here's a cool site; it takes a news article off the web and then links several blogs that have written about the story. it's a great way of mixing straight news and unofficial blogger commentary.

(via e-media tidbits)

damn. when i went to youth group in high school, they sure never did stuff like this. if only they'd faked terrorists coming in to kill all the youth group members, i might have attended more often.

i know i've already talked about the o.c. a lot today - well, who am i kidding, i talk about it ALL THE FREAKIN TIME - but as i was browsing the show's site today, i was really totally struck by what an insane empire it is becoming. what's it called, horizontal integration? econ 201 really did not stick in my mind very much. but here's just a small sampling of what the o.c. can offer you, yes you:

well, thanks everybody, for your input on the post below. i have to admit i spent a lot of time thinking that i was going to email him the URL without restrictions, but because i am a self-conscious loser, crippled by paranoia and with no faith in my writing abilities, i ultimately decided against it. i'm not ashamed of anything i write on my blog (well, not ashamed of like, 75% of it, anyways...) but i do think my posts are a little more livejournal than "real" blog (no suprise, since i've been keeping an online diary since i was 17 or so, and that's just what i enjoy writing), and i didn't want to expose him to that side of me. as weirdly engaging as it may be.

i ended up sending him an email with a link to my posts on DCist.com and links to several other blogs i enjoy, more mainstream fare like yglesias, talkleft.com, buzzmachine.com, a food blog and a couple of funny, normal personal sites that i read. (no, don't worry, nobody reading this got a link. some of my absolute favorite sites are by people who comment here, but i didn't email those because i'm linked on them, and i feared he would click through and discover this.) i know i'm linked on dcist.com, but you have take a while to find out where. and if he finds that, well, so be it.

anyway, the interviewer was very nice, and funny, and overall, i honestly don't think he would have minded reading this site, and may have even enjoyed it. but i just wasn't prepared to let someone whom i need to view me professionally see this side of my writing.

well, phew. i'm glad THAT's over. oy vey, the huge, terrible ordeals i go through in my daily life... i can't even begin to tell you about them. well, actually, i can. and that's what's i love about this blog. poop, partisan bile and overly nostalgic ruminations on italy; i can write about it, you can read about it, and we can all exist in perfect harmony.

Witness the terrifying and unrelenting wrath of the phone company! Truly, when you stare into the void, the void will try to sell you ringtones.

Alright, fine, I'll make sense. It's called ringback, and it, paired with a personal aversion to Huey Lewis, is the reason I won't be able to call Jon any more. For a couple of extra bucks a month your cell company will replace the sound callers hear while your phone is ringing with one of those pop songs the kids are talking about. Some services will let you record your voice over the song as well.

Here I am acting all high and mighty, when truthfully, nothing would please me more than to have my phone erupt into Styx singing "SHE'S MY... LAYHEEDEEEEEEeeee" everytime Catherine calls me. It's only through a lot of willpower and a smattering of not-knowing-how that I avoid committing this crime against the lot of you. Remember folks, cell phone music customization is like masturbation: completely self indulgent, and best conducted in private.

linkfests are safe for blogs, right? they won't get me fired or turned away from grad school. and they're so wonderfully easy.