and how they paid for the lost iPhone 4.0 dealie?

a blogger named Simon Owens asked me to comment on it. which i would have done easily, but then he wanted me to try to figure out if he was a “blogger” or a “journalist” which is a debate im not interested in diving into.

in this case its somewhat valid because journalists typically have more rights to privacy regarding things that theyre writing (or planning to write, or simply theyve collected) than bloggers.

in trying to research something smart that Jeff Jarvis said around the idea that bloggers should try to remain bloggers, i ran across something snarky Gawker chief Nick Denton said that pretty much takes away any protection his bloggers would have if they ever claimed to be deemed journalists. that example and my response shocked Owens.

But perhaps the most surprising response came from Tony Pierce, the blog editor for the LA Times. Pierce first gained his blogging street cred from his incredibly personal Busblog before landing a gig as editor for LAist. His success there led to his coveted spot at the Times. In a brief G-Chat message to me, he pointed to an interview Gawker founder Nick Denton gave to the Washington Post in which he said that, “We may inadvertently do good. We may inadvertently commit journalism. That is not the institutional intention.”

go to his post to see what i wrote that surprised him so.

huge funeral for former lapd chief daryl gates.

because of that the amount of crazy cop cars from all over LA are on display

plus motorcycles and swat vehicles and boats and copters.

sure public servants should get love and respect when they pass away

but imagine the streets lined with school buses when veteran teachers die

or ambulances when long time nurses slip off into the dark abyss.

or parades of valley girls in plaid skirts when bloggers peace out.

to me, that would be progress.

local sex blogger av flox?

probably cuz ive never had anything to say.

i think i have a little buzz going from this afternoons pita.

i think im ready for friday already

i think i wanna go next door to the LAPD and give daryl gates my final respects

at the festival of books

as you may recall, carolyn was the editor of LAist until 6/5/06

in many many ways, if there was no carolyn my life would be radically different.

carolyn stepped down from LAist to persue a masters out in Pittsburgh,

and she was nice enough to recommend me to her bosses (who still havent sold the Ists yet…)

and the rest was history.

carolyn is now the lead blogger for our books blog, Jacket Copy, so i was asking her, and the Books Editor’s wife (on the right) if this weekend was her Super Bowl.

i think she said yes. either way they were both very happy this weekend, and anything that makes Carolyn happy makes me happy since i owe her everything.

todays lesson is, there is always a beautiful solution

even when things look completely impossible.

first of all, waaaay more people than youd ever think.

all those people read books!?!?!?!?

no really who would think that the way you get tons of people to come outside in LA is to have a huge two-day love fest for books and authors and stories and hanging out?

booth after booth after booth of interesting people, cool writers, and fascinating themes.

also, outdoor conventions are far cooler than indoor ones.

so much more natural and easy-going.

kids were rolling in the grass, dogs were fetching, people brought picnic baskets. you dont see that in convention halls.

concessionaires roamed selling lemonade and cotton candy and pop

and sprinkled here and there were cartoon characters scaring the crap out of adults

and soothing the children.

it made me wanna write books so i too could partake in the party.

i was very proud of the Times for this very cool deal.

but the coolest thing i saw was The Hero Complex, named after our comic book blog

Geoff Boucher worked super hard to get that blog approved, and worked even harder to make it what it is today which is THE source for all things genre-related.

geoff gets all the directors from batman to avatar, all the big stars, all the cool legends, and they talk to him and give him the scoops and he blogs about it every day.

i think about all the pushback he experienced trying to get that thing to happen

and now it has its own section at the book fest. and its perfect.

got to hang out with former LAT brainiac Josh Lucas, all around great guy and Cub fan, who works with the other Josh and several others at AT&T Interactive,

and as we started talking he told me that he worked with our old pal Charlie Hornberger.

you know the guy i married?

i think Josh had told me that they worked together a while ago but i had no clue what they were working on…

Buzz.com!

and sure enough, theres charlie and theres josh kleinpeter!

omg smallest world in the world.

not sure how Buzz will do, but now that i know its Charlie and the Josh’s thing, im gonna sign up asap cuz i know it wont suck.

but first, since its sunday, and the cubs are up 12-1 i will crack open the best book of all, the greatest story ever told

peace out babies

and this one makes use of an interesting cover of human league’s fascination

which, if youve seen their video, would be something i wouldnt even try to top in this medium

but good for kingsford for attempting the imposs

and succeeding

in major league baseball

coming out of his shoe, he pops a sac fly to right.

hopefully he will pick up the save off the brew crew

than thursday. like so much

i dont wanna give the guy who shot this any criticism, but he missed out on the request that courtney granted when someone yelled out gold dust woman. which led to this.

she was more lucid, more rockin, and had a bit more stamina than the night before. plus she was more willing to push her voice.

great set. about 50 mins. glad i went both nights. and glad this dude videoed both nights.

hole set list night two:

1. Pretty On The Inside
2. Skinny Little Bitch
3. Miss World
4. Violet
5. Letter To God
6. Gold Dust Woman
7. Pacific Coast Highway
8. Nobody’s Daughter
9. Malibu
10. Samantha
11. Celebrity Skin
12. Play With Fire
13. Doll Parts
14. Thirteen