Too often someone's yakking on about publishing that "print is dead" or "online is dead" when really we just want to read good writing, regardless of the format. It could be on toilet paper or tree bark for all we care. Rosecrans Baldwin and Andrew Womack planted their feet in this trough by starting The Morning News, a daily-published online magazine with a dedicated, yet unpaid, staff. Keep your eye on the ball as they talk about ping-pong, laughing on a treadmill, and taking a taxi in Maine. Is there anything these fools can't do?

1. How serious is The Morning News as an institution? And by that I mean, can you field a softball team that would beat the kids at High Times, who are apparently quite good sportsman?

RB: We are extremely serious, but there's no way we could beat High Times. Has anyone ever beat High Times at softball? There was an article in Sports Illustrated a few years ago about how they never lose.

But seriously: we had a retreat this summer and I saw Paul Ford catch a football in his mouth. We are extremely serious. Which is why people still write in asking us where we got the footage for the "Passion of the Christ" Blooper Reel.

I'd like to say this publicly once and for all: a cousin of mine was a key grip on the set and he supplied us with some extra footage. That is absolutely true. You should see the fluff-work.

AW: Yes, we're serious about what we're doing, and we'll take that attitude straight to the sandlot, if we absolutely have to prove our seriousness — though we really do prefer ping-pong, and we play almost every week. (This is true.)

Everything in Paul Ford's "The Passion of the Christ Blooper Reel" is a total lie, though.

2. The Morning News attracts some decent talent. Sort of like when George Clooney was on "Facts of Life" or when George Peppard was on "The A-Team." Are you getting these people on the way up, like the former, or the way down, like the latter?

RB: Decent is how you describe a bad haircut. Our writers are extremely good, and they are just beginning their ascents. .

(Though sometimes I think The Morning News is a head-hunting agency for the much larger publications who come 'a cherry-picking. Luckily our writers realize that by writing for us for no money, they're keeping their Puritan souls in good order.)

But speaking of our contributing writers, check out Tobias Seamon's new novel The Magician's Study (Turtle Point Press), Danny Gregory's Change Your Underwear Twice a Week (Artisan), and look for Kevin Guilfoile's thriller next summer, Cast of Shadows (Knopf), plus a few other book deals we can't talk about just yet.

Also, keep an eye out for our HUGE redesign of the site in October — things are about to blow up.

AW: I believe that everyone, regardless of what they're doing, is on their way up, and always. Our writers prove that my beliefs are true.

That same sentiment goes for Peppard's work as well: Breakfast at Tiffany's is a terrific book, and in comparison it's a terrible movie. Wait... George Peppard didn't write Breakfast at Tiffany's? Oh, crap.

3. Aren't those VH1 shows like "Best Week Ever" and "I Love the '80s" just blogs on TV? Would you ever consider instituting a class-action law suit, maybe teaming up with the Yankee Pot Roast and Black Table dudes?

RB: I am way behind the ball. I just caught "Best Week Ever" at the gym for the first time. I was laughing while jogging and it wasn't pretty.

Interestingly, if you ever spent much time at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, as I did four years ago, you know 90% of the talking heads on that show got their start at a small blackbox theater in Chelsea doing improv for drunks. Good for them to make that money!

AW: They are, aren't they? Do they use Movable Type?

4. Now that the RNC is long gone, what do you think New Yorkers learned about hosting such polite, white guests? Aside from what not to wear to a party.

RB: I think New York knows it did its best to hustle some money off the backs of people who support an anti-American administration with a track record of further endangering our city and our country.

I will say, though, that any liberals in New York's famed advertising community need to donate their services to the Kerry wagon, immediately. The new "W stands for Wrong" slogan is nothing compared to the White House "flip flop" campaign the media's been happy to embrace, which may be the straw that breaks the long-faced camel.

This past weekend I was in a taxi in Somesville, Maine, and the driver, who admitted he wasn't the biggest Bush fan, said he'd probably vote for him anyway because at least he knows where Bush stands, and "this Kerry guy, who comes out of nowhere, he just seems to, you know, flip flop on everything."

I think that's a statement unfortunately echoing around the country right now.

AW: I think we saw — quite distinctly — the two halves of New York City: its residential enclave and its tourism zone. Republican visitors, as far as I understood or heard or for the purposes of my argument will just totally make up, never ventured into the neighborhood-y areas. They stuck to scooting around Times Square, hitting Broadway shows, looking for the Outback Steakhouse, and they didn't, I'd venture to guess, come away from the week understanding the essence of New York. Of course, as the defending residents, we likewise weren't interested in knowing anything about them either. Thus, it was set up as a lose-lose proposition and nobody on either side made any attempt to make it worthwhile. But I'd guess those of every party, wherever they are, are glad it's over.

5. Writing is like foreplay. We all put up with its indignities in order to get invited to the Vanity Fair parties. Would an invite to the Webby Awards suffice?

RB: Does that mean I have to go to San Francisco? Maybe if I get my own private Aeron chair, but only then...

AW: You have to be invited to the Webby Awards? It's not just a cover charge?

Rosecrans Baldwin
s Top Five

1. Top book of all time: The End of the Affair, by Graham Greene

2. Top album this minute: "The Demo" by Soft

3. Top album it reminds me of, which could also qualify for top album of all time: "Stone Roses" by The Stone Roses

4. Top thing I ate last weekend: lobster straight from the trap

5. Top shoes my wife bought recently that I think are hot: these vintage green heels with little brass grommets on the side

Andrew Womack
s Top Five

1. Lillet on ice with an orange rind: It's more delicious than I ever could have imagined, and it makes people smile.

2. Wodehouse, in quantity, and not just the Jeeves stuff.

3. Fall, because the summer never really got started, and a new coat is starting to sound awfully good right now.

4. A Labor Day jamboree with friends who know all the lyrics. But what's a jamboree? We will never know.

5. A coffee maker. Doing The Morning News means you have to wake up really early, and a pot of coffee makes the experience all the more lucid

— Andrew Krucoff and Chris Gage do a daily interview series on Gawker.