Mark "Copyranter" Duffy, New York's premier angry advertising blogger, has officially retired his blog. His succinct explanation to us: "Because people need to start paying for my stress." Well, can't argue with that. Somebody pay the man! [Copyranter]

"We love our cats… and they seem to love walking across our keyboards! You can't blame them, they just want to be near us. With the Kit-In Box, cats have a place to rest that's out of the way, but still an arm length's away from a scratch on the belly. The Kit-In Box can attach to the side of a desk or be placed on top it. Felt pads protect the desk top. Cats are drawn to the soft cushion and the high walls, which are perfect for nesting. The Kit-In Box can support a 20 lbs cat and even small dogs!" [Ephemerist] Bigger pic after the jump.

The New York Post killed poor PageSix.com after something like ten internet minutes, but now we just discovered this weird new blog they have (we know it's new because it has a big NEW BLOG sticker on it) called, uh, POPWRAP. The internet is running out of names for things that are obvious clones of five other things! Anyway, if PageSix.com was their TMZ-killer, this is their scaled-back Gawker/Daily Intelligencer/maybe-Best Week Ever-copier. The whole damn thing is edited solely by one guy (like us, back in the golden era!)—former InTouch "lifestyle editor" Jarett Wieselman (ten posts today, Jarett—you can get it up to 12 by Monday!). Oh, wait, we remember that name! Wieselman was brought over from InTouch with Kathy Campbell to run PageSix.com. And then that imploded and now they've given him this. Anyway we didn't read very many of the "words" but the pictures look pretty and the headlines are suitably sarcastic-ish. Also there is a caption contest feature because bloggers are for some reason never happy with the captions photos come with. (So far: one comment on this one. Go help 'em out!) Now you have one more source for mildly irreverent takes on celebrity news. [POPWRAP]

Page Six's item earlier this week about first daughter Barbara Bush's attendance at a New York Rangers game, and the accompanying wholly unsubstantiated speculation that maybe she's dating a Rangers player, prompted a sports blogger to engage in some journalism (take that, Washington Post!). He dug deep in the photo archives and uncovered the haunting connection between Barbara Bush and the hockey team: Style.com writer, socialite, and Fifth Column Of The Gaydom Derek Blasberg!

Animal blogger Bucky Turco has posted a hi-res mockup of an official ticket to see the Pope's appearance at the St. Patrick Cathedral tomorrow. Apparently someone with computer skills (Note to US Secret Service: Not us) could theoretically print this out into a reasonable facsimile of a real ticket and use it to attend the event. In related news, Bucky is "posting from an undisclosed location today," and we all wish him well and hope that he makes it to Monday a free man. Click to enlarge. [Animal NY]

The Washington Post has fired a young reporter named Michael Tunison after he disclosed that he wrote for a sports blog on the side, and, additionally, may have been drunk at some point in his life. This is obviously behavior incompatible with his key newsroom position, "which included some reporting and writing and some clerical work in the Montgomery County bureau." You can just imagine the vast logistical difficulties that his newly revealed identity as a football fan would pose in his suburban newsgathering duties. Our jock-following colleague at Deadspin gently mocks the WP for being hypocritical and, frankly, stupid about the internet, but we say: kudos, Post. Your actions help give all bloggers something to make fun of. After the jump, a screengrab of the blog post (and drunky pic) with which Tunison "brought discredit to the paper":

There you have it: Microsoft gets to produce an awesomely cheesy video to pump up the sales troops — but in a way that lets them pretend to be air-quotes cool, resistant to such straightforward come-ons. PR then strategically leaks it, lets the blogosphere react predictably, and finds a gullible square of a tech reporter to declare victory on Microsoft's behalf.

But at least they smell for the right reason. Hey-oh! "As critics, they are fierce, responding to certain fragrances with rapture or, as often, with venomous contempt. A perfume like Poison, from Dior, is especially polarizing to bloggers, many of whom are stay-at-home moms or professionals in other fields. An enthusiast on nowsmellthis.com described Poison as 'a warm, luxurious velvet blanket draped across a satin settee. On the same site, the perfume was assailed as "a railroad spike through the brain.'" [Times]

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, basketball legend, humanitarian, and LA Times blogger, turns 61 today. And he's not just sitting back quietly writing children's history books and skyhooking $100 bills into the garbage can; he's asking for a little birthday love from his readers! You are instructed to "send a detailed note to Kareem's manager if you can help make his birthday wishes come true." I would think he could take care of the "tropical vacation" out of his own pocket, but maybe not? After the jump, his wish list, and how YOU can help.

