I’ve been reading tony pierce for pretty much as long as I’ve been reading blogs. I’ve purchased his books and rooted for him all the way from the xbi to laist to now the big time latimes. He still updates his famous busblog (where he writes about women, music, and sometimes politics, sometimes religion, sometimes his job.) As the blog editor for the LA Times, he oversees that entire section of the site. That’s kind of amazing, considering the fact that he wrote a lot of revealing stuff in his blog over the years. It says a lot about LA Times’ forward-thinking editors who clearly value and respect and understand blogging. Anyhow, seeing that we’re now working in the same kind of profession (overseeing and producing online content as part of a newspaper-branded site), I wanted to get his insight on some topics.
Me: Are there any new trends you’re seeing in the blogging world that bother you?
Tony: Most of the new trends I love: Twitter, Tumblr, FriendFeed, SocialThing, because they are helping bring back the idea that the individual bloggers’ lives matter and those tools make it easier for people to share their experiences with their readers.
The only trend that bothers me, as you say, is the ongoing obsession with people trying to make money off their blogs. I am speaking of the popularity of the Make Money Blogging blogs. These blogs don’t tell the truth about blogging which is: less than one-tenth of one percent of blogs make any real money. You’re better off playing the lottery or OMG getting a second job (or a better primary job) than thinking you can either tweak your blog into some sort of money-making machine.
There are over 100 million blogs out there and about 500 people making money blogging. You have a better chance being a starting quarterback in the NFL. So if you want to blog, blog and forget about the money. Do it because you want to express yourself. If you wanna make money: get a damn job. Read more »
Today was an important day.
I woke up thinking it was going to be one I would just want to get through and be done with. I had an 8:30 appointment at the oral surgeon to look at a spot that has been on my pallette for at least a year. There was the possibility of a biopsy, but I was hopeful that it was nothing and he’d send me on my way. Then there was the memorial service for a friend of Matt’s.
Read more »
I took a few photos of Hospital Hill in Northampton last week. I used my 50mm for these shots. Some of them were manipulated and some were not.
- I didn’t mean for the first photo to come out the way it did. I’d had my camera’s White Balance setting on Incandescent (I think) and this is what happened. Pretty cool, eh? My favorite part is the look of the half-open window on the top row. To me it looks like an old photo you find in a history book.
- The second photo’s cyan was punched up a little to bring out the contrast of the sky and the roof.
- Neither of the smaller photos was manipulated, except I did some cropping to the one on the left.
- The 50mm is a beautiful thing.
Read more »
Inspired by Heather’s comment, I photoshopped (or rather “shopped” as they say) one of my parking lot images. I just quickly edited the image, without grabbing the original, so there could be some noise as a result. Check it out after the jump. Thanks for the suggestion, Heather! Read more »
Just this week a new producer started working here. One of her hobbies happens to be photography. Before she started I emailed her about doing some photo safaris on our lunch breaks from time-to-time. She is much more experienced than I am, so I am somewhat shy about showing her my work. Plus, she is a Canon girl who enjoys making fun of my Nikon! But, whatever, it’s just a hobby and I can only get better with practice. We’ve already gone on our first adventure — the MassLive parking lot. Her jawdropping photos are here and a few of my less-than-awe-inspiring photos are below (and after the jump). I really want to learn her little Photoshop tricks. Maybe if I’m nice to her she’ll show me.
Read more »
Matt and I broke down and registered, because his family asked us to. We definitely didn’t want to, because we felt we have everything we need for the most part. As much as we wanted to do this getting married thing our way, we had to acquiesce to a few demands. This particular demand wasn’t so difficult to give way, because it’s pretty enjoyable to walk around with a scanner (the scanners at target are terrible, though.) and shop for things that would be helpful/fun to own.
If anyone at all still links to my old typepad address, please stop doing it. Some spam company parked there. I’m not going to link to it here, but it’s sighclub dot typepad dot com.
Pretty please?
We’ve been taking to walks on Ashley Reservoir (three times in the past week-and-a-half). I’d never been there until this month, which is an unbelievable factoid. Other factoids:
1. Matt and I have devised a rock-kicking game. The object of the rock-kicking game is to kick a rock down the path as we go along. Whoever kicks the rock into the water loses.
2. The one thing I hate about Ashley Reservoir right now is the bug-swarming problem.
Read more »
My office purchased a number of Flip cameras this week, so I’ve been testing one of them out. My early impressions are very positive, especially where design is concerned. It’s about the size of a pack of menthol 100’s and very lightweight. There are a minimal number of buttons to push. The designers definitely took a page out of the Apple book, right down to the boxy packaging the Flip came in.
Read more »
I’ve been reading tony pierce for pretty much as long as I’ve been reading blogs. I’ve purchased his books and rooted for him all the way from the xbi to laist to now the big time latimes. He still updates his famous busblog (where he writes about women, music, and sometimes politics, sometimes religion, sometimes his job.) As the blog editor for the LA Times, he oversees that entire section of the site. That’s kind of amazing, considering the fact that he wrote a lot of revealing stuff in his blog over the years. It says a lot about LA Times’ forward-thinking editors who clearly value and respect and understand blogging. Anyhow, seeing that we’re now working in the same kind of profession (overseeing and producing online content as part of a newspaper-branded site), I wanted to get his insight on some topics.
blogging, current affairs, pop culture, workplace | kristen May 14, 2008 | 
Comments (0) 