The Tea Makers

I won an award for my blog.

Paul Gorbould gave me an award for being one of 5 Blogs That Make Me Think. The way this works is that I’m supposed to pick 5 that make me think, like a chain letter.

This was harder than I thought it would be. I’d love to read more blogs about Canadian media. Good ones. I wish there were more of them, but there aren’t. And we need them now more than ever.

I guess people are afraid to blog about it because the industry is so small and what they write may come back to bite them on the ass. Also, they’re busy preparing for CRTC hearings.

But why won’t the Star give Antonia Zerbisias the time to do her media blog again? Where is the Canadian Gawker? Where is the CBC’s Lede? CTV’s Tea Makers? Why can’t Marc Weisblott get a regular gig in this country? And I know Aigle de Nuit is blogging somewhere, but where?

Tony Burman likes to write. Tony Burman has a lot to say. If you live in Canada, Tony Burman controls the tone and content of the news media you consume, whether you realize it or not. You should probably read Tony Burman’s blog. If only it weren’t so goddamn boring.

So here’s my list of 5 that make me think and aren’t on my sidebar and aren’t by Joe Clark:

1. Writing a blog is one thing. Updating it every day is another. But creating an original bit of artwork every day, sneaking out every night, posting it on a wall under threat of arrest, and then blogging about it the next day puts Posterchild in a class by himself.

2. I look at daily dose of imagery well, pretty much every day. It makes me see this city in brand new ways.

3. I could, and do, spend hours at Big Happy Funhouse browsing photos he finds at flea markets. Each one tells a mysterious story, you just have to look hard enough.

4. I hesitate to mention Parkdale Pictures because it kind of sucks. Like 1000 other blogs, the author surfs the internet and posts what he finds, although he gets better stories than most. But he works for the Hour and used to write for Vice so you’d think he’d have interesting things to say. This happens on his site all too rarely. And why would anyone blog about compelling media stories and then turn off the comments? What’s he afraid of?
I include him here in the hopes that he steps it up a bit.

5. I love me some maps, and I love me some Google Earth, so it stands to reason that I love me some Google Sightseeing. But this is all killing time as I wait for Strange Maps to be updated.