Entries Tagged 'Weblogs' ↓

I really love my Tumblr log. I just wanted to say it again. I like that you can one-click other people’s Flickr photos; instantly added to the log. It is just so easy to stream all my streams in one attractive place.

I get smitten often, but I think this one might stick.

UPDATE: Subscribe to my Tumblr feed, fools.

I got myself a Tumblr log. I like it.

I’ve been looking all over for posts from far-right-wing bloggers who are admonishing the citizens of San Diego for daring to live in a place susceptible to natural disasters. You know, something along the lines of, “They should know better than to live where a natural disaster might occur, but they are too lazy to figure out how to lift themselves up by their bootstraps and get out of that place. They have no one to blame but themselves.” Or, “Don’t the citizens of San Diego know they constantly live on the brink of disaster because their houses are close to wooded areas that are often prone to wildfires?” Alas, I cannot find them.

“As we have gone further down the road, we have moved away from using WKRN and its many blogs as a forum for personal opinion by our station bloggers.” -Gwen Kinsey, WKRN GM*

*Who was very, super duper, extra nice to me, by the way. We just differ on whether station blogs should have a point of view or not. I think they should, because a point of view is engaging. I can’t speak for her, but I imagine she finds it too big a liability. I respect her ideas about her new media enterprise, but I was initially hired for my voice. I felt I’d be selling myself and much of Nashville short if I went to a dry, opinionless style of blogging. Maybe I was wrong about this, but I thought NiT would be really crappy if I couldn’t express any opinion whatsoever about anything. We’d slowly built a committed readership who respected and valued the service we provided, which was blog aggregation that wasn’t automated and boring. I thought it was unnecessary to change the model. Perhaps a Digg-like NiT can be a rousing success. When WKRN rolls it out I guess we’ll all find out. I hope I was wrong, I seriously do.

Should I vote in the Nashville mayoral election if I am moving to San Francisco before the end of this year? That is the question I face on this gray and rainy day. I prefer Karl Dean to Roberto Clemente, but is it fair to vote for either if I’m just going to be living in the Bay Area inside 3 months? I’m not sure that it is. I’d really like to see Megan Barry win a seat on the Council, though, so I’m going to cast my ballot anyway. I’ve always enjoyed the Barrys. Plus, I think she’d make a great progressive addition to the World’s Largest City Council. I’ve lived in Nashville for nearly 30 years of my life, so I think the city owes me one last say in the matter. Besides, I’ll be back to visit.

You see, I’ve taken a job with the local CBS affiliate in San Francisco, California, the land of godless liberals who have gay sex on the streets while shooting up. The kind folks at KPIX (whose website was voted best in the state by the Associated Press) recruited me to run a blog aggregator much like the one I used to run at WKRN here in Nashville. I took them up on their offer to fly out for two days to interview, and after some negotiating I agreed to take them up on a full-time position. I’ll be working from within the newsroom Monday through Friday combing through all the blogs updated daily in the Bay Area, highlighting posts I find funny or provocative or insightful or informative. There will also be an automatic aggregator. Many of you may be familiar with the concept.

If you are wondering why I said I wasn’t cut out for moderating a community blog site, only to take this job 8 weeks later, you likely aren’t the only one. I asked myself that question many times in determining whether to pack up The Boyfriend and the dogs and move 800+ miles to one of the most expensive places in the country. But, luckily, I learned from my very public mistakes made at NiT, and I’ve taken them to heart. This new venture will be less about me. I’m not that interesting anyway. What I mean to say, though, is that I will put less of myself “out there” and concentrate more on building a vibrant blogging community in what is already one of the most wired places on earth. Also, there were some behind-the-scenes issues going on at the old station that I never felt the need to air publicly that had a lot to do with my decision to leave. I denied it at the time, because the pain from The Situation was so overwhelming that that was easy to do. But it was a factor. Also, the area out there is just different. My “radical liberalism” that makes me, according to the locals, “as far left as you’ll find on the internet” would not raise an eyebrow where I’m going. Crusades by blogging GOP mouthpieces when I dare state that Gitmo detainees might not be guilty (of what they were never charged with) won’t set off a firestorm. I’ve always been a liberal in a Republican oasis, but now I’ll be more conservative than most just be virtue of my home state. I relish the thought.

