Final Good Bye to 34,000 Feet

Well, this is it…final commitment to the new blog at 35,000 feet…and thus the last entry here. Please check out the new site at http://www.bestgayblogs.com.

Good bye 34K, you were a good elevation for us in the past year and we appreciated all the great weather and direction through the clouds. May the others who enter your space have as good an experience as I.

Best Gay Blog 7

Scotty (which is not his real name, but with some research you can find it on his blog) is 41 and lives with his partner in Bedford, Indiana; where an average home costs $103,600 and the crime rate is less than 1/3 it is for any other average small city in America.

The first thing you will notice about his blog cleverly called “The Other Side of Straight” is the uniquely deep green colored background (for those copycats out there – it is color #e8eced). The content on the blog is a nice mix of personal (such as a coming of age sex in the bathroom) stories and things to keep you coming back for more (such as half-nekkid Thursdays). The ongoing topic though that tugged a heartstring for me (as a gay father) is his struggles with his X wife (and her husband) around his children. Scotty has 2 daughters and a son from a previous straight marriage. Fortunately, he has 50% physical custody – but unfortunately there is an ongoing battle for full custody and recent talk of the mother wanting to move to LA. Go check it out yourselves to get the latest on this and other tidbits of Scotty’s life (including his latest weigh-in).

Best Gay Blogs Ratings* out of 10 possible points in each category:
Smart 6
Updated 8
Hotties 2 (would have received a 1 if not for he and his partner's photos)
Funny 6
Design 6
Advertising v Content 8
Bitchy and Honest 7
Unique 6
Following Factor 6
Proactively loves BGB.com 8

Overall Score out of 10:
6.30

* Feel free to bitch back with your comments on the reviews. Also - if you have a blog that you would like Best Gay Blogs to review, feel free to add that suggestion as a comment as well (if you have a weak ego or heart – wouldn’t recommend it)

Hottie of the week 4

Best Gay Blog 6

Randy Wylde lives and writes and thinks with his partner “Boo” in Minneapolis.

Sorry it took so long to get this blog review out this morning, but it has taken me several days and the reading of thousands of words to get a good sense of his blog “Too Much Information”. TMI is a well written (fairly new) blog that although lengthy (yes, you must commit at least 10 minutes to each entry) is very entertaining and thought provoking. Randy is able to draw from his own personal experiences (both recent and in his “misspent youthful” past) to bring us to think about our own similar struggles and joys. Recent topics include a visit to New Orleans (prior to the flooding), a teen’s first sexual encounters (for adult reading only), and a birthday/anniversary message to his husband (who apparently doesn’t read the blog).

Best Gay Blogs Ratings* out of 10 possible points in each category:

Smart 8
Updated 4
Hotties 1
Funny 6
Design 2
Advertising v Content 8
Bitchy and Honest 6
Unique 5
Following Factor 4
Proactively loves Best Gay Blogs 6

Overall Score out of 10: 5.00

* Feel free to bitch back with your comments on the reviews. Also - if you have a blog that you would like Best Gay Blogs to review, feel free to add that suggestion as a comment as well (if you have a weak ego or heart – wouldn’t recommend it)

Best Gay Blog 5

Damion is a 33 year old Ph.D. candidate in the English department at the University of Maryland-College Park. He was born and raised in the state of Georgia. He writes and manages the gay blog named Queering the Apparatus. QTA is a well written blog. At first look you may think – oh this blog looks like shit (yes, the banner sucks and the little clock is annoying) – but I really encourage you to let the words and topics give it a chance. Damion uses the English language to paint a representation of various elements of his life. He also is very engaging with his blog following (who I believe are conspiring to take his adorable dogs) – particularly with the recent use of polls. Recent topics include Vintage Men, Horror Movies, and Depeche Mode.
Best Gay Blogs Ratings** out of 10 possible points in each category:

Smart 7
Updated 7
Hotties 2
Funny 7
Design 1
Advertising v Content 8
Bitchy and Honest 5
Unique 2
*Following Factor 5 Proactively loves Best Gay Blogs 9

Overall Score out of 10 (not counting the new category as it didn't seem fair):
5.33

*New category to indicate how much of a following of admirers the blog has based on number of comments, search engine ranking, and number of times the blog is linked by other gay blogs.

** Feel free to bitch back with your comments on the reviews. Also - if you have a blog that you would like Best Gay Blogs to review, feel free to add that suggestion as a comment as well (if you have a weak ego or heart – wouldn’t recommend it)

Best Gay Blog 4

It all started on Sunday November 2, 2003 with a blurb about how old he feels for watching the elder movie “Ghostbusters”. Cosmoblog has been a work of love by “Groove” ever since. He has tackled many topics including a recent entry about his audience and an insightful analysis of how bloggers use other bloggers as their muse. Groove is an excellent communicator, funny, and insightful. Groove also has some wonderful original essays that are creative, thought provoking, and emotional. We especially enjoyed “The Attic”. As such I have given the following evaluation:

Best Gay Blogs Ratings** out of 10 possible points in each category:

Smart 8
Updated 9
Hotties 1
Funny 7
Design 7
Advertising v Content 9
Bitchy and Honest 7
Unique 7
*Proactively loves Best Gay Blogs 2

Overall Score out of 10 (not counting the new category as it didn't seem fair):
6.11 (NOTE: Best gay blog score to date)

*New category to stress how helpful it is to my ego to promote www.bestgayblogs.com :)
** Feel free to bitch back with your comments on the reviews. Also - if you have a blog that you would like Best Gay Blogs to review, feel free to add that suggestion as a comment as well (but understand the high risk you take in not getting the same scores as Groove has received as he has set the bar very high).

Best Gay Blog 3

I'm like the Top 40 - I've got a little bit of everything, and always evolving.
Oh, and I can read at a 5th grade level.

Life.By.Jase brings us into the world of a 25 year old Internet consultant in New York City who refers to himself as a “potato queen” (you do the research, but here’s a hint – he is not a “rice queen”). Jase has celebrated his blog’s one year anniversary this week (congrats!). His first post was a simple 2 liner about Gemini’s,

“Some say they're two faced. - I say they're twice as fun.”

He gets more creative over the year with his geeky behaviors documented such as those exhibited with Augusten Burrough readings at a book store. Jase’s writing is quite smart and amusing – with the exception of his regular entries about food he has cooked and tried. Jase also has a sister blog with about 15 photos to enjoy of himself, sex objects and his sister’s tattoo.

It has not been very easy moving around the blog based on topic or date and the design is very basic – like a drizzle of chocolate in a snow pile. Overall, Jase has some great content (like his coming out story) that just needs a bit more excitement around the edges – perhaps a potato dressed like the Queen Mother?

Best Gay Blogs Ratings** out of 10 possible points in each category:
Smart 6
Updated 7
Hotties 3
Funny 5
Design 4
Advertising v Content 8
Bitchy and Honest 5
Unique 6

** Feel free to bitch back with your comments on the reviews. Also - if you have a blog that you would like Best Gay Bogs to review, feel free to add that suggestion as a comment as well.