I was out and offline all day yesterday, so I missed this wonderful article by Dan Barkin in yesterdays' N&O (I just took the paper out of its plastic bag a few minutes ago):
It tells you where Anton Zuiker comes from and where he is going next. The killer paragraph is this one:
The Web has evolved into a tribal Internet of passionate bloggers like Zuiker, and he has become a sort-of local brand. He's a quiet visionary. He's a low-key doer. He's a let's-get-together-and-see-where-this-goes guy. It's the Zuikers of this new, interwoven world who may play a significant role in determining how far Web 2.0 goes from being a sociable network to a social force.
That is so true! Without Anton, there would be no Triangle blogger meetups, no BloggerCon, no Podcastercon, no Foodblogging, no Storyblogging and no Science Blogging Conference. Sure, Brian, Paul, myself and others may come up with a cool idea here and there, but those ideas would go nowhere without Anton's calm persistence (and don't get me wrong, Anton has a dozen cool ideas before breakfast every day himself) - he makes things actually happen in the real world.
Definitely go and read the entire thing! And also read what Paul, Brian and Abel wrote about the article as well. Of course, go say Hello to Anton himself, and see all the things he's been doing lately on BlogTogether.org.
And I hope to see you at the Foodblogging event tonight.