The Power Of The Literary Drunk
Alcoholism is not an entertaining disease, and let no one claim that it is. But drunks do make great literary characters. They are quest-driven and tragic, marked for a destiny they cannot escape, and full of passion... Like all great literary subjects, drinking is transformative; it changes the metabolism of the alcoholic, even the very structure of his cells. It allows for carnivalesque abandon and provides the novelist with a catalyst for visionary truth... The best writing about alcoholics manages to explore the degradation the disease inflicts while respecting the dignity of its victim.
· Absinthe [The Globe & Mail (Canada) 11/04/03]

It's a Little Too Cozy in the Blogosphere
It was a cool idea, a fresh kind of media democracy for a new-media world. Thanks to the miracle of blogging technology, any smart kid in Boise or Brooklyn could set up his own Web site and weigh in on everything from regime change in Iraq to snarky book reviews. He didn't need a publisher, a journalism degree or an old-boy network, just a computer, an Internet connection and an opinion (and bloggers have plenty of those). Part reporter, part gadfly, part cheeky upstart, bloggers seemed to scorn the insider mentality of brand-name pundits, and they were often a lot more fun to read -- and more insightful.
· Now I can't live without them, but already I'm feeling betrayed [WashingtonPost ]