Santa Bush

Via Pat (gotta love office e-mail fwds from your former congresswoman boss.)

Dear Vassar Grads in Brooklyn

Let's all laugh about this. 

A Message from the Brooklyn Tourism Board from jeff on Vimeo.

For a little contrast - listen to Hova. 

Arianna Huffington's Philosophy of Blogging

"You lost your job-- you have time to blog!" 

Arianna Huffington, of Huffington Post fame (Alex: "I want to make a newspaper and name it after myself") was a guest on the Daily Show Wednesday night, pimping the new book - The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging. The conversation definitely pitted the self-proclaimed "blogging evangelist" against the traditional, pro-good writing Jon Stewart (presuming he wasn't just playing devil's advocate, also possible.) 

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Arianna Huffington

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

"Why would I give people the dreck?... My other thoughts -there's a reason I haven't put them on the show."

I said to Alex, I'm a hypocrite since I have this blog, but I totally agree. I don't exactly know what is gained by creating entirely democratic public discourse where every single person in the world has a blog that three of their closest friends read (or no one reads).  What Huffington describes sounded more to me like a call to keep a freaking diary than anything else, especially in her description of it as "catharsis." Indeed, the fact that people need to seek community in the anonymous and remote makes me feel sad inside. 

Coming back to the hypocrisy, however - I've felt more and more guilty about the blathering, self-indulgent nature of the blogosphere and my own part in it. This is partly why I have posted less frequently. What am I saying that 10 more qualified and well-spoken writers, and probably thousands of unqualified but equally vociferous bloggers are not? 

Huffington believes blogging is a first draft of history. I don't disagree, considering the influence of HuffPo and the birth of so many "blog" arms of big-name news outlets. I can't help but worry that those in the internet world are so busy blogging and tweeting that no one is carving out refined and deeply critical thoughts.