Blogs, and all kinds of technology, give Media Dragon the illusion that they are more important and larger than they really are:
Today someone told me they look at the blog everyday.
Arrrgh!
Pressure!
In this context of constant pressure, I post some Happy Pair of Bookends which regular readers might find irresistable
There is no better gloss on life, and on all Borges’ work, than the poem Stevens called The Plain Sense of Things:
Yet the absence of the imagination had
Itself to be imagined. The great pond,
The plain sense of it, without reflections, leaves,
Mud, water like dirty glass, expressing silence
Of a sort, silence of a rat come out to see
The great pond and its waste of the lilies, all this
Had to be imagined as an inevitable knowledge,
Required, as a necessity requires.
The great pond and its waste of the lilies
The Blog, The Press, The Media: That's all, folks! Angling for a Story
Mixed Signals' -- NPR Enters the World of Blogging
I thought that the value of a blog is precisely in its spontaneity and in the play of opinions between the blogger and the listeners. The blogger must do this several times a day in order for the blog to remain 'fresh.' ... In my experience, the best and most useful answers to the questions and comments I receive are found by taking the time to distill a measured and thoughtful response out of the swirl of argument and contention
• Why NPR's ombud declined to turn his column into a blog [Arrogance for thinking he could procure such a payoff from one of the country’s most successful businessmen, and stupidity for making the request inside the man’s own apartment. One would think a small red flag would go up if the object of your extortion invites you over for a chat. Jared Paul Stern may be the New York Post's Jayson Blair or Barry Bonds Stern's demands show his arrogance and stupidity; Post probe moves on Page Six scandal expanded to details of lavish gifts to staffers (NYDN) ; Stern: I often get use of cars from carmakers in exchange for ink (USAT) Page Six of 'New York Post' making scandal headlines ]
• · Bloggers and internet pundits are exerting a disproportionately large influence on society. The rise of the blogger - I KNOW ABSOLUTELY nothing about L.A. billionaire Ron Burkle, but I think he's a slimebucket. Why do I say that? Because if New York Post gossip writer Jared Paul Stern was able to ask Burkle for $100,000 plus $10,000 a month just to keep the guy from being defamed in the tabloid, I figure it's worth trying to get the guy upset at me too. "Freakonomics" co-author says gossip's fee is unreasonable ; Reclusive Penguins investor now makes headlines
• · · And so it begins- impending sales tax; Does the Media Have a Technology Bias? Tech journalists should stop acting like product cheerleaders (TVP)
• · · · In Politics, Leaking Stories Is a Fine Art one just has to ask characters like Walt Secord who is so missed by the hacks at Mcquarie Street Leaking is just a basic part of the way Washington works; Carr felt "terrifically underqualified" when he started at NYT
• · · · · News Is Anything People Don't Know Blogging the Sports Summit: Dusting Off the History Books; 'Reinvent or die. It's that simple.' If Newspapers Are to Rise Again ; Automated Publishing of Samizdata
• · · · · · Film fans in the US will soon be able to download major movies on the same day the DVD of the films become available to buy in shops Online movies given release boost ; Book: 12 principles Living with integrity in the 21st C Buy now & be inspired! Why do We Celebrate Integrity ; Blogging culture is like an airborne virus. Once somebody gets it, they keep it for life and gleefully pass it on to anyone they know The Psychology of D'oh! ; The Psychology of Telephony Revolution!