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[Life is too short to read one book]
Brent (Publisher/Editor of Zine Guide; sometime boss; friend) has been at it for weeks, compiling a list of all Chicago bloggers for our email list. This is because we are looking to expand our horizons and include all self-publishers, not just zinesters, in our upcoming events -
:TIMEOUT:
Jan. 3rd - FOUL 3rd Anniversary party at the Independent Video Alliance, starts around 6:00 so as to include everyone who wants to read, play instuments, dance, drink and/or laugh. Be there or be square.
Jan. 10th - First show at Uncle Fun's, W. Belmont, hosted by Billy Roberts. Should see some new faces there, exciting stuff. -
:TIME-IN:
And it has really worked in getting a lot of new faces at the shows - poets, bloggers, artists and others. So much so that we have formed a new group, SPEC or Self-Publishers Events Council, so as to include everyone and get some new blood and new ideas flowing.
NOT THE POINT. I HAVE DIGRESSED TERRIBLY. PLUGPLUGPLUG.
Anyway, so within this list of bloggers there are a lot of local and national media names - journalists, organizers, etc. - and I raided it to read all the journalism blogs I could. Here are one or two of interest:
Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix -
I liked this blog. He updates it daily, which is good, and he's a little random, if you will, about his topics and timing. And it's funny. Not funny in that journalism "how can I end this story in a way that will make the reader smile and go 'awwwohhhwhyioudda....'" but clever. Hang out at a party and chat funny. He doesn't always use capitals at the beginning of sentences, which I was at first very put off by, and then completely mesmerized by. How can he get away with that? How does it come across as still effective? Can journalists DO that? Of course they can, and he does, because it's a BLOG. His BLOG. I love that. This week's entries were mostly about Saddam, and he mentioned he was disappointed about the fact that all the interesting things happen when he's not in Baghdad, implying that he is, in fact, often in Baghdad. Here's an excerpt which I liked particularly:
"I want a fully functioning Saddam who will sit on a chair in front of a TV camera for 10 hours everyday and tells us what exactly happened the last 30 years."
I have to admit, this Saddam thing hasn't really hit me at all. Dan's blog just pointed it out for me. It's kind of like, "Oh, really?" The fact that he was just sitting there, breathing through some hole in the floor, with "T-shirts and hundreds of thousands of dollars (12/15/03 Chicago Tribune)" just seems so absurd. For all they've done to try and play Saddam up as some sort of master behind all evil world plots a'la Hitler, they didn't really deliver this time. They bring us a rambling old man, mumbling incoherencies about "his people in bondage" and only seeming like, well, an old, old man. He's failing miserably as their perfect villain, and I do not think that this was the groundbreaking thing that everyone was waiting for. Is is that we overestimated Saddam, or are we just overestimating our government? ---As usual.
On a completely different note, I think Dave Barry's blog is noteworthy.
Mostly this is just links, though they are updated daily as well. Dave essentially hears about (or perhaps he just surfs the web all day long)("surfs"? Where do you think that came from anyway?) things on the internet that are funny, often news articles, and directs his readers to them. Most of the links are more than completely HILARIOUS and just affirms my love for Dave Barry once again, and again. And then once more when he directed me to the site explaining how a man continuously called 911 until the police would come and arrest his cat. He claimed it had outstanding warrants. The cat was never found - though the man is now in jail because they found marijuana in his house. Look for the cat here.
Best thing I've EVER HEARD. Check Dave Barry's site, and often, please.
I'd also like to mention - YAY, CHRISTMAS!
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