May 4 2002

Today, I give you three websites -- not just any websites, though...they're websites of three famous people.

None of them is earth-shatteringly famous, but I can almost guarantee everyone's heard or seen these people's works. Their websites are unique because said famous person actively participates and creates the content. This is sorta unique in an internet full of commercially produced promotional websites. There's more than just these three out there (I'd include more if I had the time), but these three stick out because of their candidness...and because I'm a bit of a fan of each of them.

I'll start with Wil Wheaton - 'nuff said. I've linked WWDN several times before, and you may see a little hyperlink on the lower left side of my blog. His blog just makes him out to be a guy, with a family, and a dog, and really geeky tendencies. Sure, he's one of the few blog-writers who can sell his signature for beaucoup bucks on eBay, but still, he puts his thoughts right out there on the internet.

Next, we come to Moby. You may know him from his duet with Gwen Stephani, but he's also a dance-club god these days. So, Moby blogs his tour, and anything else he can think of. The blog isn't all "I played this club, and the girls were so hot, and then I played this club, and it sucked, and..." It reads like the journal of someone who once in a while needs the chance to empty their mind onto paper. Moby has quite a mind on him, and I think his writing style is similar to mine. "it would be hard to have a dinner party and invite someone who breathed ammonia. they would probably die. and providing a dinner party environment wherein a space-alien dies is very rude indeed." This stuff is straight from his brain, out onto his keyboard, and trickled onto the internet for our amusement. I think he should include a message area, or comment space, where there would be more two-way communication, just because he seems like a fun guy to chat with. However, if that were there, I don't think Moby would get much else done.

Finally, a BBS I found through Wil: It's the website of M.Doughty, former front-man for Soul Coughing, one of the greatest groups ever. EVER. Doughty is doing solo stuff lately, but he's got this website. It's not exactly a 'blog; more of a PoMo environment which has this message area that revolves around this guy and his work, and once in a while the subject of the website participates, but in the same way as outsiders do. There's almost a "speaking of oneself in the third person" feel to it, but only because I think too much about such things. He still does do the normal personal-website stuff, like try to explain why he does things, and he posts pictures of himself, and he has a mailing list. Plus, he calls the "message area" a BBS, an "old school" language convention I highly approve of. There's a lot of stuff here, so I can't see for certain how much Doughty actually participates in the BBS, but it's clear that he at least reads it often. This site strikes me as the ideal style for a musician; websites where you download a picture and audio-clips only go so far, but when you can discuss the performer, knowing the performer will read and maybe respond, is how it should be.

You may note that I didn't add any "informational" links about any of the people above -- If you've never heard of any of these three guys, I suggest reading their websites first. WHO they are is different than what they do; with a different perspective on each person, you may think twice about what it is to be famous when you see the person on TV or hear them on the radio.