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It's been a year since Arianna Huffington launched The Huffington Post (and, of course, the same amount of time since noted media analyst Nikki Finke described the site as, "the sort of failure that is simply unsurvivable. Her blog is such a bomb that it's the movie equivalent of Gigli, Ishtar and Heaven's Gate rolled into one."). David Carr takes a look at HuffPo and finds the site to be an overwhelming success, proving that a model based on dodgy celebrities, no-name web-types, and the siblings of even-less impressive bloggers is certainly sustainable as long as you also provide a space for ineffectual lefties to rant in the comments against anyone who fails to share their blinkered, doctrinaire world view. Huffington takes a bit of stick for social climbing ("with the finesse of a ballerina and the ferocity of a fullback") but if your alternatives were hanging out with Peter Daou and Nick Denton, you'd be kissing Condi Rice's ass too. Carr concludes that Huffington "has introduced the sparkle of celebrity to the frat-house world of blogging," which is the best explanation we've seen so far for why reading Greg Gutfeld makes us feel like we've been date raped. Thanks, Arianna! We'd always wondered what the dude who does Mr. Burns' voice on "The Simpsons" thought about the Army Corps of Engineers; now we know!

Building a Brand with a Blog [NYT]
Celebs to the Slaughter [LAW]