But that site isn’t about politics. It’s about the people of the Bay Area. It’s about mothers and strippers and activists and students. It’s going to be what San Franciscans are talking about, so to speak. I’m thrilled at the idea of getting back into the newsroom. There is a hum in the newsroom, a sense of urgency and excitement that comes with daily turns and breaking news. This one happens to be filled with smart, engaging people who seem excited about the new media possibilities that await them. (Or, the ones I met at least.)

And I’m so excited about living in my favorite place on earth. The weather is phenomenal all year long, the people are diverse, the art scene is incredible (indie and foreign films in the theatre ’til my heart’s content!) and the opportunities are endless. There is a magic to that place, and I’m about to become a part of it. It hasn’t exactly been easy to absorb.

I’m going to miss my friends and family like crazy. I’ve lived here my entire life, so all my roots are here. But I’ve always wanted this. I used to drive down the long stretches of bending roads in Ashland City dreaming of taking the subway. The BART is close enough (and now I’m going to sell my car!). Long ago my “about page” on this blog said that I’d be moving to the Big City very soon. It was up there forever then I took it down one day, resigned that it would never happen. It’s back now and better than ever.

We haven’t decided yet on the timing, but I’m leaving no sooner than 6 weeks from now. I want to get together with many of you before I go for drinks and hugs. And mailing addresses. I’ll be 30 in October and everything I have ever known is here. I’m going to be homesick for a while I’m sure. But I can’t think of a place I’d rather be homesick in.

P.S. In the time since leaving WKRN I have been working as a copy writer at Magazines.com. I just want to take this space to thank the generous and jovial people who make up that great place. They took me on as one of the family–even if I was the black sheep–and made me feel very appreciated. And I learned so much in my time there. I’d recommend it as an awesome place to work for any copy writer in the area who wanted to earn a competitive salary while building what will be a world-class brand one day. It’s an exciting place to work, so if you are interested in doing that, please let me know.

I eagerly await the unveiling of the new NIT, but in the meantime I have to wonder: Is William even trying to find stuff to write about Nashville? Does he even read other Nashville blogs? Or has he simply turned NIT into a personal blog about politics? I’m thinking the answer is the latter of these. Why, I wonder, are they letting him do that?

I agree with William on many things, but not about how that site should be run. There are so many blogs writing about Bush, the war and the upcoming presidential election. Why would NIT cover that, without at least linking locally to other blogs? Was the goal of the site all along not readily apparent?

I guess I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why Volunteer Voters has gone to a “question only, I give no opinion” format, yet NIT has become a personal sounding board for one very partisan blogger. What is that about? I love the people at WKRN to this day, but they really need to get on the ball with this NIT 2.0. They are, at this pace, destroying what was once a great thing.

UPDATE: Comments on this thread have been closed. It devolved into “fuck you”s and some of the worst grammar I’ve ever encountered. Got a comment? Send me an email or post it on your own blog. Start a blog if need be.

I interviewed the Dry Spot blogger Tuesday about paper, magazines and responsible, sustainable forestry. Go take a peek.

I’m trying out for a gig at b5 media as their replacement Business and Blogging blogger. My test post was just published last night, so I thought I’d send y’all that way. They haven’t decided who will take over for Des yet, but I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. I know a few things about business and blogging.

I got a good laugh last night when the editor asked if I’d mind replacing the metaphor “crapped the bed” with something a little less, um, arresting. I always go too edgy, but I think I’d rather be pulled back from the brink than be considered too safe or boring. [In fact, I wanted to use the phrase “his computer shit the bed,” but thought better of it.] Anyhow, go take a gander. Leave a comment if you feel so inclined. I’m still auditioning.

I’ve started a new one. It’s gonna be awesome. Come check it out.

You suck. You suck the suck of a million vacuum cleaners. You spit out at me entries written in October of last year. You feed me blog posts from a blog you haven’t been aggregating for months all at once, filling my folder with unread entries from weeks and weeks ago. You seem to have no rhyme to your reason. You just present blog postings all willy-nilly, as if it is not your JOB to display information in a logical manner.

I never switched to Google Reader because I’d filled you so full of all my reads. Well, the jig is up. I will be moving to Google Reader if it takes me two weeks. And then I will be through with you.

And don’t call me up two weeks later talking about wanting to show me movie listings or dinner plans. I’ve already dropped you, zero, now I’m getting with a hero.

This is it,

Brittney