Belated blogiversary

• Happy Blogiversary! Yeah, I’m late to the party, but anyhoo, Ross Douthat has some thoughts on the blogosphere being ten years young. I agree with the first half of Douthat’s post that blogging is good for punditry, but I’m not sure that it’s necessarily bad for deeper writing. Yes, editorializing is probably not a great way to start writing novels or even long-form news analysis. For example, take a look at Glenn Greenwald’s new book (excerpts here and here). It reads (surprise, surprise) a lot like his blog, and yes, many of his prose tendencies show up in droves (too many block quotes in a row, long, convoluted sentences, and a bit too much eye-rolling). Regardless, it is a book and has long-form prose that works. Sure, it ain’t Anna Karenina, but why should it be? I would venture that very few bloggers are actually looking to write philosophical treatises and novels. Or more importantly, to counter Douthat, that very few people looking to write philosophical treatises and novels are out there writing blogs.

• Something I’ve been curious about… what ever happened to the war czar? It was such a big deal maybe three weeks ago, and now, Gen. Lute is nowhere to be found. It’s all Petraeus this and Pace that. Lute appears to be meeting with lawmakers, but he’s nowhere in the public eye. A search on GoogleNews registers 33 stories for “war czar” but over 9,000 for “Petraeus.” Wasn’t Lute supposed to be the point man on the war on terror? How strange that he’s an invisible media figure…My theory? He’s a mild skeptic of the surge, and therefore unfit as a non-true-believer to be displayed before the media, lest he give his actual informed opinion.

• That ‘new’ bin Laden tape that everyone was crowing about? Turns out it’s not so new. In fact, looks like it’s five years old. Wroops!

• The FDA is a ham-handed, ineffective piece of government bureaucracy. At least now everyone knows it.

• Watch Barnaby Philips’ report on Turkish Kurds here. It’s just a hint of how hard it could be to simply retreat to “Kurdistan” in Iraq (the preferred strategy of Andy Sullivan).

• A weird LATimes story that was inexplicably at the top of their e-mail newsletter, with an intriguing title that should please everyone: ‘Nudity, explosives, and art’.

• Duke Cunningham talks bitches and hos with the FBI from inside the joint. Scroll down to the bullet points for the true hilarity. It’s a riot.

• Rating squirt guns on Slate. No Oozinator, though.

• A new Smoove B column!

• If you saw this xkcd comic a while back, you’ll love these photos. Chess on a rollercoaster!

• Art Brut meets Harry Potter. ‘Nuff said.

• Should we watch movies with actors in drag?

OK, so you know how I love well-told stories. Well, here's one that I watched a while back that's definitely worth watching if you haven't yet. The punchlines are incredible.