So, Reese over at ScribbleScratch is having another fabulous competition - but when I saw what it was - confession time! - my first reaction was “oh, that’s MEAN, I can’t possibly choose!” :P

And it’s true - I have 32 feeds in my Blogs & Journals folder of my feedreader (that doesn’t include LJ). And that’s the reduced version, scaled down to the blogs I have to read every entry of, as soon as it’s updated. People whose content is interesting, well-written, and just generally awesome.

In the end, I’ve decided on Jen of Jayesel. I’ve followed her since the days of Muted. Her designs are always beautiful, her writing is inspiring, and I enjoy reading her journey. She’s compelling. Her photography is stunning, too. Hers is one of those precious few websites that merit revisiting and revisiting. If you don’t read her already, I’d definitely recommend that you do!

I’m not hugely into this layout any more. I want something new and pretty. But am unmotivated to make anything. :P The blog/design Catch-22. I spent an age putting this together to fit my needs exactly, I don’t really have the patience to come up with anything right now. But we shall see.

It’s pretty easy to find good WP themes, but I just have this aversion to using something I didn’t (at least *mostly*) create myself. But you never know, I may just throw up a freebie one.

I’ve been a bit of a YouTube fiend today! I found this nifty little Safari plug-in, CosmoPod! It’s so cool, it’s just an extra button on your toolbar that becomes active if it detects a flash video (like from YT, DailyMotion, Google Videos, etc. etc.) and lets you download it, and (if you want) reformat it for your iPod or media player. With one click! Yay!

• Cats Talking - Translation. This is hilarious! I die laughing every time the second cat starts to meow with a human voice, so nonchalant and disinterested! (The original, without the voice-overs, is here).

• Imogen Heap - VBlog #13. I adore her! She was exactly like this on stage, too - warm and articulate and sweet. And check out her playing the mbira (3:58-4:06), which she used on Glittering Cloud (love that song). She can beatbox, too! And the accent reminds me of university.

• Leona Lewis & Il Divo - Somewhere. This was on Simon Cowell’s “This Is Your Life”, and - wow. Wow, wow, wow. Whoever thought of a collaboration here was a genuis. Their voices just fit. And Leona is incredible. And the song is incredible. Watch this! Now, GO-GO-GO! It makes me shivery and teary. (Haha, and check out Simon’s smug expression in the last frame… “yup, yup - all me”).

• Colbie Caillat - Bubbly (Live). I don’t mind admitting I’m completely obsessed with her right now! And, from this video, it seems she’s just as amazing live as on her CD. Very talented!

Hmm, looks like most of my finds are music-related. Wonder what that says about me?!

I’m completely failing at NaBloPoMo.

But let me explain: I have no internet access! Which does make posting slightly problematic. At the moment I’m at a café on free wi-fi. It’s all a bit insane!

Also, I have another hostee (duo)! Over at lovebeads.enraptures.org, you’ll find an amazing vegeterian recipe blog! :yummy: Which, quite apart from the fact that the girls themselves are lovely, is an awesome site to have in tne network. Yay!

So, a few announcements!

• I have a new hostee! Huzzah! She’s moving on in over at HikariFlower. (If you’re looking for hosting too, get in touch! hehe).
• It’s November 1st, which means NaBloPoMo is off and running! Good luck, everyone taking part!

I’ve joined PayPerPost! “Oh!,” I hear you cry, “but the content here will change - your blog will be all corporate and boring and insincere, with no blog ethics!”. Not a bit of it! Anything I write about will be something I’m genuinely interested in and passionate about. Getting paid is not my motivation to blog - just an added bonus!

I heard about it from Helen, I do believe, who’s had a pretty awesome experience of sponsored blogging! I plan to use the spare change on a few OS X apps I’ve run down my trial periods on, LJ paid time and letting this domain pay for itself! I’ve had a flick through the current opportunities, and there are one or two I think I’ll take up - some of the one’s I’d love to do, though, are restricted to the US. :P