Instead of hanging the Christmas lights like I told my wife I would... I've been enraptured going over the blog results at http://2004weblogawards.com/.

I'm fascinated with blogs because they incorporate an amazing collection of modern elements into our current (new) expanding social atmosphere:

1) Blogging represents an ability to marry individuals with tools (in this case technical publishing tools). I'm just as fascinated with the blogging tools/technology chosen by bloggers as I am what bloggers are publishing (content). Musicians simply 'get this' concept. If I'm introduced to another musician for example, one of the first questions that comes up is WHAT brand instrument they play. It's usually not good enough for one musician to talk to another without knowing this. Why? Because understanding their guitar choice, or drum choice, tells me an amazing amount of information about that individual...in some ways it's like body language. If I told you I play a Gretsch kit..what does that say about me? What if I added a "round badge Gretsch" kit? Or, that I have a small vintage collection of snare drums...?

2) Blogging represents an individual's best efforts of organization. It's similar to going into someone's home and studying their sense of design and decoration, in other words, what is important to this individual/family.

3) Blogging represents an individual's best efforts to reveal their perceptions, both external and internal. This is the beginning of integrated and interactive digital identities (no man is an island). Manufactured or not, it's about people expressing themselves in new ways with the help of digital tools.