Wanna Blog Like the Common People

Matt Welch | March 30, 2005

Arianna Huffington -- who apparently no longer needs to be "stopped" -- is launching a big new Web publication/collective, in which Santa Monica's neglected limousine liberals, apparently unsatisfied by merely running Hollywood, will try to catch some of this grassroots blogging buzz.

Based in New York and staffed with a full complement of editors, the Huffington Report appears to be a culture and politics webzine in the classic mold of Salon or Slate. It will have breaking news, a media commentary section called "Eat the Press," and its most interesting innovation, a group blog manned by the cultural and media elite: Sen. Jon Corzine, Larry David, Barry Diller, Tom Freston, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Harry Evans and his wife, Tina Brown. That's just to name a few, and Huffington is still recruiting. [...]

In addition to the list above, her roster includes heavyweights such as real estate and media mogul Mort Zuckerman; magazine publisher Jann Wenner; Hollywood machers like William Morris CEO Jim Wiatt; superproducer Brian Grazer; Endeavor agent Ari Emanuel; writers/directors Nora Ephron, David Mamet, Mike Nichols, Rob Reiner, and David O. Russell; and assorted blue-chip "public intellectuals" like Paul Goldberger, Gary Hart, Norman Lear, and Arthur Schlesinger.

I'd make a joke here, but sometimes the material is just too, um, rich. (Link via Jeff Jarvis.)

Comments

Larry A|3.30.05 @ 8:46PM|#

I wonder if it's going to be open for comments from us peons. I'll bring my own shovel.

|3.30.05 @ 8:51PM|#

Well, let's see what they can pump out. It might be a echo chamber or it might not.

|3.30.05 @ 9:08PM|#

Interesting new blog out of Britain: http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/

|3.30.05 @ 9:22PM|#

Gwyneth Paltrow and Mort Zuckerman; this thing will be a hoot (regardless of its utility)!

|3.30.05 @ 9:24PM|#

And to think, all done with conservative Michael Huffington's millions.

|3.30.05 @ 9:29PM|#

Hmm, I thought that Blogs were spontaneously created outlets for spontaneous thoughts from the heart. Manufactured Blogs would seem not to have that same soul behind them, and this one will likely rise to popularity levels rivaling "Air America" in another medium.

|3.30.05 @ 9:36PM|#

...Sen. Jon Corzine (National Taxpayer Union scores: nothing but "F"s ! - http://tinyurl.com/3n5ow), Mort Zuckerman,Gary Hart, Norman Lear, Arthur Schlesinger...

Yep, powerful liberals. This enterprise doesn't look like it's going to be freedom freindly. I suggest (seriously) that you folks from Reason volunterr yourselves in order to render some balance and lend intelectual grvitos.

|3.30.05 @ 9:41PM|#

...intellectual gravitos.

Preview Button-Preview Button-Preview Button!

|3.30.05 @ 9:50PM|#

mmm... are intellectual gravitos anything like real doritos?

|3.30.05 @ 9:53PM|#

Try again Rick, it's "gravitAs", not "gravitOs".

|3.30.05 @ 10:02PM|#

Jack,

Gravitas-Yep, you're right.

|3.30.05 @ 10:04PM|#

that was the point of my poorly concieved joke. I apologize to everyone that saw it.

Franklin Harris|3.30.05 @ 10:06PM|#

Going... into... Shatner mode:

She'll never blog like common people
She'll never blog like common people do
She'll never snark like common people
She'll never watch her blog fade out of view
And stall, and freeze, at 2
When the night is all but through.

|3.30.05 @ 10:09PM|#

Ok. That was two goofs in just two consecutive words-It's really time to rejuvenate my New Year's resolution to start using the Preview Button.

|3.30.05 @ 10:18PM|#

I'll make my gravitas point another way and continue in this "Shatner mode" and say: Huffington's group would really benefit from a Mind Meld with the Reason folks.

|3.30.05 @ 10:19PM|#

Rick Barton,

Hart might have some interesting things to say.

I think you just invented a new snack. :)

|3.30.05 @ 10:22PM|#

Mark: "this one will likely rise to popularity levels rivaling "Air America" in another medium."

Uh, don't look now, but Air America has actually been doing OK recently:

"Initially, it looked as if the skeptics would prevail. The ensuing months were turbulent, at times almost terminal. Air America lost its Los Angeles and Chicago affiliates. Then it lost its top executives, Evan Cohen and Mark Walsh, who, as it turned out, hadn't brought as much money to the table as they had promised. Yet the new network's ratings began to rise, and stations around the country began to pick up its programming.

"A year later, new management and more than 50 affiliates -- once again including Chicago and Los Angeles -- have turned Air America into one of radio's biggest success stories in recent history."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/389/5320455.html (I think registration may be required, but it's free.)

See also http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/03/30/radio.tm/

|3.30.05 @ 10:32PM|#

Gary,

Yeah, Hart could. But we will, no doubt, have to wade thru some of his BS to get to it.

