Saturday, June 12, 2010

The Entire History of Everything Imaginable...

...In A Smallish Corner Of FarLeft Blogistan


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AllTheDIY

ThatFitsVille


For those of you that have been mistakenly trying to bash the doors on I-Tunes down looking for it, you can now find the 2nd installment of the cross-Pacific conversations with my spiritual advisor here.

Of course, that 'advisor' would be none other than the 'Reverand Paperboy' who, in addition to contributing to the world famous Galloping 'Banned-in-Guantanamo' Beaver, also runs a kinghell blog of his own called The Woodshed from across the pond in, get this!, Tokyo.

This week on the Rev's Maple Syrup Revolution podcast we have a great time talking about how we each got interested in, and, frankly, got hooked-on, the Bloggodome.

And while we didn't quite manage to get everything in there, it's a far and wide-ranging discussion that begins with the swiftboating of John Kerry and ends with joys of Busking when you don't even have to.

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Go figure.

Anyway, along the way we talk about:

The early wurlitzering of the Instapundit despite the non-stop putridity of his posts, including when his flies-in-my-eyes gaze turns northward....

The depth and breadth, both of the posts and the comment threads, of the early Atrios and what they have since devolved in..... to....

The firey births of BlueGal and Driftglass that were preceded by the mutually observed kicking of the latter out of the nest by the king of the five-tooled, take no prisoners left-sided uber-bloggers, Steve Gilliard....They now have the best left-sided, regularly-scheduled podcast on the webz....

The origins of the all-mighty 'Gilliard Doctrine'....

And someone we missed, but really should have mentioned known only as "Jen", who we hope is doing well....Why?....Because, in my mind at least, Jen and Steve were like Left Blogistan's own version of Hepburn and Tracy.

The thrill of the early 'Rome Really Is Burning' (or was that London?) chronicles of the cultural and political zeitgeist by the then still be-blogspotted Christy Hardin-Smith and Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake....

The Rev's very own adventures at the 'Lake when he ran an early bookclub with the guy who has done more to nail down the machinations, and rank-hypocrisy, behind the extreme right in the United States than any other blogger, David Neiwert...

The stupidity, not to mention the futility, of Subscription Wailing Walls.....

The thrill of chasing down the earliest serial subvertors of those walls b/w the information empowerment that was kick-started by the early newsite aggregators....

The man with the best, most seemless transition from posts of true power to threads where the punches were never pulled and the intellectual dust-ups were legendary, Billmon....

The Canadian Billmon - Dave, at the afore-mentioned Galloping Beaver - especially when he was writing and commenting flat-out like a madman with a crystal ball that the Vegas bookies would kill for. And it has to be mentioned that one of the things that made both Dave and Billmon's writing so powerful (and why Dave's still is), is the fact that, in addition to being fine wordsmiths, they both have been around the world and actually know things....

A discussion (although I think the Rev thought I was a little off-base and/or cuckoo) about whether or not the wingnut welfare-assisted sites, including the Cons own 'Blogging Tories', actually helped foster the vibrancy, and increase the rigour, of the best of Left Blogistan.

The difference between sites that became larger entities with a stable of writers and the small shops run by true amateurs with the passion to risk burning out rather than fading away.

The various ways and means to go pro and actually make a living at the thing. We agreed that the most successful, both monetarily and in terms of influence engendered across the entire bloggodome, was Josh Marshall with his Talking Points Memo, although we also acknowledged the semi-success of the slightly slimey 'famous-friends-writing-for-free' strategy of Ariana Huffington. We also talked about the fine work of Sean Holman locally and how tough it is for somebody who is essentially a straight investigatory journo trying to make a go of things of things in the toobz using the old-fangled Izzy Stone newsletter model. In the end, we wondered if maybe The Tyee doesn't have the best balance/mix of the dead-tree and the new-fangled digital worlds. However, neither of is entirely sure how, exactly David Beers did/does it and whether he really did pseudo-Soros/Labour pockets of depth to get going...Regardless, in the end, we the readers, have to realize that there is one thing that WILL fix the problem, which is, that we have to, as Driftglass says, "Pay the Effing Writer"....And luckily, the Bloggodome makes that really, really, ridiculously easy....So, if you live in Lotusland - Do IT!

