The ABC's of FITK

About once a year I do a post about some of the links which I have recently discovered. As the my use of internet develops, it seems that there are three distinct types of sites: Aggregators, Blogs, and Curiosities.

Aggregators are the "big guys"- sites with multiple sources of information, medium and long form stories, essays and thought-pieces. The news organizations (NYT, BBC, HuffPo) have this format, although bigger isn't always better. Some of the newer, smaller ones I frequent are:

Thought Catalog, irreverent pop and serious culture, a little trashy at times, but definitely has a different mix.

The Browser, better than average writing about a host of topics.

Death and Taxes, unashamedly trashy but has some substance, coming from a younger perspective.

Design Observer, exactly what the title suggests. More readable than most design sites, numerous articles and features, not academic at all.

Blogs are usually "the little guys", but they offer the best showcase for personal expression, here are a few of my latest finds:

Beauty is a Sleeping Cat by "Caroline", is a great book/film review blog with lots of in-depth reviews of a variety of higher-level fiction and cinema.

Enthusiasms, by "Simen", wildly diverse, stream of consciousness essays almost daily.

yowayowa camera woman diary is a text-less series of photos of "levitations", could be a storyboard for a strange Japanese art-film.

The Style Rookie, Tavi Gevinson's teen-age fashion blog. I've written about her before, this is simply a great, great blog.

Finally, we come to that catch-all category of Curiosities. Blogs which simply exist to gather odd bits of information. There are millions of these, most are stupefyingly inane, but a few are curated to a higher plane:

TYWKIWDBI by "Minnesotastan" might just be the best of these, lots of obscure things, most of which I haven't already seen.

things magazine is basically just a list of interesting sites coupled with very brief descriptions and a minimal use of images. Quantity over quality, updated almost daily, but always pushing the envelope.

L'aquoiboniste by "Roller Girl" is an image blog: old prints, film stills, drawings, photos, all very evocative.

One final note: Annie Atkins, my favorite Welsh/Icelandic/Irish blogger is now in Tibet and posting words and pictures almost daily. We all can use a little vicarious vacation now and then.