Beatnik Babble Broadcast

Andrea Hiller's Beatnik Babble Broadcast is one of the better blogs I've read. As mentioned in my Oct. 14 post, I look for several things in a blog. To be worthy of a repeat visit, a blog should be intelligent, authentic, unique, well linked, and frequently updated.

To a large extent, Beatnik satisfies all of my criteria. For example, the blog's consistently clever a la SNL's "Weekend Update." In the Nov. 17 post, we read:

Palin says she has no intention of running for president in 2012 (even though we all know the world is ending anyway)...

Or this intro to her Oct. 14 post:

"GET TO THE CHOPPER! NOW!" That's the Arnold Schwarzenegger I remember. But these days he's the almighty governor of California.

Andrea mixes up a colorful and energetic stew. Throughout, her commentary is spiced up with appropriate photos and charts (and plenty of spot-on video). And, to her credit, the site's not only witty but informative. Even though I follow the news/"current events," I learned stuff (like the sneaky things cereal companies are doing in the Oct. 21 post).

Granted, plenty of bloggers comment on the news. But Andrea's (not always light-hearted -- see her Nov. 27 post on Michael Brewer) voice sets her apart. Her posts truly seem improvised... which can have both a positive and a negative side (if the writing seems dashed off/sloppy). On the negative side, there's the occasional typo. For example, the Nov. 16 post has a spate of misspellings:

People who text are less competent on the road that drunk drivers. Doesn’t that make you feel like your in danger basically any time your in a car?

Which may seem trifling in light of how strong the rest of the post is, with revelations like

Not only are text-drivers worse that call-drivers… they are also worse than drunk drivers! What?! Yes, it’s true. People who text are less competent on the road that drunk drivers.

Or asides such as

No wonder Obama and Illinois are trying to get texters off the road. They should put up signs like the “click it or ticket” ones but they would read texting = firery [sic] explosion and subsequent death (I tried really hard to make a rhyme work, but I couldn’t, so if you think of a good one, please share).

Another faux pas for Andrea to avoid -- for her Nov. 27 post on the White House crashers, we have the couple's genders reversed (Tareq is the husband, Michaele the wife):

It's true, Tareq looks like she could probably sneak past anything without being seen, but hey, that's what models do I guess. Michaele on the other hand, has a little more umph to his belly but perhaps he hid under her dress.

Or stating, in her Oct. 12 post, that "self-help author James Ray" is the "writer of the book The Secret" (he was featured in the movie version; Rhonda Byrne is credited with writing the book).

Ditto for her Nov. 10 post in which "As you can see in this video..." refers to a jpg (as does her Oct. 19 post on the Balloon Boy hoax). Or her Oct. 26 post -- "If you have a car in Chicago, you better be weary" (er, wary).

This is not to seem trivial or picky. Mistakes happen... and matter. It would be to Andrea's benefit to double-check each post before clicking "Publish." You don't want errors like these to distract from such intelligent, assured, and entertaining content.