Gentry
"Peninsula FYI"
September, 2004 |
The Blog Appeal Christine VanDeVelde discusses
the Internet’s addictive self-published opinion websites
I'm not an early adopter, but I live with one. When my husband brought
home a computer for the first time – now twenty years ago! -- I was
convinced that I could only compose my prose on a typewriter. A Palm
Pilot? How could he ask me to give up my Filofax! TiVo? Too complicated…
Of course, fairly quickly, I find I can't live without any of it.
And so it is with weblogs or "blogs," as the technorati call the multitude
of new self-published opinion websites. When my husband started a weblog
inspired by the book he's writing, it sounded like a great idea. But the
wider world of blogs -- some 4.1 million of them now -- didn't interest
me.
The term blog was coined in 1997 by the inventors of the free online
software that makes blogs possible. Basically, they're frequently updated
online journals. Most feature opinion commentary with links to online
articles and other blogs. Subjects covered are as diverse as Japanese
anime, gambling, literature, and voodoo – and, naturally, sex and
politics. Others are online diaries of their writers' days, heavily salted
with opinions on everything from movies to breastfeeding. Mainstream
publications like the Wall Street Journal and the National
Review have blogs. So do TV networks, like ABC News. And it's a global
craze: teen author Sarah Dessen blogs from Chapel Hill and Salam Pax blogs
from Baghdad.
Time magazine has noted that blogs are "America thinking out loud"
– unabashed, opinionated and irrepressible, despite more than occasional
lapses in good taste and accountability. Blogs also have a lot of the
best, most original and provocative writing around. Suffice it to say that
after some initial resistance, I'm addicted.
My morning starts with visits to Gawker, Defamer and Wonkette. These three
provide links to news and gossip about politics, publishing, celebrities,
and media in New York, Hollywood and Washington, D.C., respectively.
They're totally insider and irresistible. Time spent here is equal parts
guilt and pleasure. Then, it's down to work with a quick perusal of Jim
Romenesko's Media News blog and a check-in at Mediabistro's Newsfeed,
which as a writer, I can justify as "research".
Throughout the day, I check in with some other new friends in the
"blogosphere" – I think of it as the internet version of a little
conversation around the water cooler. And part of the pleasure is that
these are people I would never otherwise come to know.
"Mimi Smartypants" blogs from Chicago's north side about the toddler
daughter she and her husband adopted from China, as well as public
transportation and etymology and barhopping. Check out her signature
sign-offs -- spot-on codas for her postings. The fact that she hates both
Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh was a bonding experience. At Cathy's
World, I catch up with Cathy Seipp, a freelance writer, columnist and
single mother living in Los Angeles. Her postings cut to the chase on
whatever issue she writes about -- the LA media scene, politics, her
teenage daughter or the raccoon problem in her backyard. I'm still getting
to know her, but she strikes me as an unconventional person leading a
conventional life. And she's definitely someone I would never cross paths
with if not for her blog.
.
Somewhere along the way each day I also check in with Instapundit,
(according to Wired, the most popular blog on the web), Slate's
Mickey Kaus (who most believe was the first major blogger) and the Wall
Street Journal's Best of the Web. These and similar sites, like
National Review's blog, The Corner, will offer up commentary and links
in just one afternoon on John Kerry, terrorism, literature for teens, the
Cuyahoga River fire, Milton's poetry, affirmative action, Ogden Nash,
wedding announcements and Bill Clinton's autobiography.
If I have time, I'll do a little exploring. Side trips have lead me to
blogs on parenting at Urban Baby and the latest fiction at Book Slut, the
personal diary of "Rance" (the nom de blog of a Hollywood actor many think
is Owen Wilson), and a place where I can see what's happening in my
hometown, the Chicagoist.
Inevitably, I end my day at James Lileks' blog, The Bleat. Lileks is a
columnist for the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune and Newhouse
News Service. His wife is a lawyer. Lileks writes from home – the
so-called Jasperwood (named after his dog) -- and is the primary caretaker
for the couple's four-year-old daughter, The Gnat. At The Bleat, I read
about their trips to Target, pink ponies, home renovation projects, and
head colds – it's oh-so-familiar, but made newly captivating by
Lileks'genuine delight in parenting and family life. And his take on
current events reminds me of the Midwestern politics and politesse I grew
up with – Lileks actually says it best himself: We don't have to agree
on the big, hard issues, but we can certainly agree that we share common
values that set us apart, and that it profits no one to identify the
opposition as something outside the American experience.
As of now, there are 128 million adult Internet users in the United States
alone and 44 percent of them contribute content to the Web – an increasing
number of them through these online journals. Even Bill Gates is thinking
about starting his own blog. So, the question is, should you – or I --
join the conversation?
Don Luskin, The Conspiracy to Keep You Poor and Stupid,
www.poorandstupid.com
Wall Street Journal, Best of the Web, www.opinionjournal.com/best
The National Review, The Corner, www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp
ABC News, The Note, abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote.html
Sarah Dessen, www.sarahdessen.com
Salam Pax, www.dear_raed.blogspot.com
Gawker, www.gawker.com
Defamer, www.gawker.com
Wonkette, www.wonkette.com
Jim Romenesko’s Media News, www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45
Mediabistro, Newsfeed, www.mediabistro.com
Mimi Smartypants, www.smartypants.diaryland.com
Cathy Seipp, Cathy’s World, www.cathyseipp.journalspace.com
Instapundit, www.instapundit.com
Mickey Kaus, Kausfiles, Slate, www.kausfiles.com
Urban Baby, www.urbanbaby.com
Book Slut, www.bookslut.com
Rance, captainhoof.tripod.com/blog
Chicagoist, www.chicagoist.com
James Lileks, The Bleat, www.lileks.com/bleats |
