Worlds collide: Amy Sohn writes on that wiry Dens and Dodgeball.

At last: Podshanking, a way to hook two iPods together directly. Shanktastic!

Mark McGwire: "I'm not here to talk about the past." Yanksfan vs. Soxfan is live blogging the Congressional steroid hearings.

Among my key responsibilities at Gawker: hosting parties in Texas. Just back from four days at SXSW Interactive, highlighted by the Gawker Media party Monday night at the Side Bar that we hosted with David Galbraith and Wists, his new visual bookmarking tool. Thanks to all who came out; we hope to make it an annual affair.
· Cox Blocked [Austinist]
· Austin 2 [BlueJake]
· Bloggie Nights at SXSW [SFist]
· 10 Reasons the Gawker Party Rocked [Tony Pierce]
· SXSW Interactive Afterparties [TheDeputy]
· Gawker Party Overhead View [Flickr]

People say, "Lock, are you living the good life?" I reply, "Yes. Yes I am."

The recent California court ruling declaring that bloggers must reveal confidential sources makes me sad. Many of the best blogs are as good as they are because readers trust the blogger running the show enough to share privileged information with them. I've worked as a print journalist, and I've worked (well, kanoodled) as a blogger, and if anything, I've felt a closer kinship with blog sources than "real-world" sources.

I embark on another blogging-about-blogging dirge (Christ, this blog has gone to shit) to clarify a quote from me in a Business Week story that misapprehends my feelings about "bloggers as journalists." I had dinner last month with the reporter, Jessi Hempel, to talk about Curbed, and we ended up in a long, interesting chat about the blog world. Hempel was interested in how blogs source their material, so we dug into the differences between reporting on blogs versus reporting for print journalism. I think I came off too glib in the line that Hempel used in her story this week about the California case:

"I don't have time to do the fact-checking you do," said Steele. "BusinessWeek is reporting a different kind of news."

Sitting in my apartment, waiting for delivery from Moustache, and listening to yesterday's Daily Source Code. Having recently tested the podcasting waters, I've been won over. The February 22 episode of Daily Source Code, Adam Curry's show, is an excellent introduction to the genre, as Curry refutes some of the standard arguments ("who wants to listen to unprofessionally produced audio?") thrown against the format. Plus, mashups! I'm using iPodder, a free Mac/PC download that transfers podcasts right into iTunes. Giving some thought to reviving Below 14th as a podcast. How hot would an exclusive Wylie Dufresne interview be?

Bummer. Fodor's folded its travel blog, Right This Way, which I always enjoyed (though posts were infrequent). The link to the blog now redirects to a drab news feed. And they torpedoed the blog archives, too—ouch.

Good times! Denton is helming Gridskipper this week. -->

Saturday, March 05, 2005

NYTimes now syndicating Greg.org posts on its front page.

Boston Media Watch (via Soxaholix): Where are the lines when big media (NYTimes Co) acquires small media (Boston Dirt Dogs)? Email from Boston.com staffer to BSMW: "Oh, Bruce, please -- spare me. It's a blog, for God's sake. Lighten up."

Dear old Sac remixes the FishbowlNY launch party.

TMFTML et Lindsayism: "While writers of internet web logs, or bloggers, drew most of the publicity last year amidst a batch of high-profile signings, 2005 appears to be the year of the commenter, those highly-motivated, often-pseudonymous folk who spend their days approving or disparaging the blog posts of others, occasionally using correct spelling and grammar. The frenzy shows no signs of abating anytime soon."

Felix Salmon: Unhealthily Obsessed... with Gawker Media. (Related: learned today that the cool pronunciation of MemeFirst is "Me Me First.")

eBay: Slower.net limited edition print. $90 and rising!

From this week's Observer:

Last week’s Off the Record misidentified the writer of a letter to the New York Times sports page. The Kevin Brown who wrote to The Times in defense of Jason Giambi was not the same Kevin Brown who pitches for the Yankees.

It's been a month since I took the job of managing editor at Gawker Media, and haven't had a word to say about it in this space. Doesn't mean there hasn't been stuff to talk about.

I'm pissed I wasn't blogging here when all the fun surrounding Gridskipper, Gawker's new urban travel blog, went down. Yes, CheapTickets pulled ads from the site, but the bigger news behind the scenes was the departure of Krucoff ("Andrew Krucoff," to friends) as the site's editor after three weeks. He blogged about his departure yesterday: "I tried, I really fuckin' tried but the service journalism aspect of travel writing bored me to no end." That's about it. He's gone, away into the night. Still, I'm afraid the blog world hasn't seen the last of Krucoff. I'd say more, but I signed his NDA.

Last week, Low Culture's snazzy Guy Cimbalo helmed the site as the first in a stable of rotating guest editors, then Justin Rocket Silverman (of Time Out New York fame) took a two-day shift. This week, the terrific Brendan Koerner is at the helm, to be followed by another surprise guest blogger next week. As Krucoff warns, stay tuned.

Meantime, the hunt for a new full-time Gridskipper blogger continues. If you responded to the recent notice on Gawker, fear not: I'm just behind on digging through the stack. If you want to throw you hat into the ring, drop a line. As noted on Gawker, conventional travel writing experience can and will be held against you.

LINKAGE: Two recent press hits for Gridskipper, and blog commentary:
· Ten of the Best Travel Blogs [Guardian]
· Blogroll: Gridskipper.com [Toronto Star]
· Andrew Krucoff has Left Gridskipper [Standard Deviance]
· CheapTickets Pulled Ads on Gridskipper [Susan Mernit]
· Revenge of the Blogs [Wordlab]
· Who Pulled the Wool Over Whose Eyes? [WorkerBeesBlog]

Horribly quiet around these parts for February. Let's get going again for March. This could be the biggest month in blog history; daren't not miss it.