Blogs with a Hook

While a good portion of blogs out there are basically personal diaries (not that there's anything wrong with that!), some of the ones I read regularly have a "hook"... something unique or special about them ... that keeps me coming back. (These are not the only blogs I read, nor are they the only bloggers I consider friends. They are just in a special category I'm highlighting here. End of disclaimer.)

In no particular order:

A Day in the Life. A personal diary, yes, but Curator Ben has a gift for conveying SO much with a photo and a VERY brief narrative. It's a beautifully designed site with gorgeous photography, hilarious videos, and two awesome hounds. The hook: His is the blog for people with ADD.

Last Girl on Earth. Deni's blog is a must-read. A professional rock-violinist, her stories are priceless, always accompanied by laugh-out-loud visuals, and best of all ... video. She has made two videos on the streets of New York, asking strangers to recite lines requested by her readers. The girl's got balls. Plus, I've met her in real life and she is just as warm, beautiful, funny and interesting as you'd want her to be. The hook: You never know what she'll come up with next!

Bored at the Beach. Another fellow New Yorker, C-Mac is the Seinfeld of bloggers. Only more prolific. Every day (at least once), he offers up his perspectives on the minutiae of life... usually highlighting something that particularly pisses him off. The hook: C-Mac always creates a mini-dialogue in his comments box, because every post ends with an opening for his readers to add their experience with the subject of that post.

Artsy Science. Tracy is a microscopist and totally cool guy. He often posts photos of ordinary objects taken with his super-duper-microscope (ok, it's not called that) and let's us guess what the object is. A few of us have even sent him things to shoot (like bearded dragon skin, in my case). The hook: Where else can you see velcro magnified a jazillion times?

Random_Speak. Although this is mostly a personal diary blog, L comes up with the most incredible retro images to accompany her entries. The hook: Great visuals.

Michele. If you are one of the three bloggers who doesn't know about Michele, here's your chance to find out. (Also a chance for me to plug the fact that I'll be guest-blogging over there in about two weeks). The hook: Michele's blog is the hub of this giant wheel we call the blogosphere. It's the cocktail-party of blogs.

Enjoy these, and if you haven't visited them before be sure and tell them how you got there...