bloglash

Emily Gould "Shocked" By Her Cover Photo

Sheila · 05/28/08 09:49AM

It's Day 8 of the Emily Gould saga, the former Gawker editor whose first-person blogging narrative that landed the cover of the New York Times Magazine. Our coverage of her is nothing personal, just business—she's officially a "person of interest"! Today's installment: some people, including Gould herself, seem to be offended by the article's accompanying photos, shot by fine art photographer Elinor Carucci. They're "intimate," like the text, but "intimate" also reads as "sexy," and God knows we can't have that. (Gould called them "vaguely cheesecakey" in a NYT Q&A.) Although the Observer wrote today that "the writer was involved in winnowing the photos to a dozen... 'when I saw the cover, I was shocked,' Ms. Gould said on the phone. Did she feel a tad exploited?"

Why Does Newsweek Hate Blogger Prosperity?

Ryan Tate · 05/28/08 06:44AM

Doree Shafrir has a bone to pick with Newsweek. The former Gawker editor recently scored a book deal from her blog of mom emails, and now Newsweek is asking whether she or any other blogger can even write books, much less sell them. "Many bloggers just repackage what they've already done," the magazine said, citing Gawker's book as an example. But the Gawker book did not contain any content from the site at all, so it can hardly be called "repackaged." And there are all kinds of other problems with Newsweek's blogger book slam:

Why The Times Stopped Taking Your Comments On Emily Gould

Ryan Tate · 05/27/08 05:17AM

When the Times shut down comments on Emily Gould's still-physically-unpublished magazine cover story Friday, we — OK, I — speculated the newspaper "might be having second thoughts" about the value of generating online buzz, "barring some kind of technical concern." Well, there doesn't appear to have been any technical concern, but, based on information from one Times source, it sounds more likely comments were closed to shift staff to newer stories.

Comments Closed On Emily Gould's Times Piece

Ryan Tate · 05/23/08 06:05AM

Times editors are apparently tired of people saying mean things about Emily Gould and about their own decision to publish her meditation on blogging, because they've shut down the comments section attached to Gould's magazine piece. Some 727 responses flooded in before the shutdown, even though the article won't be physically published until the Sunday issue. Many called the former Gawker editor narcissistic, self-indulgent and a bad writer and said her story was a waste of space; there were supporters, including people who praised Gould for having moved on from vicious, inconsequential Gawker and for pushing them to reexamine their own online personas. Whatever was said, the decision to shut down comments is bizarre, because just yesterday Times Magazine editor Gerry Marzorati told FishbowlNY the story was worthy of his cover precisely because of the discussion it would spark:

Blogger Love Has Always Been Dangerous

Sheila · 05/20/08 05:11PM

A tipster sent us a reminder today, calling us idiots and pointing us to a 2004 Modern Love column from the NYT, which we will refer to as "The Dangers of Blogger Love 1.0." A young female blogger named Heather Hunter met a boy-blogger, through their respective blogs. And the girl found out about another woman in her guy's life... through that woman's blog. Read on, for the blogger-love warning that went ignored.

Leven Rambin Should Really Set Her MySpace Profile to "Private"

Sheila · 05/12/08 10:44AM

Seventeen-year-old soap actress and New York City Lolita Leven Rambin's is well-known as a girl about town. But she should really set her MySpace profile to private! Otherwise you'll have the whole entire internet gawking at photos of you lying on your bed in your underwear, topless. SFW, yet may be illegal in some states!

Cornell's Famous "West Bushwick" Writer Moves to San Francisco; Your Fault

Sheila · 05/08/08 05:01PM

Remember the famous "West Bushwick" item from last year? It started as a post by Doree Shafrir in response to a story Cornell student Erin Geld wrote for the Daily Sun, the littlest Ivy college's student paper. Geld stayed with friends in a nonexistant neighborhood she referred to as "West Bushwick" for the weekend and was overwhelmed and intimidated by her perceived coolness of it all. She marveled at the big lofts, the "spooky lots and the occasional shady passerby," and the fashion parade of Bedford Avenue. She came to the conclusion that she wasn't sure if she would be able to handle living in such a crazy place after graduation! Well, guess what: now you've gone and done it. In Newsweek, the same writer blogs that because of the response to the "rather neutral" item on this website, her column was "TORN apart" in our commenting section, a "New York hipster club." This "hipster attack" from commenters "managed to chase me to California."

"Enjoying the Fried Calamari" Not Actually a Sexual Euphemism, Sadly

Sheila · 05/02/08 10:56AM

Yesterday, we speculated about what Nerve.com blogger (and member of defunct 90s band Johnny Bravo) Branwyn Lancourt meant when he said that he "enjoyed the fried calamari, so to speak" on his date the other night. What sort of depraved sexual act was he referring to? Our diseased minds went haywire. But no: he e-mailed us to let us know that it wasn't some sort of euphemism (and also sort of implied that we're assholes, but that's OK.) What he meant follows, as does a totally awesome YouTube film he made with his twin brother! (Quote: "Fuck you for wanting me to look you in the eye! I don't want to know you that well." Also: "Kafka was a clerk!")

Did You 'Enjoy the Fried Calamari' On Your Date Last Night?

Sheila · 05/01/08 03:05PM

From the Nerve.com blogger, a New York gentleman who calls himself "Zeitgeisty": "Last night I went on another date with that chick I met at Dunkin Donuts, the one I thought was a bit skinny.. Well, this time around I felt a bit more 'plugged - in', and we both 'enjoyed the fried calamari' so to speak." So many things going wrong here, but... no, dude, we do not know what you meant by "enjoyed the fried calamari." Well, we sort of do, but... Dunkin' Donuts chick—e-mail us and elaborate?

Ryan Adams Flaked Or Tumblr Hacked?

