This week in the Blogerati Files - "Dead Robot"

Describe your blog in 10 words or less.
Deadrobot is a bridge between gay, straight, smart and stupid.

Why did you start your blog? Blogiversary?
I originally started my blog on "MyTorontoApartment.com" when I acquired the URL from a deadbeat client who wanted to sublet his empty flat. I had no idea what to do with the site when I got it back so I kept the original layout (rental price list and all) and just filled the content with my entries. The URL seemed to jive with the whole "let's blog about the crazy things I see in TO" thing I wanted to post. My first entry was August 2003 and it was lame. My intro picture rocked, though. I looked like John Cleese being flung from a Smart Car.

Has blogging changed you or enhanced a personality trait?
I find that I am more vocal with my opinions now. I don't fear looking like a knob when I open my mouth to defend myself. I am still socially awkward though.

Do you have a favourite post from your blog?
Tough question since most of the time I write to make myself or my boyfriend laugh. I'd have to choose "Queer As Folk, Indeed".

It was when I realized that people were actually reading what I was putting out there and I had delicious catty content to offer. It led me to actively try to "write" things instead of banging on the keyboard like an infinite amount of monkeys trying to make a looming deadline. I was completely hooked when my brother confided in me that George F Walker read my blog when I was an extra on This Is Wonderland.

Who are your fav blogger(s)?
From my blogroll, no particular order:
Hairyfishnuts, a Canadian stand up comedian who rabidly attacks American right winged politics.
Brett Lamb, how can you not like him? His photoplays are brilliant.
From A to B, an actor/beer rep that's moved to Parkdale. Brilliant storytelling.
Big Fat Hairy Living, a big bear of a guy obsessed with Martha Stewart and gay homo sex.
Dawn P., a west coast GIF monkey who writes with a big heart about the hardship of freelance design.

Best blogger hangout in TO?
I'm shy. Never been to any actual blogger get-togethers/meetings. I can be found at Tango Palace out on Queen East or O'Gradys on Church Street on a Friday night. I get kind of antsy about meeting virtual people real time. I fear it would shatter everything I've created and built up in my mind about that person. Sort of like unwrapping a Christmas present from your grandparents or a push up bra. Could be good...could be...

Ever met a stranger who already knew you through your blog? How was that?
I have yet to be recognized in public for my blog but I have been identified from chatting online and other mediums (A forum named GAB is my fave and I have many "virtual" friends from all over.)

Lose any friends or muck something up because of a post?
Nearly lost my roommate from a post entitled "Ten Things That My Roomie Does That Pisses Me Off". It was passive aggressive fun but he didn't see the humour.

I've gotten other bloggers in trouble for urging them to write about stuff.

What's happening in Toronto right now that the rest of us should be watching?
I've been camping every weekend this summer so I have no clue what's going on in the real world.

Interweb-wise, the rise of Zanta has become a new obsession with me. His life is being paraded through CityTV's web board and other sites and he's becoming Ben Kerr's replacement for quirky Toronto street icon. There's a list of the 50 Most Notable Torontonian residents and I'm loving how that's coming together.

And of course, your lovely blog is giving Now and eye a run for their money.

Choose someone, living or dead, to write your biography. Why did you make that choice?
Issac Asimov channeling through my brother, Mike Healey.

Back in the 70s I devoured Asimov's logistical robot stories (the line from Caves of Steel: "And the dead robot would lend point to his words" is the reason for the name of my blog/freelance graphics company). The "futurama" of his writing gave me hope for the future while the world was waving bombs around like piñatas bursting with atomic goodness. Asimov said that we were all going to have personal communications devices and robots and hovercars! The future was going to be great! But in retrospect, he's actually a melodramatic and terrible writer so I'd have my brother, who I am ferociously proud of, put his humourous spin on my bio. He'd then sell the play to the Mirvishes and all would be happy.

If your blog were a food, what food would it be?
Stir fry. It has no real direction, it's a steamy mélange of stuff usually found in the vegetable crisper, it has *some* good for you things in it and it leaves you wanting more in an hour's time.

If you could gather all of the bloggers of the world together into one room and tell them one thing, what would it be?
"Attention Bloggers! Please stop posting your iPod playlists. They are not interesting in the least bit. Please write about things that amuse, anger or electrify your life. We have in our hands the power to change the world one post at a time and it should not be wasted it on trivial things. Also, while you're at it, buy things from my Café Press store."