Power Rankings: My Friends' Blogs

It's power rankings time again, folks, and this go 'round, I'm ranking my friends' blogs. That's right, I have the audacity to take the blogs my friends work so hard to write and put them in a list ordered according to how I rate them. I didn't even have the guts to give numbered rankings to my top 5 comic books in my post on that topic last month, yet here I am recklessly doing that very thing to people I know and like.

Chances are, if you're my friend and you have a blog, then I enjoy reading it...so consider your appearance here a compliment regardless of where you fall in the rankings.

The criteria were as follows: Writing style; Informative Value; Entertainment Value; and Frequency of Updates. (Yes, I know that last one is a clear case of the Kize calling the kettle black). Also, I only considered "amateur" blogs. That is, if you write for a blog that gets wide public recognition and is currently creating ripples throughout Virginia's political landscape, you weren't considered for the list.

1. The Essential Joe Morse
   The tagline for this blog reads, "Brilliant Insights From Your Friend Joe," and that's a pretty accurate description. From sports, to politics, to music, to life, Joe rarely has an uninteresting take on a topic. I highly suggest playing a game of Unpredictably Imminent History with yourself. The only flaw here is an occasional long wait between postings, but this is partially made up for by having 2-3 posts per update.
   
   
2. The Red Stater (Chris Rivera)
   Otherwise known as the hardline conservative's guide to political thinking. This blog earns points purely for updating on a near daily basis, and it almost always provides links to recent news stories or conservative articles about recent political issues. Though I would like to see a more frequent departure from by-the-book conservative opinions, Chris would be betraying himself to do so.
   
   
3. Hail to the Cheat (Kyle Goggin)
   Yeah, it's mainly just a personal update site of no interest to anyone who isn't friends with Kyle, but within those boundaries it does its job wonderfully. It's easy to call for more frequent updates, but it should also be appreciated that this blog doesn't go overboard with nonessential details like some personal blogs do. What would really be nice to see is another piece of pop culture analysis, along the lines of "24 and the Great Commission."
   
   
4. The Last Nerve (Linden Kiser)
   A blog with a future, this one will surely jump in the rankings once it has more than 2 posts to its name. So far, Last Nerve has been a successful mix of humor and political commentary (within the same posts, even), though I suspect that comedy will eventually come to play a larger role...espeically if the author's hilarious guest posts on Quotidian were any indication.
   
   
5. Ahmad for America (Ali Ahmad, now inactive)
   Dropped like a rock in the rankings after it was deleted by its creator. This was once a perfect blog representation of Ali Ahmad's in-your-face political ranting and sense of humor, and it was the blog I was reading when I decided to create my own. A tragedy that it now only exists in the memories of those who were fortunate enough to read it.
   
   
6. Pokemon Are The Best (Travis Oakes)
   What the---??!!??!? This is the worst blog on the entire Internet. Seriously, Trav, what are you thinking? Would it kill you to act non-gay for at least 2 seconds?