"You want a little 'butta' with your Blog Roll?"

So those of you that have become part of Crief Case Nation, you may have notice there are some other 'thingys' on the right hand side of the page. There's basic info about me, a couple of ESPN widgets about my favorite teams, Del.icio.us listings, and my "Blog Roll". Some may be wondering who gets to be on my blog roll and why, but I'm not that selective to be fair. So who are these bloggers, and why should you read 'em?

Pay attention - we'll only do this once... for now:

- "The Life of My Girls" - also known on the Blog Roll as "All About My Nieces Bella & Vivi" - this is run by my brother Zac, a director who works in the animation business. He's work for Family Guy and Nickelodeon in the past, now he works for Phineas & Ferb on Disney Channel. The blog is all about his two daughters: Bella (4) and Vivi (2). I don't get to see them enough, so the videos and pictures are awesome. It's a totally personal blog with a small audience, but it delivers every time.

- Veronica Belmont - this one will be one of the 'self-explanatory' blogs. She is one of those ultra-saavy techie chicks who also handles hosting the daily podcast for the company I work at, Mahalo Daily. She always seems very dialed in on tech stuff, and it's always worth reading.

- The Jason Calacanis Weblog - to paraphrase ESPN's John Buccigross: "what Bono is to U2, Jason is to Mahalo." He's brash, he's opinionated, he's loyal to his Knicks almost to a fault, and he's confident (it ain't cocky if you back it up - a.k.a. "The Scoreboard Does Not Lie"). Days when I think I'm super smart, I spend about 10 minutes reading his stuff and realize just how many more levels I need to climb.

- Crushed By Inertia - now when it comes to intelligence about politics of the day and movies, this is a must read. Lon Harris is never one to shy away from theories and commentary, and his ability to expand of certain subject matter is not only entertaining, but also educational. When I read Jason's blog, I feel smarter, but I have sometimes have no idea why. With Lon, I feel smarter and I understand why. A must read.

- Country Caravan - much like his brother Lon, Jonathan Harris is able to find the funny. And when it comes to blog posts, where Lon goes mostly with the 'satire infiltrated within serious paradigms', Jonathan's blog posting are more dripping with sarcasm and wittiness. Jonathan often finds things off the beaten path to amuse, at times even maximizing what many think is his greatest comedic arch: self-deprecation. "Those Harris boys are funny..."

- Awful Announcing - If you're not into just watching sports but also watching those broadcasting these sporting events, this is the place to go. This was the first place I knew found out about the "Chris Berman outtake" videos and also provides the listings of announcing pairings for TV network sports coverage. It also provides necessary commentary about sports on TV & radio, and is one of the most respected on the web.

- Lelah with an "h" - She really knows how to bake things, she really knows how to write about baking things, and taking weekend trips. Lelah is also one of my fellow "Mahaloans" and writes extremely well (as I can attest to from the number of submissions she has made to our 'writers group' each week). I just wish we could get more from her, and a link might be nice...

- Sample the Web - My editor at Mahalo, C.K. Sample III (a.k.a. CKS3 if he were a Star Wars droid) also utilizes his web space very effectively, like Jason does. He also knows how to make for an interesting few minutes worth of reading, and sometimes even viewing with his sketches. My only issue is that, like Lelah, he doesn't list me on his blog roll (what's up with that?) - but I like how he has his Twitter listings right on his page, that's cool...

- Mark Jeffrey at The Huffington Post - This is somebody I wish had the time to post more often (his last post was last summer). He is super busy running the development side of Mahalo, which along with his Tae Kwon Do just eats up all his time. Still, his insights are brilliant, and I do wish he'd write more. The fact that he's with the Huffington people is reason alone to keep posted, in case he decides he needs to say something again soon. Still, I guess in this case, 'less is more', but I'm anxious to see more. Then again, if you really want inside Mark's mind, just read his book 'The Pocket and the Pendant'...

