Top five (individual) weblogs

I’m occassionaly asked whose sites I read and which I most enjoy. My response usually involves a pointer back to my links page and/or my OPML file, which contains the addresses for all of the feeds I read each day. For those that don’t want to work your way though my admittedly long and somewhat eclectic list, I present to you my top five personal websites:

• John Gruber If you have a Mac and a single nerd bone in your body then there is a good chance you’ve read this site. John has a wonderful way with words and consistently writes interesting and compelling articles pertaining to Mac nerdery. His writing sometimes walks a fine line between flowery description and superfluous overkill, but he always seems to pull it around and make clear his point.
• Jason Kottke Let’s face it, when it comes to weblogging, Jason is the man. He’s been doing this for a very long time and is constantly bringing something new to his site and the medium. What is more is that I’m not sure I’ve ever felt someone was as like me as Jason seems to be — it’s absolutely uncanny how his posts sometimes read how I think.
• Russell Beattie Russ is me, squared — he takes my gadget passion to a whole new level (at least as far as mobile phones go; just wait until I have money Russ  :P). I think what I like most about him is the fact that he absolutely holds no punches — he’s going to tell you exactly how he feels whether he’s talking about the latest Symbian OS or the dingbat we currently call president.
• Rui Carmo There is no question that Rui is the most prolific writer of the bunch and I sometimes wonder how he has time work on his day job. One needs to look no further than his index to feel compelled to write about something, anything. He has a great grasp of tech, and like Russ above, has no problem telling you exactly what’s on his mind.
• Dunstan Orchard As I’ve said to many people (and probably even to Dunstan at some point), this is one of the best looking sites I’ve ever seen — his attention to detail is truly inspiring. Beyond the dynamic cartoon weather headers, the site is rich with content, not the least of which are his gorgeous photos (which he seems to be posting more frequently).