In the darkness of media conservatism and one-party rule, oppressed liberals everywhere have been calling out for a champion, someone who might break the tyrannical yoke and siren-heavy regurgitation of R.N.C. talking points memos that is The Drudge Report. Today, that hero boldly strides forward: Yes, kids, The Huffington Post has launched! And what a launch it is! Julia Louis-Dreyfuss and Brad Hall yukking it up as if "Watching Ellie" never happened! David Mamet holding forth on computers as "hermaphrodite typewriter-cum-filing cabinet[s]"! That lady who married the guy who writes "Curb Your Enthusiasm" bitching about the automobile industry! Yes, it's a rich, rich tapestry. When important celebrities have a platform from which to dispense their well-informed opinions, everyone wins! We're sure the public will be voting Democratic in no time. Keep refreshing The Huffington Post throughout the day: We understand that at some point Arianna's going to offer a list of the top ten signs that your husband might be gay. —AB
The Huffington Post [huffingtonpost.com]

Well thanks for letting me interrupt your work day, all you gossip monkeys, mediacrities, and members of the great unwashed. I appreciate the hits and the links and tips, too, and once you get used to it, the hate mail is actually pretty funny. Thanks to all you odd folks who wrote in, too—even you, Spiegelman. I'm really sorry it was a slow news week, no popes died, no editors left the Daily News, no one plagiarized at the Times, radaronline didn't launch just like editor Maer Roshan promised it wouldn't, but at least there were no more sales at 740 Park, so you only had to put up with one, er, two, superfluous and gratuitous plugs for my next book. It's nice to spend a week without bathing...shaving...eating....human interaction... Let's do it again sometime. —MG

Brian Sack's Banterist just found $7,497.75 Woody Allen left lying around and there's more where that came from. P. Diddy Daddy Diva also forgot about a stash of cash. And Marlon Brando's illegitimate children are probably already fighting over his stray $47,007.94. —MG

Blogger Feh makes light (in the loafers) of Gwynnie's stud-muffin. —MG
[Feh]

A Sneak Peek at the Huffington Post:

"are you guys for real?" writes a correspondent who styles himself cinephilia and is apparently still too young to reach the shift key.

Former Silicon Valley know-it-all Chris Nolan coins a name for the missing link between the old-school press and...this: Stand-Alone Journalism. Freedom of the press no longer belongs only to those rich enough to own one. So there. —MG
The Stand Alone Journalist is Here [PressThink]
[Politics From Left to Right]

Special Gawker correspondent Andrew Krucoff, a man who came of age across his multivaried blog network, reports on three members of the next generation of NYC bloggers as part of his latest attempt to get laid to share the love.

Today in the world of silly blogs that make you laugh, cry, and call the Anti-Defamation League, everyone's atwitter over recent developments regarding the source of an anti-semitic little hate blog entitled Some Blogs Are Better Than Others. Shortly following yesterday's publication of our quasi-investigation of Kasey Doshier as the suspected author of the vitriolic site, the entire blog was removed (no worries, its prior nastiness is cached here) and a "disclosure" was posted:

Some time ago, a particularly vicious little blog known as Some Blogs Are Better Than Others surfaced with no apparent mission other than insulting bloggers (sometimes humorously, other times not so much). Normally, we wouldn't give two shits about blogs bitching about other blogs, but this one was remarkably nasty for a brief, bright period and then — poof! — disappeared.

Monday morning isn't Monday morning if one hasn't caught up on the weekend of Stephanie Klein, the chick lit blogger canonized by Judith Regan with a massive book deal. Today's moment of quiet zen:

Today Gawker Media launches its latest bid to take over the internet and starve desperate writers everywhere, Sploid. Helmed by former Gawker whore Choire Sicha, with proto-blogger Ken Layne and Henry "the Intern" Seltzer, Sploid is tabloid-style breaking news, where the only political agenda is "anarcho-capitalist." (There goes Denton again, always making up words.) As its name suggests, Sploid will aim to shit out the headlines as fast as they break. Shirtless soldier pics not included.

And today, we discovered the deeper meaning behind our shallow existence:

· If our job is merely to point out things of interest, we must put our personal feelings aside and direct you to the following, because it is "of interest." [Narc Denton]
· Bad trend alert: it seems cigarettes, like books, are so decorative.
· Aren't our cats cute? We lovelovelovelove them foreverandeverandever.
· Well don't YOU feel like an asshole. [The Stranger]
· Best April Fool's parody ever. You kids are too much. [Gothamist]
· No, wait, maybe this is. Or is it true? We're too busy with our insensitive cackling to figure it out. [CNN]
· · A meditation on coke, weight loss, and celebrity. Featuring everyone's favorite twin!

You've heard the story: blogger blogs, agent notices, blogger gets book deal. But what happens after the fact?

Arianna Huffington, the liberal-come-lately pundit best known for her, um, accent, is launching an online webzine:

In a bitter twist of fate that has us laughing until our undies are offensively soiled, Greg Lindsay is helming Gridskipper for the week. (Think of Gridskipper as Denton's little gangbang, with multiple editors having a turn at her.) While we naturally welcome Greg to the fold with open, scrawny arms, we also have to wonder where this latest gig lands on the Greg Lindsay Career Trajectory Chart of Freelance Magic. From Women's Wear Daily to sleeping in airports to blogging? At least Greg can finally work at home, naked. Media dreams do come true. Sucka.

We hate to get all intra-blog incestuous (okay, actually we love to get all intra-blog incestuous), but what the hell is going on over at Gridskipper now that Nick Denton is editing it? Don't get us wrong: we love Denton (his generosity, his intelligence, his keen sense of right and wrong, his, well, everything), but has no one else noticed that he's making shit up?!?

Blogs Not Yet in the Media Big Leagues [Gallup]

what gives
your comments section
made firefox crash
coding error maybe