Goaded by a commenter, writer Rex Sorgatz wrote a passionate defense of those who share intimate details of their lives online. The media blogger (and recent author of a piece on microfame for New York) had linked to his anonymous Tumblr blog, which documented conversations Rex had about New York and the hookup scene.…
"We didn't attempt to silence Violet. We unpublished our own work." That's how the geek culture blog Boing Boing defended their decision to delete every post referring to sex writer Violet Blue for no given reason. The team's refusal to explain further turned this obscure event into a giant blog fight: because a…
God I love these perverse little lists: A web site that tracks what its users listen to on iTunes has compiled a list of the songs its users most often delete from their records, presumably tracks that people listened to but don't want anyone to see. So what are the most popular guilty pleasures?
The founder of Digg.com talks about sitting down with the heads of News Corp. and IAC in an interview on Big Think. "When I sat down with [Murdoch] it was a hand-holding process," says Kevin Rose, whose site is reportedly now being courted by Google. "When I sat down with Barry Diller, he was telling me about my…
Happy Canada Day in advance! (Fun fact: Canadians celebrate their day of independence on whatever day is convenient because no one knows the real date.) Did you know Nickelback is from Canada? (Thanks Canada!) But so are The New Pornographers, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young. Of Montreal is from Georgia but they're…
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson is fighting the Obama campaign's effort to win the evangelical Christian vote. The fiercely pro-life author and speaker rebutted Obama's "fruitcake interpretation" of the Bible on his radio show today. Apparently back in 2006, Obama gave a speech to a liberal Christian group…
Members of the staffs of John McCain and Barack Obama are holding an official debate on Twitter, presumably to attract the Tech-savvy Urban Early Adopter Influencer Creatives who have been almost entirely committed to Barack Obama since before the primaries. Mike Nelson (an "outside adviser" to Obama) and Liz Mair…
Latest rap star Soulja Boy and ancient rap star Ice T are fighting on YouTube. The 17-year-old who got famous on the Internet (over 60 million views for his music video "Crank That") is using the site to demonstrate how fresh he is, and how irrelevant Ice T (age 49) is. The fight started when Ice T said that Soulja…
Thaddeus McCotter (R-Michigan) spent his time on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday giving a little presentation called "How to Speak Democrat." For example, "progressive" means "regressive"! So witty! And the presentation (shown below) should in no way be seen as the sole thing McCotter has…
Maybe I just have an inferiority complex about my novelty-music past, but I feel guilty about my love for song covers, particularly cross-genre covers. I even love when one hit song inspires dozens of covers. But instead of mocking the artists who remade "Crazy" or "Umbrella," shouldn't we honor them for reviving the…
Ryan Catbird mocks the cocky tone of Twitter users and (I think) Gawker people. [F.U. And The Blog You Rode In On]
Remember when John McCain called his wife the worst possible word? Not enough! But that's solved with this sketch from the same YouTube comedy group that made john.he.is, a clever and popular parody of will.i.am's "Yes We Can." In the sketch, a TV news team argues about whether to publicize that the Republican…
Ever play Railroad Tycoon or SimCity? There was fun in building a toy and playing god, but the games also tapped into an experience that seemed more real and physical than the computer they were played on. But in MMORPG Tycoon, you're building a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It's recursive! It's…
The Internet can change elections! Just not through Meetup and Friendster like some people thought. Okay, these five pictorial jokes about Barack Obama and John McCain won't be entirely responsible for Obama's imminent November victory. They're just mobilizing the base! Because Influential Thought Leaders don't join…
The book Year Million explores several possible scenarios for the universe a million years from now. Some of these possibilities aren't happy! Rats running the world, gray goo wiping out life on Earth. I just want to read the kick-ass ones! Because predicting the future at such a distance is almost like picking…
Barack Obama's campaign made a good move with a new site full of Obama rumors and refutations, in the classic "Myth: X. Truth: Y" format. We think it looks pretty dramatic (or maybe creepy) and while it does remind me of a "Myth vs. Fact" page from a Scientologist or Christian site, it doesn't have that 90s…
The videos of cell phones popping popcorn, obviously fake (because Science!), were viral ads by the makers of a Bluetooth headset. Pretty evil, since they preyed on unfounded fears of technology instead of, say, the California law that went into action today banning cell use while driving.
Improv Everywhere just started a new blog, Urban Pranks, to document the many public stunts the group has inspired. The New York group famous for showing up at Best Buy in blue polos and freezing Grand Central has offshoots across the country that are doing things like a protest against protesting, a dinner party at…
A list of hundreds of memoirs since 1995 probably already includes your now-redundant life story. [Entertainment Weekly]
The New York attorney general's office ran a "sting" in which agents posed as customers and complained to the companies that they could see child porn. When the service providers ignored them, the agency threatened the companies with fraud. Now, according to the Times, the ISPs are paying over a million dollars to…
