It’s alive! ALIIIIIVE!!

Sorry for the long absence.  I’ll see what I can do to catch up.

Next stop: Photo Break.

Stay tuned…

Posting will be light Tuesday, as I’ll be trekking down to D.C. to participate in a mass liveblog of the presidential debate.  The livebloggers will be part of a documentary by Manifold Productions about Alexander Hamilton, which will be hosted by eminent historian and columnist Rick Brookhiser, who will be chatting with us for the cameras before and afterward.

The blogging segment is intended to draw a parallel between the upstart journalism and pamphleteering that defined Hamilton’s activism in the Revolutionary era, and the citizen journalism, watchdoggery, and lightning fast back-and-forth of the blogosphere today.  Yes, I am psyched.

Don’t miss the liveblog on WitSnapper, Tuesday at 9pm ET!

2K-Blog!

Aaaaaaand WitSnapper has passed 2,000 unique views, in a fraction of the time it took to hit 1,000!  From the hit count breakdown on the stats page, evidently the Crap Sandwich saga of the past week was good for business, though I think the Ifill book business pushed me over the top.

Thanks to all who visited, linked, and trackbacked.  Next milestone post will be on the occasion of the 5K-Blog.

Memo to newsbloggers: PLEASE stop blogging about “The View” before I shoot myself

OK, I have deliberately kept any mention of “The View” off my blog to date.  Number one, the typical subject matter of “The View” does not remotely overlap with the chosen subject matter of WitSnapper.  Number two, whenever there is any overlap — almost inevitably in the political realm — the content is such that anybody with any interest in or respect for the art and science of politics (as opposed to individual politicians) would be embarrassed to post on it.

When the five clucking hostesses of “The View” (also known affectionately as “The Land On That B**ch Elizabeth Like A Tonna Bricks Every Day Variety Hour”) stroke their chins and opine on matters of state, the results aren’t just excruciatingly shallow and insipid.  They’re also mind-numbingly predictable:  token conservative Elizabeth Hasselbeck fends off the claws of the politically correct Hollywood horde occupying the rest of the couch.

Which leads me to wrack my brains over and over as to why, gawd, why the latest egregiousness from “The View” always seems to make it onto the newsblogs?  I mean, I can sort of understand why right-leaning newsblogs might post about John McCain’s ill-advised appearance on the show, in which Whoopi Goldberg in her infinite wisdom asked the senator if he was in favor of reinstating slavery (and comparing that episode to the drool-fest that was Obama’s appearance earlier, in which the sage Barbara Walters expounded on his sexiness, or the chick-love party with the fist-bumping La Michelle).

I can sort of see how differences in the tone and content of face-to-face excuses-for-interviews with prospective Presidents and First Ladies on “The View” might draw morbid curiosity from news-and-politics blogs, and maybe even the occasional post (not the way I’d go, but whatever).  But now newsbloggers are posting about “The View” even without any newsworthy people appearing there. People, why?

I never considered myself the type to presume to tell other people what to put on their blogs.  But like John McCain has said about the only stretch of torture he’s ever experienced that was worse than his “View” appearance, “I learned [in Vietnam] that every man has his breaking point.”

Newsbloggers, “The View” is not worth your bandwidth, your outrage, or your time.  Leave the henhouse beat to TMZ.com and other fluffy, crack-crazed entertainment blogs.  You’ve got much better things to do; some of you are even paid to do them.  Please do them, and refrain from posting Viewdeo clips and telling us, inexplicably, to “watch to the end.”

I mean, fertheluvvagawd, it appears even Hasselbeck herself is writing the show off as a waste of her time, and she makes a truckload of money on it.

K-Blog!

Woohoooo!  At some point following the debates (probably early this morning), my young blog experienced its 1,000th unique view!  It’s zoomed past 1,100 since then, as of this writing.

A few days ago my traffic skyrocketed when trackbacks related to the debate and the run-up thereto steered visitors from some of the heavy-hitting blogs over thisaway.  Thanks, trackbackers!

Photo Break update

I’ll probably be slowing the pace of posting wildlife photos a little bit.  At this rate, I’ll plow through my reserves awfully soon, faster than I’m adding to them…not tomorrow, not next week, but soon, especially once winter arrives.

Instead of one a day, I’ll probably be posting a wildlife photo every two or three days, tops.  If my output picks up, so will my photo posting, at least temporarily.