- Ridiculously Persnickety - Nicole Gustus (a.k.a. Red Nikki, a.k.a. Lieutenant Data) is from Boston, but we don't hold that against her, why would we? If you are looking for a comprehensive blog with journal-styled entries on a daily basis, then this is the place for you. She has a great (and sometimes slightly wicked) sense of humor, and rarely a day goes by without something tangible, I mean it's not like she's putting things like "12:41: I have a confession: I love brussels sprouts. They may be my favorite vegetable"... I mean, wow...

- Mood Vane - A recently new addition to the lineup, featuring Courtney, who's from the FTL (that's Fort Lauderdale), and she speaks her mind about, well, um, stuff, from her favorite musicians and artists, to musing about Britney and winter in the FTL. Hey, I lived in Dania Beach for 2 years, so I know all about rolling with Broward County's Finest, from doing oyster shooters at The Penalty Box, to hitting the trifecta at Gulfstream, to humming the tune from the Pompano Lincoln Mercury commercial, to spending time (and a lot of money) at The Dollhouse. Yet, she recently asked me whether or not I really like sports - would somebody please get my long-time friends and family some oxygen, they can't breathe from laughing so hard. I look forward to reading more of her stuff...

- Le Blog de Sara - Again, someone infinitely smarter than I am (I know, isn't that 90% of the country?) Sara has decided to look at the world on her blog through 'the language of love' - uh, that would be French, dude. I enjoyed her list of unspeakable phrases in French, and I expect big things to come for this blog. Anything to help grow my vocabulary in this language beyond "Les Habitants" and "Savoir-Faire is everywhere"...

- Angry Ken - Simplistic in it's title, it is just what you might think it is. It's written by Ken Bothe, someone I know I'm smarter than (sorry Ken, just had to do it), who writes mostly about, in no special order of preference: sports, videos, Cincinnati sports teams, wrestling, how bad Cincinnati sports teams are... you get the point - very entertaining sometimes to watch someone melt down more often on sports topics than even I do...

- Mindless Drivel - All you need to know about Evan Brown is by watching his Mahalo Daily Video on "How to Write a Love Song"... he is a very talented musician (we have several of those in our office here), and even though he's from Philadelphia and like the Flyers, and the Eagles, and the Phillies, I still tolerate him anyway. He's a very unique guy, and I think one of the reasons they separated him from Jonathan in our office is because we couldn't find a set-up man to keep up with their sarcastic barbs. His recent take on Hillary Clinton is perfect.

Now for the rest of the group, which needs to get going with some postings, as we haven't seen any from them in a while:

- Ray's Lucky 13 - When Ray has time, and isn't busy working two jobs, helping his wife with their two children (both toddlers) and creating a copious amount of pages for Mahalo, he actually has some great takes on sports and movies.
- Social Ham - Sean Percival is so talented with tech stuff that he even recently taught a class on how to blog here for some Mahalo peeps, but he's only written 2 posts since the calendar turned? Come on Sean, you're better than that! Love the layout of his page though...
- Two Cent Cinema - Adam Hann-Byrd, you know him and love him from his two episode stint on NYPD Blue in 1995...oh yeah, and movies like Little Man Tate and Jumanji, but would it kill him to update his page more than once since 2006? Now I know from his work at Mahalo on our recent Oscar coverage that he is very opinionated... come on dude, there must be a Jodie Foster story you can drop on us...
- Lady Loud Mouth - Veronica Yanco's ability to totally jam out blogging (see Item Three of this previous posting), and after much cajoling by many of us in the office, she decided to start a blog posting of her own, but has yet to add an additional page. If she could just spend like 5-10 minutes a day writing about the celebs doing the silly things, she would create an instant following and I think, over time, would be wildly popular. Maybe she just needs some encouragement - I don't know, but I do know that her takes would develop a following.

So there you have it, a thorough and exhausting, but hopefully not nauseating, breakdown of the bloggers I choose to link to. Want to get in on the fun? As Lady Loud Mouth would say, "Holler..."