Pajiba

I so want to check this out now. I'm not a parent but it'd still be a good read. Especially since the news won't shut up about celebumoms, it'd be nice to hear the opinions of an average but well-versed person.

Good call, I adore Dooce. Along with electricboogaloo (she makes nerdy baby alphabet cards!)and Finslippy, it's refreshing to know that women can become mothers and still remain human. With potty mouths. I think there's just this stereotype that as soon as they give birth, women turn into these sweet-talking, cooking-making, apron-wearing Stepford wives. I know it's something I'm afraid of. And it's not even a rational fear! My own mother isn't like that! But it's still out there. So yay for the Dooce shout out.

Now I KNOW I've been reading the right movie review site, as you've summed up my feelings for this blog I found about a year and a half ago. It truly IS bitchin.

Check Heather's archives for her words about constipation...I honest to God never knew I could laugh so hard;-)

Her posts about her dogs are hilarious too, and her photos are awesome.

I agree! I started reading dooce several years ago when I was at my most free-wheeling, single and lush. I soon picked up finslippy and laidoffdad (who is also amazing and currently writing about being a father to two boys and separating from their mother). I don't know what drove me to read (and love) these parenting blogs and I sure as hell have no baby plans in the near future, but at the very least they are all fantastic writers.

PS - I cannot recommend finslippy's waterbug story highly enough. Seriously.

Oh thank Godtopus, I was beginning to worry that these new blog reviews would just be Dustin ranting on blogs he didn't like. Although, despite the flowing prose, I just don't find this one interesting enough to grab me.

I've been reading Heather for quite a while now, and I really enjoy her parenting stories. As you said, she has a unique way of describing the feelings children inspire. That said, I'm not enjoying most of the more recent entries. Dooce has almost become too commercialized, and dare I say "hipster". I wish she'd stop trying so hard to make something funny or shocking, and go back to just relating in her heartfelt voice.

See, this is why I was so excited when Pajiba started reviewing blogs. I've never even heard of Dooce--probably because I'm not a parent. But I don't think you have to be a breeder to appreciate good writing. Dustin, you've won Ms. Armstrong at least one new reader.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...I don't know..I'm not "down" with Yuppie parent porn. Sorry but these folks who are over centralizing EVERYTHING around their offspring are 98% responsible for the ascension of Generation Douchebag.

No, generation douchebag is actually a direct response to lack of parenting and attention seeking in other avenues. I'd know, I grew up with those kinds of assholes.

I disagree, they're two sides of the same coin.

1. Those who let them run wild.

2. Those who obsess and elevate them to a center of universe/trophy child/status symbol/little egotistical monsters.

End result is the same.

I think it's fine to obsess the first couple of years. It must be a miraculous thing to behold the growth of something that in relative time, just came out of you. It's when they obsess once the child is older and it actually affects them adversely is when it's gone too far.

I started reading Dooce after she got fired, and have been a loyal reader ever since. I am a single, childless mid-30s woman, with no desire to get married or have children, and yet I still find her blog engaging and delightful on a daily basis. Dooce knows where it's at.

BSlim,

Check out some of Dooce's archives - I think she treads the line well over celebrating little Leta and writing awesome satirical material about how fucked-up parenting is. As one who is also perpetually irritated by the "THE UNIVERSE REVOLVES AROUND MY SPAWN" crowd, I have never gotten that feeling from Dooce.

Dooce is more like - "The Universe is Imminently More Insane Than I Thought It Was Before I Had A Kid - Wanna Come Along For The Ride?" Plus, her posts on poop and boobs make me squeal (a worktime hazard, for sure).

PARENTING?! No thank you. Children, stories about children, pictures of children, etc. make me want to vomit in terror.

Those eyebrows are really bugging me.

It's certainly written well. I can't fault the mechanics and I kept up with it for a little while. She just personally annoys me and hits a lot of peeves so I can't read much without getting slightly exasperated...and this is supposed to be fun! Plus, blog will eat itself eventually if that's all you do, and you'll blog about going to a blogger convention and being on TV for being a blogger. I'm just dubious of a blog being someone's actual job if all they're doing is talking about themselves.

But then, I don't have to read it, do I?

I too, am bothered by eyebrows that aren't dyed to match someone's hair.

wow. while i can say that i am proud to have been reading pajiba for as long as i have, i have to lament the amount of time i spent reading heathers blather. yes, the pictures of her dogs are quite cute, but i had to give up on her and her self-absorbed pseudo-celebrity im-trying-to-be-funny-by-being-such-an-awful-human-being sense of humor. granted, shes mellowed a bit since she became so ultra-popular recently since she needs to fund their endless shopping and travel adventures. everyone has a story to tell, and hers isnt all that special. before you cry foul because i purposely insulted one of your close personal virtual friends, go back and read all her posts. start at the beginning, suffer through the poorly converted pages from all the different fad weblog engines, and if you still like her when you are done, well, thats your choice, isnt it? people also thing george bush is a good president.

Oh, this does sound like it's worth checking out. Thanks, DR.

You hate LOLcats and like Dooce. Clearly, we have vastly different tastes when it comes to blogs.

Heh. She may not have the best life story to tell, but she tells it extraordinarily well. Dooce is one of my guilty pleasures.

Please also check out Dad Gone Mad. He's one puerile and pottymouthed Hebe, so of course I have to check in with his blog every day. Yes, he's a dad, but that's only a small part of his witty commentary. Honestly, he could be an Eloquent.

I've been a devoted reader for the last 6 years and I'm not even a parent. Dooce kicks ass.

My introduction to Dooce was through a snarky little blog callled Violent Acres (Sub: Like you but with poor impulse control): VA does not like Dooce much, and she isn't wrong.

