Typepad recently announced a preview release of their weblog service (from the people who brought you MovableType). I tried it as part of a beta program and was impressed. It scores well on how it handles the 90% of common tasks that people want as part of their blogs: timestamped posts, blog roll, photo gallery, book/music links, hosting, style configuration.
Compared to the other systems I’ve used, it’s the best so far. Easier than rolling your own (which is not feasible nor enjoyable for most people), more features than Blogger, less complex and nicer to use than Manila, and less configuring than MovableType. If it was free and I hadn’t already spent way too much time getting this site going, I would switch.