Monday, April 25, 2005
NEXT LEVEL REACHED
“Get ready for the next level in the blogosphere,” warns the NY Times:
Arianna Huffington, the columnist and onetime candidate for governor of California, is about to move blogging from the realm of the anonymous individual to the realm of the celebrity collective.
According to the NYT, unless we’re failed gubernatorial candidates and unimpressive columnists, we bloggers are “anonymous”.
She has lined up more than 250 of what she calls “the most creative minds” in the country to write a group blog that will range over topics from politics and entertainment to sports and religion. It is essentially a nonstop virtual talk show that will be part of a Web site that will also serve up breaking news around the clock. It is to be introduced May 9.
Sounds like a pile of crap.
Having prominent people join the blogosphere, Ms. Huffington said in an interview, “is an affirmation of its success and will only enrich and strengthen its impact on the national conversation.” Among those signed up to contribute are Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman.
Hmm. Can’t wait for Diane Keaton‘s opinion on, say, nothing. This won’t work; blogs function best when they focus closely on events or themes, chasing down links and evidence to support their arguments. You think Keaton (or Cronkite, or Mailer, or Beatty, or Mamet) will devote more than a post or two to any given issue? It’ll be a festival of shallow takes, as Cronkite predicts:
This gives me a chance to sound off with a few words or a long editorial. It’s a medium that is new and interesting, and I thought I’d have some fun.
Yay. Blogs rule.