We WIN! No time for losers 'cause we are the champions of the WORLD!

So voting is over at the 2008 Weblog Awards for the best blogs of the year and the winner has been crowned. CONGRATULATIONS TOWLEROAD!!

I am glad to report that Blabbeando came in dead-last in the Best LGBT Blog category with 0.5% of the vote! As I said, though, we were stunned to be chosen as a finalist and we hardly had any chance to compete against the big guys and gals. Plus the general subject of this blog is rather narrow anyway. Or perhaps it's all excuses for being a looooosaah !

Being serious: I was actually honored to have been chosen amongst thousands of LGBT blogs out there and it certainly brought new readership to the blog (we went from a Technorati rating of 86 to 104 even if only nerds know what that means).

The breakdown?

• 10. Blabbeando (165 votes, 0.5% of the vote)
  
• 9. TransGriot (318 votes, 1.0% of the vote)
  
• 8. Susie Bright's Journal (341 votes, 1.1% of the vote)
• 7. Tammy Bruce (438 votes, 1.4% of the vote)
  
• 6. Gay Patriot (1,262 votes, 3.9% of the vote)
  
• 5. This Girl Called Automatic Win (1,459 votes, 4.6% of the vote)
  
• 4. Pam's House Blend (2,848 votes, 8.9% of the vote)
  
• 3. Joe.My.God (5, 173 votes, 16.2% of the vote)
  
• 2. The Bilerico Project (7,917 votes, 24.7 of the vote)
  
• 1. Towleroad (12,074 votes, 37.7% of the vote)
  

Pam and Joe have been past winners and Andy T. has now joined them in the pantheon. I am thrilled that This Girl Called Automatic Win pulled in 5th and also remain ever thankful to Monica Roberts at TransGriot for her encouragement and support. We are all winners in this game called life! Or, as ABBA said, "The winner takes it all / The loser standing small / Beside the victory / That's her destiny."

Indeed! Congratulations to all the top vote getters as well as all the nominees!

My votes for the Weblog Awards

[Title stolen from Godless Liberal Homo who voted for Blabbeando saying "I'm going with this one because it has the most information that I have trouble finding out about in the rest of queer media." I know he has been a long time reader of the blog but I was surprised nervertheless... Thanks so much!].

Not that you should take my word for it (you should actually take a few minutes to look at which categories match your interests and explore the nominated blogs before you vote) but here is a breakdown of how I have been voting at this year's Weblog Awards (basically, you can vote once every 24 hours until January 13th, 2009).

Best Individual Blog: No contest here. Field Negro is it. Vote here. Trust me.

Best Latino, Caribbean or South American Blog: I guess I'll go for the gossipy PopNografia 'cause the other ones don't do it for me. Vote here. Should have, could have? LakeBlog, Monaga or Guanabee? Perhaps next year.

Best Large Blog: Mombian's got's the stuff's. Vote here.

Best Midsize Blog: Hands down. Rod2.0. Vote here.

Best Blog: This is a toss-up between two blogs, both of which I consistently checked on a daily basis during the presidential elections (and usually even more than that):

• Ben Smith at Politico says "This blog somehow got nominated to the 'Best Blog' category of the Weblog Awards, along with the likes of Gawker, Andrew Sullivan, Hot Air, and DailyKos. So, you know, vote for me!" ("Dept. of Shameless Self-Promotion", Jan. 5, 2009).
• Andrew Sullivan of The Daily Dish says "The Daily Dish, after a large number of votes, is now neck and neck for lead in the Best Blog category. Thanks so much for the support. As I've said, none of this means very much in the grand scheme of things - and the main benefit of the awards is to surf around and find new blogs worth reading ("The Dish in Play", Jan. 9, 2009).

Conundrum #1: I have actually met both briefly. Ben at local gay wunderkind Allen Roskoff's place when he used to work for The New York Observer and write on The Politicker blog; and Andrew at a Ranch 1 Restaurant on Broadway and 16th Street (I am embarrassed to say I dropped my tray and spilled my Diet Coke all over the floor which had my boyfriend in a laughing fit over how star-struck I was in Sullie's presence).

Conundrum #2: Click by click, I probably logged in a million visits to The Daily Dish last year. I might not agree with Sullivan on some issues, but his take on the presidential race probably moved thousands of undecided voters to reconsider a politically conservative interpretation of the presidential race in ways that made it OK for them to vote for Obama (read his seminal piece for The Atlantic titled "Good Bye to All That" which basically served as an early harbinger of the Obama victory).

Verdict: Now that the presidential race has been decided, this year stands to be Ben Smith's year but for pure 2008 best blogginess you should cast a vote for Andrew Sullivan. And not because what I wrote above. Or because he's gay. Or a hottie (not that Ben isn't a hottie even if he is straight). Or the fact that Sullivan likes chicken burgers at Ranch 1 (not that Ben doesn't like Ranch 1 chicken subs because he just might). But it is just a matter that 2008 was AS's year (and is Ranch 1 around anymore anyway?). Anyway cast your vote here before I sink in deeper and get into trouble.

And, finally, Best LGBT Blog: By all means! Do not vote for Blabbeando!!! I'll come in last anyway so the vote might be a wasted one!! Joe.My.God knows we love him (and he is a past winner plus he's got enough voters clicking anyway due to his unorthodox - and some may say deceitful - ploys). We also love Pam and Bilerico. And TransGriot also certainly deserves a vote or two or ten or forty...

But This Girl Called Automatic Win has certainly has shown some moxie this year. She has also given me a choo-choo train and called me "an excellent blogger" which is certainly enough to buy my vote! Plus she also knows the Joe.My.Godness so why not vote for Girliness?

Vote for TGCAW here! Yay, kitty!