"Some level of creative, physical, mental or emotional burnout is inevitable for most bloggers": the Boston Herald rounds up a list of bloggers and asks them the following questions: "hours blogged each week," "burnout likelihood," "neglected relationships?" and "afraid of burnout?" Answers range from "80 hours" to "I guest edited Wonkette a few years back, and found I was working 12 hour days just to fill a quota for readers who wanted to be reading Ana Marie Cox and were quite vocal about the fact." In other news... bloggers are bad parents, survey says?

American Airlines has been having some PR problems lately, like being picketed by its own pilots and canceling 3,300 flights last week. So the company did what any $2 billion corporation would do: they started a laughable blog! It's hosted on Blogger, and it has 3 posts so far. And if their social media eloquence doesn't save the company, nothing can:

Choire Sicha is getting a new column on the new Wonkette. Observer contributor Sicha of course held intermittent leadership jobs at Gawker, not unlike his new boss Ken Layne, who held intermittent leadership jobs at Wonkette. Sicha and Layne also worked together at shuttered Gawker Media site Sploid. Sicha's new column does not yet appear to have a name. Five words: "Choire And Ken's Live Yoga." Or maybe something about beard maintenance. [Wonkette]

Freaknomics author Stephen Dubner says this is "The Best Paragraph You'll Read All Week." Really, Stephen Dubner? Perhaps you could use some more varied reading materials. Am I missing the genius in this standard-issue "I used to be a geek" narrative? Click to enlarge the graf (an intro to a column in the FT), which the superstar economist says is amazing and I, who took six years to finish my bachelor's degree, say is rather pedestrian. [Freakonomics]

Outback Steakhouse has been sending out $25 gift certificates to food bloggers in an apparent attempt to get them to come in and write about the restaurant. Just $25? Cheapskates. It's enough to lead you to believe they're trying to bribe you, but not enough to be an effective bribe. So food bloggers—Just take the money, then write about how your steak tasted like pee. [Endless Simmer]

The editors at Guanabee.com made the mistake of engaging gay porn star-turned-conservative commentator Matt Sanchez in a dialog about his recent war against gay Gawkerdom and other causes. It only takes one answer from Sanchez to prompt the response "We're not really sure what the hell that meant." He then goes on to lie, babble non-sequiturs, and spout right-wing platitudes that he seems to have selected only for their outrageousness. But we're done being outraged by Matt Sanchez; we feel kind of sorry for him now. He could probably use a good therapist. After the jump, the interview's convoluted highlights.

Prodigy, Mobb Deep's lead rapper and avid blogger, is currently locked up in Fishkill, NY. With all the time on his hands, he's been reading, writing, and philosophizing. And doing a lot of thinking about how racist the entertainment industry is. And making long, long lists of examples of racist cartoons, movies, TV shows, and advertising, and sending those lists out to be posted on blogs [VIBE]. He has a point! Can you add anything to this rundown?

Jeninne Lee-St. John is half black and half Chinese (despite the WASPiest name I've ever cut-and-pasted). She's also a fan of Stuff White People Like, but she wonders if she's allowed to enjoy the popular blog that pokes fun at middle-class predominantly white yuppie culture. Way to kill the joke, Jeninne. After consulting with some people from older, funny blogs about race, she makes a list of "Stuff Mixed People Like." Promising title, terrible results.

The "Best Week Ever" blog outlines the method that made it the most popular online source for top 10 lists since College Humor, Cracked.com, The Onion, McSweeney's, and Something Awful. I have the short version below. [Best Week Ever]

You may have had your fill of ex-soldier and gay porn star-turned-conservative blogger and commentator Matt Sanchez yesterday. I certainly did; it took us three posts to explain why he thinks all Gawker contributors are gay, why gay jihadis are threatening the streets of Chelsea, and the intricacies of the Gawker-NYT-Gay Agenda. But while most of you could retire from the subject at will, I couldn't. Matt Sanchez has my email address. And he continued to send me emails—five emails—after I had already shut down for the day. His messages aren't as angry as you might expect. They're just weird, and seem like some sort of public display of willful retardation and self-delusion. It's hard to tell, really. Below, the extra Matt Sanchez emails, from 6:30-10:30 last night. No mas!

Bloggers, are you afraid you're going to die after reading that Times article earlier this week? Well, guess what! With the assistance of two new websites, you can set up farewell emails to be sent to your family and friends in the event of your untimely demise. Go ahead, tell them all the things you never had time to say in life because you were busy blogging yourself to death. See details below...