New National Post Column -- The Tabloids Strike Back: A roundabout article in which I comment on the gap between the rhetorical populism of newspaper employees and the practical elitism of their bosses, abetted, IMunHO, by the craft's drive for professionalism ... and from there the discussion shifts to the actual populism of the new free tabloid dailies that are springing up from coast to coast -- earning the scorn of the aforementioned rhetorical populists. Got it?

Maybe I should just say, Tim Blair-style, that the quoted in this story include: Jeff Jarvis, Paul Krugman, Robert McChesney, the Tribune Co. CEO, the publishers of the Philly Metro and Nashville City Paper, newspaper analyst John Morton, and more.

02/22/2003 10:37 AM  |  Comment (16)

Come See a Panel With Cathy Seipp and the Seven Blog-Dwarfs! Including yours truly, though I can’t imagine even wanting to get in a word edgewise with a stage that includes Doktor Volokh, Mickey “I Still Haven’t Come out About the War” Kaus, the one and only Luke Ford, Kinkos expert RiShawn Biddle, conference dominatrix Heather Havrilesky, KenLayne.com and cheese-eating resistance hero Emmanuelle Richard.

This Saturday, 7 p.m., American Film Institute, corner of Los Feliz and Western, Hollywood. Drinks and Hungarian-flavored gaeity afterward. I think the topic du jour is how news & opinion weblogs thrived post-Sept. 11 by being less politically rigid than traditional media, or something like that. It will have a hard time matching the Chinatown blog-panel, for lack of Tony Pierce and breaking news events, but maybe I’ll sucker-punch Kaus in the solar plexus, or slip asbestos dust into his beer….

02/21/2003 11:52 AM  |  Comment (4)

Highly Recommended New Blog -- Introducing Christopher Scheer! Chris is a longtime pal from the college days, a co-founder of the paper out in Prague, and my former editor at WorkingForChange.com. He is a fine writer (as witnessed by the blog’s title: “Bleccch”) who is probably most interesting to read when you disagree with him, and he’s had such a weird life by now that any random post may include knowledgeable references to Thai monks, Eddie DeBartolo, Jr., 14-year-old girls basketball phenoms, and someone named Stacey Nightmare. Bookmark this pup!

02/20/2003 04:29 PM  |  Comment (1)

The Left’s Two Opposing Sides: Thought-provoking stuff from Harry Steele, a pro-war Brit and lifetime lefty who was surprised to see himself described by the Guardian as a right-wing libertarian. Get used to it, Harry!

02/20/2003 04:16 PM  | 

Was Moving: Hi! I’d meant to leave a note on Saturday, but things were hectic as we moved from our one-bedroom apartment on the corner of Vermont and Los Feliz to a quiet, familiar-looking 5-“bedroom” shack in the rustic Franklin Hills. Many unfortunate things have happened in the process, including a communications brown-out with the outside world until basically now, but the upshot is obvious every time we take lunch on the sunny backyard patio, or sleep in until 10 because there are no 18-wheelers refueling 10 feet away at daybreak. I’ll be writing sporadically here until we get our DSL back up, which, with my luck/skill set, should take roughly four months. Would like to shout-out thanks to Ken Basart, Rabbit Havrilesky, Os Tyler and Jeff Solomon for their help with the move, and a special whatever to Lane & Crayne for letting us sneak into this ramshackle former meth lab of a house.

It’s strange to move during a time of News; I hear vague reports of some Orange Alert, and a bunch of protests? No idea what’s been going on….

02/20/2003 01:26 AM  |  Comment (3)

Hi! What are you doing down here?