headspace (user#8924) is a published author and screenwriter who has written a story that was nominated for this year's Pushcart Prize. She has an attractive blog with short pithy posts and long serious posts. I like her opinions on fair use and her list of books she has checked out from the library.
Ok, so Spatch's (User #30183) site seems kind of defunct, and the front page blog posts are of limited interest, but there is brilliance here. Minor brilliance in Martha the Pirate Cat, minor brilliance and black comedy in Oh Die Menschlichkeit, minor brilliance in the love song (mp3) I Do To, and MAJOR brilliance in Cattown! (Ok, the first episode you see will be the best, but it's very funny.) There are also interactive text games, writing, in short, a lot of good stuff.
jarrodtrainque (User #19939) has his site over at Jarrod Trainque. I like the front page a lot, for it's simplicity, mostly. That's the best thing about the site, though. There are some links which are pretty interesting, and directions to all the other places jarrodtrainque spends time on the web.
quibx (User #15338) collects Japanese robot toys. He's got a site reviewing them, and while it isn't all that pretty, it has a ton of reviews. He's now able to incorporate clips from anime's showing the character that the figure represents. That's pretty cool. The power animals are also cool. It isn't all anime figures, though, there's also stuff like the Playmobile Scary Ghost.
Sites like this, which demonstrate such sustained attention and knowledge are always impressive to me. I think they are one of the best things about the internet, no matter their subject matter, because they expose those of us not, say, obsessed with Japanese robot toys, to a whole new world.
kokogiak (User #1747) has a cool site that was linked on the MeFi front page today. His picture of all the known bodies in the solar system larger than 200 miles in diameter, ranked by size, is stunning. But that's just the tip of the iceberg! He's made a bunch of stuff, from a way to overlay two Google maps, to this awesome list of mega-fauna, to a visualizer for huge amounts of pennies. This is just a sampling of the neat hacks and projects on his page, for instance, be sure to go searching for the MegaMoo.
paxton (user #29772) came to my attention for mentioning that he bought a clawfoot tub for $100 on craigslist. He lives near where I grew up, in Worcester Mass, or as we all liked to call it: wuh-STA! His blog, RadioBall (what does the name mean? nothing much.) is full of all things Worcester (and non-) from talk about the incoming Wal-Mart to an odd observation concerning censorship of ... well you read it. He's also veep to the Vice-Chair of the Worcester Cultural Commission and, according to his "who is this jerk" page, handsome.
carsonb (User #7721) has a little blog with a bunch of mixes and little stories, but he hasn't updated it in quite a while. He's still bopping around on MySpace though.
dobbs's (User #13877) site is great. The splash page is a bit intimidating, demanding an email address, but the links at the top (check WTF? to figure out WTF) lead to an explanation and some archived writings from what turns out to be a splendid email list. After reading bits from the archives (I liked I'm on Fire, and check out Untitled #6) I signed up for the list. The writing from his Victory Shag project is also quite good: I don't want to know if this is truth or fiction, but it's a hell of a story. And, to top it all off, the music link has a great set of songs available. I hadn't heard The Handsome Family before, but after reading the Sally Timms story, I had to hear, and they're great!
dong_resin (User #8895) has an infrequently updated joint. It's a shame, because what's here is good. I laughed out loud at this post about why Steve Irwin was right to hold his baby while feeding that croc, and I think Dong Resin vs. Altoids Cinnamon Chewing Gum shows flashes of brilliance. In general, the archives are worth trolling through. The links in the side bar and along the bottom of the page are almost all excellent.
mmhaffie (User #17538) has a personal site where he records thoughts and displays photographs. His pictures, many of which are of natural scenes, are charming. I particularly liked this one of some snow hiding out under a bench.
miss lynster's (User #20640) site is a cute send-up of the notion of the patron saint. There are six saints represented here: Anxiete, Concepta, Exacto, Pantone, Pixela and, my favorite, Typo. The stories and pictures are well-done, and there's a cafepress store for your reliquary needs. You can even get the saints as a desktop icons for a free download.
amyms' (User #47328) site is the home page for MSN's The World of Rock and Roll group. Apparently you can join it. There's some information here, but the design is so poor that it makes my head hurt.
grapefruitmoon (user #19856) is an artist who likes cold places. She's been to some of the same places as me, including Vermont and Hampshire College. She has an art site up called nervousmotion with the Projekt30 people and she's been showing her work at AS220 in Providence this month. She does collage work including two sets of Iceland-inspired pieces.
Wendell (user #206) is one of those rare people who has a humor site that is actually very funny. He had a tripod site back in ancient blogger days and now he's got an empire. Great satire, awesome repartee, and the odd gross graphic or two add up to a funny site by a funny (funny ha ha, mostly) man.
