Political Season Gets a Minor Makeover

I've been dithering over changing the look of the blog for awhile now, intending to make the move to Wordpress where many of my black blogging betters (in traffic) seem to reside.  But life is usually getting the better of me and I just haven't found the time to invest in the project.  Blogger happily has come along and introduced a new template designer interface that simplified the work of remaking the look and feel of the blog.  I took it out for a spin and while the blog design is still a bit mass market pedestrian, readers who appreciate our content here at APS will likely overlook that. 

Considering that I have had more than a few people tell me that the black background and font size made the blog hard to read, I'm hoping that what the current design may lack in web panache, it will more than make up for in improved readability.  In addition to sprucing up the page. I also was able to clean out old code that was affecting blog load time and I completely  reinstalled the comment system which was never quite right under my old custom template. Now you get the full Intense Debate comment system experience, with a ton of social media intergration in it connecting to Twitter, Facebook and other networks.  A great blog desires great readers, so follow us on Networked Blogs and via Google Friend Connect.

So stop through and look it over and leave us a comment with your reaction to the new look, layout and how well the comment system is working.  Feedback is always welcome.

2009 Splash Awards

Inspired by the excellent blog work of Electronic Village, and in keeping with the award recently given, here at APS today, we share the 2009 Splash Award with some deserving blogs. This is an award given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive and inspiring blogs.

The Rules:

• Put the logo on your blog post.
• Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you.
• Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
• Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.
• Remember to link to the person from whom your received your Splash award.

My nine nominees for a Splash Award are:

1. Cobb - Among the most impressive black conservative intellects in the blogosphere. Eight out of ten posts, he's going to make you think.
   


2. Black Women Blow the Trumpet!- BWBT is a new addition to my RSS feeds and an impressive one. The very first post I read there was dense with complexity. Anytime my first read assures me that a post requires a 2nd or even a 3rd look, I know I've hit some intellectual paydirt.
   


3. Angry Black Bitch - I wince a bit at the profane title and the constant use of the B word, but I accept her literary license and consider my discomfort a small price to pay because ABB is among the most amusing reads on a consistent basis. She has an irreverent, ever so slightly jaded tone and mocking delivery that always delivers.


4. Ms. Grapevine - Grapevine is one of the most bewitching blogs in the afrosphere for me because its a celebrity blog and I don't do celebrity blogs, but its packed with pictures of stars and engaging prose and commentary to go with them. Before I know it, I've been reading for 10 minutes.
   


5. A Work in Progress - This is the blog of my lovely better half Alaine. Her blog is inspiring because while she posts infrequently, its clearly a quality over quantity thing with her. She gets mind share
   


6. Booker Rising - Shay has run an impressive blog to my way of thinking since the first time I read it. She culls the net for commentary and distills out daily some of the most salient and thought provoking political content on the net relevant to black folks.


7. Invisible Woman - Black Cinema At Large - This blog is alluring to me because it talks about one of my favorite things..movies and the people who make them.


8. Black Women In Europe - This blog is inspiring because it reminds me about the diversity of black experience happening out in the Diaspora. All over Europe there are sistas doing so many different things. Its a window on a world I want my daughter to understand is waiting for her to conquer.
   
   
9. Black and Missing But Not Forgotten - This blog is inspiring for its courage and perseverance. The blog bears witness to the hundreds of young black girls and boys who go missing every year. Children who don't get highlighted ad nauseum on the cable news. Its a sad and painful subject to address day in and day out, but this blogger does it, trying to be a compassionate publicist for the stories of these families and victims.