If you've ever wondered what I look like, grab a copy of the most recent Willamette Week and turn to page 27.

Or just click on this link.

That big-nosed, scowling man-donkey mutant is me.

I'd like to act all cool about the article and say that it's no big deal but I'm completely incapable of this. Instead, like I always do, I'm going to ramble on for a thousand words or so.

I received an email about the article two weeks ago from WW staffer Taylor Clark with a list of questions. I answered them and later received another email from Tom Oliver, one of the mag's photographers. A phone call later, I had just over two hours to prepare for a "photo shoot."

Since I look like the sort of creature that hangs out at the same bar frequented by Sasquatch and the Loc Ness monster, I hate having my picture taken and the thought of having my face appear in WW was unfathomable. Oliver said he was looking to make the pictures "as interesting as possible" and wanted to meet me at my workplace. Since tromping into a crowded call center wasn't an option, I suggested somewhere else.

I wanted to say that we should meet up at City Hall where he could pics of me hitting golf balls off the top of my car but didn't have the gumption. Instead, we agreed to meet downtown at Jake's Crawfish House. I grabbed every goofy thing I could find- a Gizmo doll, a Karate Kid bandana, Bryan's tourist map of Iraq, a suit, a bag of Japanese Christmas candy and an ancient laptop were all tossed into an old canvas knapsack.

The whole thing took around 45-minutes and Oliver fired off a hundred or so shots of me doing things like blowing smoke at the camera and making other pathetic stabs at looking cool. Later, I tossed on the suit and pretended to type on the laptop. Gizmo donned the bandana and I placed a tiny Jagermiester shot glass and a florescent party straw next him. Sadly, the shot of me shaking me head in disdain at the sloppy, drunken mogwai wasn't the one that made the cut. I'm sure the rest of the photos have long since been deleted but I would have loved to have that one for the archives.

In the email, Clark said that the article was going to be "a small compendium of local blogs." Oliver suggested it might be larger. Until I received a call early yesterday morning, I figured the entire thing would be a tiny, half paged blurb wedged between "Winners & Losers" and their feature story of the week. Instead, the compendium *was* the feature story.

As K5M has pointed out, "Blah, Blah Blog" is sure to stir up controversy in the local blogging community, especially given the cartoon they put on the cover. The intro uses words like "suck" and "mostly awful" to describe those that didn't make the cut. I can't say I agree with the statements, since there's plenty of blogs out there that deserved to be on the list more than this one.

The exposure is nice but I doubt it will lead to an increase in readership or anything like that. Like this post, everything I write is too long-winded and self-indulgent to draw much of a crowd. Still, it didn't stop me from doing a victory drive across my neighbor's lawn after I got a look at the blurb. Thanks, Willy Week!