Read VA. You'll like it much more than Dooce.

Mmm,

If you get six women over 25 into a room, conversation always turns to mucous plugs, or placenta previa, or wandering ovary syndrome or some such. Yeah, I get it. Bright Tits, Big Hymen. The miracle of afterbirth, that water's not for drinking. And so on.

And that is when I make my fleet-footed escape into the night.

I know you 'love' your kids, which I'll concede is better than actively hating them. So we can agree on that. But imagine what it's like for an irascible old slaggy crone like me, to be sujected to endless minutiae. It's like me showing you reel after reel of home movies--about my thesis. Not the topic, just me doing research, walking to the library, logging on to the school network--you know, the awesome bits. Also, you only speak Urdu, so none of this shit's going to work for you. It just gets hard to be polite after hour two, at least for me.

The future of the dynasty, or 'The Chosen One' does not reside in you canal. So, once the clear, bracing stare of logic enters into the equation the answer is there:

Your uterus means naught to me!

Maybe I'll start up a blog, we can call it 'From One 'Mama' to Another', or some junk like that.

Mama's Advice:

Parents: Don't have ugly children.

Kids: Don't watch bad theatre.

You There: Fetch me my Libation Chalice. Yes, the
Jug!

Graduate Officer: Come ON!

Everyone: Shut up.

I love reviews like this, because I think the negative ones are much more informative than the positive ones. I will hesitantly check out this site, because I too am from the school of what-the-fuck-did-I-do-are-there-other-moms-who-don't-do-the-mom-thing-like-me? school, but I can't stand the whole self-aware blog-ness phenomenon. I'll go in with an open mind though.

Dooce is funny. It is. Heather Armstrong is smart and funny and I have nothing at all against blogging for a living. And I like her dogs.

There's one thing about it though that seems off to me, publishing photographs and details of someone else's life on the internet, someone who hasn't had a chance to say 'yes' or 'no' to that kind of exposure in the world.

And also, maybe it's just me, maybe I have a sick, cynical mind, maybe I watched too many episodes of Law and Order in my youth but I can't help imagining some weirdo dude enjoying kiddie blog photos and stories a little too much.

I'm a almost 60 year old divorced man, lapsed Mormon and parent to 3 children, about Heather's age. I have been reading her for several years and find myself laughing outloud at most of her columns, sometimes more than others. She's fun to read, a little self-obsessed and has nailed what it's like to be a former Mormon.

I disagree, they're two sides of the same coin.

1. Those who let them run wild.

2. Those who obsess and elevate them to a center of universe/trophy child/status symbol/little egotistical monsters.

End result is the same.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at September 25, 2008 3:30 PM

Slim, your editorial schizophrenia can be really maddening. You can be such a gasbag at times -- agent provocateur on steroids on crack -- and then you get all rational and cogent and even, on rare occasion, poignant. There are so many issues on which I'm pretty sure we agree (ex: above post), but your bifurcated persona keeps me wondering what's real and what's show.

Oh, as if I really care. You're entertaining as hell and I'm not looking for a political fuck-buddy. Carry on.

WHAT? WHO? PORN? WHERE?

Shoulda known you wouldn't disappoint.

dooce is mind blowingly boring, further reinforcing that the only reason Dustin likes it is that he clearly wants to be a women for some damn reason.

Aw, cut Rowles some slack, Bob. He's still got that first-time dad jealousy and awe of the miracle of birth. I know it about made my head explode. My money is on him snapping out of it at some point, but I suspect he's a softie for life.

If anyone cares by this time I forgot to add a search suggestion for Dooce's website. For a laugh until tears run down your legs essay read:

http://dooce.com/archives/daily/09_16_2004.html

There is someone on Earth with an internet connection that has not read Dooce?

Are they in a coma?

Yay! I read Dooce every day, ever since my crazy highschool economics teacher talked about her. Reading about her experiences post-Mormonism is rather refreshing.

There is someone on Earth with an internet connection that has not read Dooce?

Are they in a coma?

If they're like me, they're too busy obsessing over the minutia of freelance writing and blogging and analyzing books and films and other media until their eyeballs start bleeding and they realize they haven't left their office chair in 30+ hours. Doesn't leave much time to hunt down parenting blogs.

I looked at Dooce and found it funny, I just don't think I'll go that often.

If anyone cares by this time I forgot to add a search suggestion for Dooce's website. For a laugh until tears run down your legs essay read:

http://dooce.com/archives/daily/09_16_2004.html

Posted by: NeoCleo at September 26, 2008 1:58 PM

There is someone on Earth with an internet connection that has not read Dooce?

Are they in a coma?

Posted by: hater from siloam springs at September 26, 2008 4:52 PM

That makes at least two of us uncultured simpletons. I managed to make it through both the review and most of the comments still without having read Dooce, but the temptation of the above link proved too much.

That's the best she has to offer? I read no further so at this point I have no idea if it is Heather or NeoCleo (or possibly both) who occupy some distant province of Humorland that is inaccessible to me. Not only did I not laugh, I was rather horrified for the poor sap about whom she was writing.

Perhaps the problem is just that constipation "humor" is lost on me since I poop like a goose, as many times per day as needed to accommodate intake. Thank Godtopus I inherited my father's digestion; I rather suspect my mother would have related much more to that article. Must be a girl thing.

i stopped reading dooce about 3 years ago, after she had her kid. somehow i didn't find the story relatable anymore (i was in college, didn't have any kids, and liked her stories about her Roommate, whom i thought was just a random person but then out of nowhere she got married to him, and i was like, what?)

but i do remember the blog being good, and maybe i'm at a different point in my life where i can go back and start reading her again.

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