Summer reading

Normally I have a short list of books I plan on reading every summer. However this summer I didn't even bother creating a list, because I knew I'd never actually get around to reading anything off the internet. Reading is easily my favorite habit I never practice, much like Back to the Future is my favorite movie of all time, even though I have never seen it.

I'm incredibly jealous of all my friends who do read books as I feel they have a definite edge in many aspects of life on me. I wish I could appreciate 1/10000000 of the fine literature my friends constantly tell me about, but my short attention span, addiction to blogs and poor time management keep me from reading books.

The only book I have ever really enjoyed and been able to solidly recommend is "The Early Bird" by Rodney Rothman. It's a memoir from a television writer who decided to retire at 28 and move to a retirement community in South Florida. It's an extremely easy and quick read and worth your time, if you have a couple of hours to spare.

Sadly the last book I seriously considered buying was called "Monkey Portaits*" by Julie Greenberg. Yes it a book of nothing more than portraits of monkeys and some apes as well, hence the asterisk in the title.

I like to think that I probably read the equivalent of a book a day in internet journalism/blogs/shit. As noted before I read entirely too many blogs/message boards and other online journalism.

If you're incredibly bored this summer (which you probably are if you're checking a blog which has not updated in a month) and you're too lazy to go to the library here are my online literary picks.

Sports:

Roman's Empire - This is the blog of my buddy/former editor at the Daily Wildcat, Roman Veyieuaatstman. In short it's fucking good as Roman is a much better writer than I am and he's also more knowledgeable about sports than I am. If you like UA hoops and/or LA sports at all, read this.

With Leather - For my money this is the best sports blog out there, if you like off the wall shit. It's a professional blog per sé, so it updates like 900 times a day. I can't really describe the site better than it describes itself, "With Leather is a blog about all the assholes and idiots in the world of sports, and the hot chicks who date them. People who get offended or take too much pride in their favorite team should probably just leave now, because I hate you already."

Deadspin - A pioneer in the sports blogosphere, it's like With Leather, except for some reason I don't like it as much. Still a great blog though.

D.C. Sports Bog - I could write an entire essay about how I feel this blog has changed the face of DC sports. During the last Wizards/Cavs playoff series/fiasco I'm pretty sure DeShawn Stevenson needed this blog as much as blog creator Dan Steinberg needed Stevenson. I am almost certain the Wizards team and other DC athletes (ie. Clinton Portis) go out of their way to get on this blog. The whole Wizards team is hyper-sensitive of their media coverage and I seriously believe they often do stupid shit and throw stupid parties just to be blogged about.

Even if you don't care about DC sports, this blog is worth reading. It's also one of my life goals to figure out why this is a bog and not a blog.

Gilbert Arenas' blog - It's pretty self-explanatory. When it updates it's usually fairly interesting.

The Schoeneck Republic - I never read this blog, I don't really know how you could unless you live and die for Wisconsin college sports. But I respect any of my friends who have a blog, so Schoeneck, here's your shout out.

The Sporting Blog - This is Sporting News' blog, it's also professional in the sense it has a big sponsor and it updates multiple times a day. It's always pretty good, but this blog usually gets lost in the 20 others I read. This shit also has some sneaker stuff, as MaZe from Kixandthecity.com (a sneaker blog) writes for this site as well.

SLAMonline - This is the only reason there's a Where's P-Mac. It's still my favorite source for hoops news. There are like 200 blogs on this site. Most worth reading.

Channing Frye's blog - Again self-explanatory. Except this blog is more bloggish than Gilbert's, if you understand my definition of bloggish, which I'm not going to explain.

Goazcatsblog - This is a blog mainly written by a kid who really doesn't like UA athletics. He also really hates Lute Olson, but he can't ever write that because the site's fan base would destroy him. From my understanding the only hope the writer has for UA hoops is Brandon Jennings, who may Stephen Jackson his way out of Arizona. Still I recommend you read the blog, because it updates often and is generally worth the read.

Random:

How Dank is it?!?! - This is my friend Sarah's blog and as I said before any of my friends who actually blog I respect unconditionally. Sarah is in Africa to help save the world and is blogging her experience. What I didn't see coming was how fucking funny the blog would be as she found a genius theme, where she describe what she's experiencing, then rates it's dankness. Why? Because of this.

Aziz is bored - This is my new favorite small time comedian Aziz (something I can't pronounce/say/remember). Here's his tumblr, which is practically a bog. You have to be pretty bored to read it, but if you're that bored, why not?

Gizmodo - Arguably my favorite blog of every one I'm mentioning. It's amazing, updates 500 times a day and is always entertaining, just read it.

Stuff White People Like - This blog is fucking genius. Some really genius, witty writing. It's just genius. Read it.

Tucson Bike Lawyer - I'm trying hard to get into the Tucson bike scene, this blog captures the scene pretty well. I dig it. If anything bike related at all happens in Tucson it's on this blog.

Atiba's photo blog - This was the photoblog of the guy who shoots most of SLAM's covers. I don't know what happened to the blog, it was here yesterday. Maybe it will be back soon. If you like skating/hoops/photos it's a good blog.

Matt Price's photo blog - I met this kid through my spiritual adviser/good friend Ari Shiffrin. He told me shoots for The Skateboard Mag and he actually knew Atiba, which blew me away at the time and still does. He was cool and he has a blog, which is why his shit is linked to here. He's also the creator of Brimley skateboarding clothing/boards. He's ill.

Spread the F-word - I used to really love the comic F-minus. Now I think it sucks half the time. This blog is still half-entertaining, just like the comic.