Not everyone, god love ‘em, is a writer. And even if someone can write, how do they manage their site’s design once they have a collection of sentences to show off? Despite WordPress and Moveable Type most blogs are, visually, emblems for carnival culture run amok.
Conversely, we know something good when we: Read it. See it. Feel it. And that’s what this special honor is about: Nightcharm’s first annual Queer Blog of the Year Award.
And — better late than never — the winner for 2006 is:
Jockohomo’s dad, author and designer is a powerlifting Cleveland guy named Jim (right). He lives in Ohio but his online presence has spread wide across the Queer Net Nation. Launched back in 1990, Jockohomo was in place long before ‘blog’ was even a tadpole meme.
Jim lifted the name for his blog from a song title. A synth-driven hit from one of Ohio’s greatest pop cultural innovations: The band Devo.
Visually, Jockohomo is zen-like and ship-shape. When images or photographs do appear — like Jim’s fabulous, always-rotating header graphic — they’re carefully chosen and cropped for maximum pleasure and impact. After spending a spell of time within the Jockohomo world we feel rejuvenated and settled — the same way you feel after a good workout at the gym.
Jockohomo highlights Jim’s kaleidoscopic interests as a gay man. His writing is often personal but restrained — and he avoids the horrid tendency among bloggers to simply aggregate links to other sites because doing so makes one feel like a writer.
Jim waxes freely about: poetry, music and his love of art. His favorite artists and illustrators. Politics, film, architecture, tabloid culture, computer tech and gay porn. His entries are tight and economical — little capsules of thoughtful substance. Perfect for the online experience. This makes us very happy.
Jim is the sort of big, strapping Renaissance guy we’d all like to date. But alas, there’s so many of us out here — but only one Jim. We’ll just have to settle for reveling in our love affair with his soulful, smart blog.
Thanks Jim. And congratulations.
It’s a brilliant blog; sometimes I forget it’s there, and when I rediscover it, it’s like Christmas every time.
I have been reading Jims blog for a long time, and it is part of my daily life to log on to his site to see what is going on on the other side of the pond.
Question: How do I join nightcharm inner circle?
Gordon