The original weblog, Jorn Barger's Robot Wisdom.

Science: The Wired Science blog. l Neurophilosophy l Psychology: PsyBlog l Damn Interesting l Seed (a web mag but a real fave).

Fashion: Fashion Nation l London Street Fashion

Perfume: The Scented Salamander and Perfume Smellin' Things

Smart: Things Magazine, interesting: English Russia and beautiful: Delicious Ghost.
posted by nickyskye at 3:57 PM on February 1 [1 favorite]

These are a few of the sites I read daily/weekly:

BoingBoing
Electrolicious
Creature Comforts
Ars Technica
Zen Habits
Not Martha
Inhabitat
Swiss Miss
Wonkette
Gawker
Phantasmaphile
Treehugger
Orcinus
Damn Interesting
Reddit
Proceedings of the Athanasius Kircher Society
obscurestore
Disinformation
Notes From Somewhere Bizarre
posted by nikksioux at 8:35 PM on March 10