Intellectual Gravitos-It's a brain food snack!
(Frito-Lay, just email me concerning the rights.)

|3.30.05 @ 10:41PM|#

BTW, I could never stand Ariana, whatever political ideology she was spinning.

|3.30.05 @ 10:42PM|#

Rick Barton,

You could compete against "Smart Food" (a favorite snack amongst liberals).

|3.30.05 @ 10:45PM|#

Gravitos: Crispy nacho chips with the delicious taste of country gravy!

|3.30.05 @ 10:50PM|#

Stevo Darkly,

Ha ha ha. :)

In more depressing news Mugabe has rigged another election.

|3.30.05 @ 11:12PM|#

pulp reference? niiiiiiiice. gillespie and cavanaugh's pop cult(ure) references wane in comparison.

Tim Cavanaugh|3.30.05 @ 11:16PM|#

Let's not even get into Media Rule #1 (Any new media outlet should be welcomed, no matter what). Beats there a heart so hard as not to thrill at the prospect of reading Gwyneth and Barry Diller's unedited pensées? Good on Arianna.

|3.30.05 @ 11:34PM|#

I think that Ariana's move to the left a few years ago was inspired by her desire to get along with a certain social set, rather than much consideration of the issues. It's no surprise then that she's kinda uninteresting.

Stevo Darkly,

Gag me with a spoon! :)

|3.30.05 @ 11:53PM|#

To echo/follow up on Mr. Tim's comment:

Focus people! Several SoCal unhinged dimbulbs (and otherwise... judge as you see fit) are about to go public with off-the-cuff thoughts. This is a potential Comstock Lode of quotable hilarity. Welcome/encourage the genesis of this blog/tarpit.

|3.31.05 @ 12:04AM|#

"Welcome/encourage the genesis of this blog/tarpit."

yeah, seriously. i don't actually see it being unedited, but doesn't your heart leap a tiny bit at the idea it just might be?

|3.31.05 @ 12:13AM|#

in the classic mold of Salon or Slate

I wonder if it's the same mold that causes crotch rot.

s.m. koppelman|3.31.05 @ 12:27AM|#

Didn't this very site get all moony over Arnold Schwarzenegger's supposed libertarian leanings a year or so ago? (Oooh! He went to some of our symposia!)

Yeah, yeah. I get hives too when I think about reading opinion pieces by Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron, but what's with lashing out at the idea of celebrities writing political think pieces? Why is it "dynamistic" when some unknown schlub who teaches at a minor college or works as a paralegal blogs about public policy, but somehow inherently asinine when a well-known movie producer does? Surely it's not a class thing: that's not very libertarian. Is it okay for a libertarian-leaning Hollywood celebrity to write for a political mag?

|3.31.05 @ 12:47AM|#

salon is sometimes good ... slate yea that's pure crotch rot.

|3.31.05 @ 12:52AM|#

I think that every time Ariana's name appears in print it should be preceded by the description "Wealthy adventuress."

Kevin

|3.31.05 @ 2:13AM|#

Hart might have some interesting things to say.

He's said some interesting things about militias/civic duty.

Matt Welch|3.31.05 @ 2:29AM|#

For the Record I am very very glad about this, and can't wait to see what they'll do. I know one of the guys behind it, and his ideas are very interesting. But it's still funny as hell, on about a thousand different levels. (Starting with the name.)

|3.31.05 @ 7:43AM|#

My vote for unintended funny #1: listing Norman Lear as a blue-chip public intellectual.

|3.31.05 @ 8:08AM|#

Arriana will put the blo in blog...

|3.31.05 @ 9:03AM|#

I personally think it is wonderful that all these socially concerned and compassionate people are there for us.

|3.31.05 @ 9:57AM|#

There needs to be a Baldwin Blog - staffed by all of them. That would be awesome.

|3.31.05 @ 11:33AM|#

I'd really enjoy a blog with the musings of the intellectual giants of Hollywood.

You know like Shirley Mclaine, Cher and Sarah Jessica Parker.

|3.31.05 @ 11:42AM|#

"Wanna Blog Like the Common People"

Yeah, I guess the people taking part in this won't have the proletarian, red-state outlook so common on Tech Central Station or CATO's website.

Kill the Rich!

|3.31.05 @ 12:46PM|#

"...but somehow inherently asinine when a well-known movie producer does?"

Because movie producers (and actors, directors, etc.) and others of that milieu - and you know the milieu I'm talking about even if I can't quite describe it - are inherently asinine.

You know how certain people - like most of the frequent commenters on this blog - make immediate assumptions about people from the southern U.S. who hold particularly strong religious views and listen to certain musical genres? Immediate assumptions regarding intelligence, integrity, motivation, personal hygiene, etc? Well, I make similar immediate assumptions whenever I hear the word "actor", "director" or "producer," or the name of a famous actor, director, producer, etc. My assumptions include, but aren't limited to: spoiled, arrogant, fatuous, shallow, misinformed, indifferently educated, insufficiently read, self indulgent, self obsessed, self destructive, prone to panic and perpetually aggrieved about shit they know little about. Is this fair of me? Probably not. But I think it's a widely shared prejudice.

Karol|3.31.05 @ 1:07PM|#

Love the Pulp reference.

|3.31.05 @ 5:50PM|#

One need only avail themself of the endless parade of half-assed crap coming from the 'entertainment' industry to come to the conclusion that the people that produce it are asinine. Combine that with the draconian 'liberal' social policies of Kalifornia where most of them hang their hats, and then contemplate that they generally see this as the 'way things should be' and you might think they were even worse.

Maybe.