Ryan Tate · 04/30/08 07:00AM

The picture above is what you see if you try to go to shaggy-haired singer Ryan Adams' Tumblr. It was like that pretty much all last night. Adams is non-commital about blogging, so this could be him. But also Tumblr kind of sucks at security lately, so maybe this isn't Adams' fault at all. I mean, the word "hijack" is involved, after all. But given that no one has emailed us about Adams' latest outage, maybe he doesn't have any readers left. Except Sheila, of course!

Why Did Ryan Adams Leave The Internet This Time?

Ryan Tate · 04/21/08 08:32PM

Ryan Adams has an on-again, off-again love affair with internet self expression. He had a YouTube page, then decided to take it down. Then the scruffy musician made a Tumblr blog, but tonight it seems he has taken that down too! (You can stop emailing!) He's been writing a lot of poetry the past few days, including one entry involving the words "whore," "slut" and "asshole." You can still read most of his entries in the Google cache, from page 1, page 2 and page 3 of his blog. And you can also rest assured that, before it died, Adams' blog at least made peace with the singer's frighteningly self-bleached hair:

Bitter Exes Tend To Blog Bitterly

Ryan Tate · 04/18/08 04:26AM

BREAKING: Couples carry their angry breakups onto the internet, says the Times in a story headlined "When the Ex Writes a Blog, Dirty Laundry Is Aired." "Duh!" says Gawker contributor Joshua David Stein and, although most Times readers lack his personal experience in the matter at hand, he has a point. This has been happening forever, including on blogs. But it's hard to resist reading through the story, if only for the list of messy breakups:

Julia Allison Honored By Your Hate

Ryan Tate · 04/08/08 11:07PM

Julia Allison won a special Web award, yay! Not for best lip-synch video, accidental nipple flash, perviest readers, shameless self promotion or most narcissistic apartment in a supporting role, though lord knows the Star editor at large would be in the running for any of those categories. No, Radar has named Allison the third most hated person on the internet, and the intrepid Neel Shah managed to track down press-shy Allison for a quote. Her comments are actually kind of awesome, if only for the fact that they begin, "Wow, you hate me! You really, really hate me!"

William Safire Blogs, Wonders Who First Blogger Was

Sheila · 04/03/08 05:08PM

Political pundit and NYT "On Language" columnist William Safire is blogging for Oxford University Press, and he's also wondering who the "original blogger" was. Who committed the original sin? "Hundreds of weblog pioneers will compete for that title, and it will be interesting to see who they will consense upon." Whoa. He used the word "consense" in a blog! Other than that victory, Safire's inaugural post is just as circular and confusing as "On Language."

Ex-Glamour Dudeblogger Thinks He'll Write a Book

Sheila · 03/31/08 02:10PM

Practically all of our usual "objects of derision" are in the NYT this week! First, there was the Julia Allison-as-Carrie Bradshaw debacle, with her beta female Mary Rambin pictured, and former Glamour dating blogger (although we once called her a specialblogger) Alyssa Shelasky offering quotes... And now, Mike "Edgy English Teacher" Cherico, the fired Glamour dudeblogger who freaked out women across L.A. county, is featured 'cause he's looking for an agent! For a book! A very, very special book about "the rise and fall of a dating blogger." They quote Alyssa again. (Second verse, same as the first!) "I would say I wrote a blogging column for Glamour, and actresses and models would give me their number," Cherico told the Times. Really? That works? [NYT]

Oh, Snap! A Fashion Blogger's F-You Goodbye

Sheila · 03/31/08 01:25PM

Lauren Goldstein Crowe, the Portfolio fashion blogger, posted her last post today. She continued the grand tradition of bloggers on their way out: the big fuck-you last post. Noted was Moe from Jezebel and other alleged meanies of the internet, who she had been advised to ignore. But she couldn't help herself!

Lewis Black hates the word 'blog'; it "sounds like a condition"

Sheila · 03/25/08 01:01PM

"What's Lewis Black mad about now?" Larry King asks the Daily Show frequenter and comedian-author-actor, and the answer is: blogs! "I will not blog... I hate the word 'blog,' it sounds like a condition." It is a condition, Lewis, and that condition is called "carpal tunnel syndrome." Black is in the Lee Siegel school of internets-hating, in that it lets total amateurs from Podunk Oklahoma dictate public opinion. The video follows.

"Or Maybe You Just Don't Have the Body For It": A Male Model YouTubes

Sheila · 03/25/08 11:14AM

Nick Snider is very young and oddly gorgeous — that's probably why at 19, he's already a top model, posing for Prada and others! Unfortunately, he ruins it with his nasty attitude, showcased on YouTube and aimed towards that scourge of modern society, "haters." Example: "Maybe you're just like, old and ugly... or, maybe you just don't have the body for [modeling.]" Also? "Seriously, who uses LiveJournal anymore? Nooobody fuckin' 'uses Livejournal." Update: Damn! Video deleted in record time. We found a way better one: it involves lip-synching to Miley Cyrus, but he's still talking about haters!

Ex-Glamour Dudeblogger in More Trouble?

Sheila · 03/19/08 01:17PM

Ex-Glamour dudeblogger Mike Cherico, fired for commenter revolt against his braggy-yet-unstable, womanizing ways, might have been a douche in other ways, shockingly: the PR firm representing JE Englebert, owner of Manhattan clubs Suzie Wong's and Prime, says that Cherico was "using Glamour's name and trading his blog articles for personal hook-ups," such as trying to get into a Playboy Mansion party in L.A. and "demanding bottle service" at one of his clubs in Manhattan. True, false, or strategic PR name-placement? We're not sure. The rep says that "the reason we put this out was we seen (sic) all the news and all the media about how he was treating women very wrong." Word!