And finally, we decided that Busking purely for fun is, when you get right down to it, essentially the musical equivalent of being a true amateur Blogger....But we decided to talk about that another day.....

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Again, if you wanna have a listen, the rev's fine audio work is here.


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One thing you won't hear on this week's pod, but I know the Rev has down on the punchcards somewhere, is our discussion of who the real first, pre-Apple IIe blogger really was...


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8 comments:

Rev.Paperboy said...

Wow, I didn't realize we covered so much ground -- nice Cliffs notes version you've provided. thanks!

Norm Farrell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Norm Farrell said...

After that extensive report, do I still have to listen?

By the way, dare bloggers have an equivalent of the open instrument case, salted with a few coins?

Of course, there is Google Ads. I soon might be able at least to pay the cost of transportation with those revenues. That is, if my bicycle doesn't actually need a new tire and the repair kit does NOT cost more than a few dollars.

kootcoot said...

If your excellent review is actually giving the Tyee much credit (and I can't really understand for sure what you are saying) then it is too much.

They do publish SOME, insightful articles by some good writers. However, their complete lack of sensitivity to their audience, their careful nurturing of right wing trolls repeating PAB talking points ad naseaum while expecting perfect manners from anyone not a member of the Gordon Campbell fan club and their complete disregard for any concerns expressed by their readers - even by private mail is atrocious. Also their continuing refusal to quit having their comment thread default to somebody's idea of best comments (leading to 20-50 comments sometimes all being invisible, if whoever it is that decides is busy elsewhere) is completely absurd and inconsiderate of country mice who may have little choice but to use dial-up.

Also they are turning more and more into an online version of Entertainment Tonight or that horrible TeeVee show featuring the son of Canada's worst Prime Minister and a Canadian version of Marie Osmond!

I struck out my link to them at my place and they're lucky I didn't let it stay and take people someplace even more disgusting than themselves.

Now, you Ross, the fine folks at the banned Beaver, the highly cynical dude from Waterloo, alison and the fine ladies and friends at the lake of fiery dogs - all outstanding locations in cyberspace. In a less demented media enviroment than we currently have in British Columbia, the Tyee would merely be another representative of the extremely nervous middle of the road. I almost go apoplectic when they have the nerve to solicit me for money with one hand (I reply in a manner which could be characterized as impolite) and ban me from their waste of time comment boards with no explanation with the other (right?) hand.

I must admit, I am more horrified and distressed by media/blogs that pretend to be progressive, but aren't - than outright wing nuts like Ezra Levant or "small dead animals" who are at least out front about who they are and what they are about, no matter how lacking in logic or sanity I may consider them.

I know that just like the many incarnations of Ron, Mabel, phoney skywalkers etc. I could easily adopt another monicker and return to the Tyee boards, but I've so appreciated the time I now don't waste arguing with idjits that get a free pass to insult and defame there, that I don't even consider doing that. I can only admire the patience of G. West, who continues to brave the ongoing redactions and threats of banning to contend with the onslaught of idiocy that as I said before seems to be positively nurtured there.

RossK said...

Thanks all....

Links and stuff were only meant to be footnotes for our far-ranging conversation that has lots of arcanity in there about all the folks we talked about that I wanted to flesh-out a little.

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Koot--

I absolutely agree about the threads at The Tyee and I've complained about them before....However, in the context of trying to build a mass market online journal where alternative views are aired, I think they do a pretty good job. In addition, I don't see the consistent digging of either Will McMartin or Andrew MacLeod on matters provincial anywhere else in the public prints 'round here.

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kootcoot said...

"I don't see the consistent digging of either Will McMartin or Andrew MacLeod on matters provincial anywhere else in the public prints 'round here."

I did say, they published some good writers, with good posts and McMartin and MacLeod are an example of what I meant. However, I stand by my statement that they wouldn't appear very progressive in a less perverted media environment than what we have in BC, and Canada in general with the corporate conglomeration that has been allowed to occur.

Today we have a case of the press is free to whoever can afford to own one WRIT LARGE! Thankfully we have the interToobz (at least so far) as a means of self defense!

kootcoot said...

P.S.

And apparently it is gonna get even worse with the expected Quebecor announcement today of our very own Canadian Faux News!

RossK said...

Thanks koot.

Much appreciated.

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