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July 30, 2004
Convention Talk Quickly Turns To (What Else?) Sex
No sooner had the red-white-blue balloons and confetti dropped from the ceiling of the Fleet Center in Boston than blog talk -- while still focused heavily on presidential politics -- turned to (what else?) sex.
Namely, sex toys. Thursday's burstiest phrase involved coverage of an appeals court decision about an Alabama law that provides a one-year prison fine for anyone caught selling sex toys. (Georgia and Texas have similar laws). Which raises the question: does Viagara qualify as a sex toy?
Of course, politics is still on the minds of many bloggers. In fact, Thursday's top phrases include several references to Rev. Al Sharpton's crowd-rouser convention speech on Wednesday, and the Democratic ticket of Kerry-Edwards took the No. 1 and No 2 spots among Thursday's key people...with Harry Potter managing to maintain a longstanding position in the top five most-blogged personalities.
Science lovers also pushed the late Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner and co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA, to the top of the burstiest people list. He died this week of cancer at age 88. (Note: The first link in Crick's list is to a weird blog called The Dead Pool, in which site visitors take bets and earn points on which pre-designated celebrities/personalities of note actually pass on within the year. A sampling from the list: the Pope, Courtney Love, Fidel Castro and Julia Child).
And what is it about anti-depressants and the White House? Thursday's top link (which began surfacing a day earlier) is to an article in Capitol Hill Blue hinting that the sitting president is popping "powerful antidepressants" to control erratic behavior. In a similar vein, Prozac is on the mind of Bush-Cheney campaign spokeswoman (and third-burstiest personality) Susan Sheybani, who was quoted in a Reuters article as saying that Americans unhappy with low wages should find new jobs...or pop a Prozac. Does that perhaps qualify as a different kind of "outsourcing?"
And in cinema land, fans are already drooling over a trailer for the 2005 Batman movie. "This is going to be good..." gushes one LiveJournal blogger.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:25 PM | Permalink
July 29, 2004
More Convention-Al Wisdom: Obama's Star Rising, Bloggers' Effects Obvious
Want a sense of the influence being wielded by bloggers at this week's Democratic National Convention?
First, newcomer Chicago Democrat Barack Obama captured nine of the top 11 bursty phrases in Wednesday's blog tabulations, either by name directly or by phrases quoted from his Tuesday evening speech.
Obama also leapt to first place among the "bursty people" list, and 18 other convention speakers appeared among the 40 top people mentioned in blogs for Wednesday's results. They included Howard Dean, Teresa Heinz Kerry (so many different ways to spell her name!), Ted Kennedy, Ron Reagan (Jr.), Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson and youngster Ilana Wexler, founder of Kids for Kerry, who brought down the house when she suggested a loooooooooooong time out for Vice President Dick Cheney and the "very very BAD word" he uttered a few weeks ago.
And among Wednesday's top links, the Obama-man managed to grab mentions in eight of the top 40 links.
Of course, there's more than convention news in blog-land today. Such as speculation about which Simpsons' cartoon character will be involved in a gay wedding in the upcoming fall season? Could it be....?" There's some Presidential-bashing, too...the challenger kind from Matt Drudge about John Kerry's war experience and the incumbent kind from Capitol Hill Blue about George Bush's mental state.
Meanwhile, continue to check out the entries of some of the 20 bloggers who received official press credentials to the Democratic convention. Among them:
Eric Schnure, official DNC blogger.
Dave Winer of Scripting News.
NYU Journalist Jay Rosen's Pressthink.
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's Daily Kos.
Teagan Goddard's PoliticalWire.
Ana Marie Cox's Wonkette.
Patrick Belton's Oxblog.
The Burnt Orange Report, from "deep in the heart of Texas."
Pandagon, the blog of Jesse Taylor and Ezra Klein.
Jeralyn Merritt's Talk Left.
And for sheer political satire, don't miss the popular, animated "This Land" spoof created by brothers Greg and Evan Spiridellis. It's at their JibJab Web site.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:01 PM | Permalink
July 23, 2004
The Convention-al World of Blogs: Keeping the Political Pulse
OK, so we didn't get blogger press credentials to the Democratic National Convention (July 26-29), but rest assured, BlogPulse will be there in spirit. BlogPulse's daily scan of more than 1.5 million blogs means that the political opinions, the spin, the personalities, celebrities, the issues, the press leaks, the speeches, the gaffes -- they'll all surface in one form or another on BlogPulse, so please use it regularly for blog-related insights to convention activities. (Like voting, you know? Blog early...blog often).
You best bet will be BlogPulse's search tool, which will help you zero in on particular personalities, issues or themes and what's being written about them in blogland. For example, what are people saying about Democratic nominee-to-be John Kerry? What about his runing mate, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards? Find similar blog material about Former President Bill Clinton, the 2000 Democratic nominee Al Gore, or Hillary Rodham Clinton? What about convention speakers Ron Reagan Jr., former U.S. Sen. and Vietnam veteran Max Cleland, former President Jimmy Carter, and Sen. Edwards' wife, Elizabeth Edwards? Let BlogPulse help with the search.
Secondly, use BlogPulse trend graphs to keep track of Bush vs. Kerry in the blogosphere. Do the same by keeping track of blog buzz on the major political parties. Or simply click on the "key people" link on the BlogPulse home page each day to see who's hot and who's not, who's moving up or down the leader list and the bursty list based on mentions in blogs. From the home page, use "key phrases" to find out which issues are being blogged about most and "key links" to find out which other blogs or web sites are being linked to with the most frequency in blogs.
Meanwhile, check out the entries of some of the 20 bloggers who received official press credentials to the convention. Among them:
Eric Schnure, official DNC blogger.
Dave Winer of Scripting News.
NYU Journalist Jay Rosen's Pressthink.
Markos Moulitsas Zuniga's Daily Kos.
Teagan Goddard's PoliticalWire.
Ana Marie Cox's Wonkette.
Patrick Belton's Oxblog.
The Burnt Orange Report, from "deep in the heart of Texas."
Pandagon, the blog of Jesse Taylor and Ezra Klein.
Jeralyn Merritt's Talk Left.
And for sheer political satire, don't miss the animated "This Land" spoof created by brothers Greg and Evan Spiridellis. It's at their JibJab Web site.
See you (via the blogosphere) at the convention!
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:27 PM | Permalink
July 15, 2004
Diss-ing Fox News, Hillary, and the TSA
Is Fox News getting a taste of its own medicine? Another biting documentary, this one available over the Internet, is challenging Fox News and its brand of journalism. It's called "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." And its release is the reason that several of this week's top links are to Fox News memos that are cited in the documentary, including one that tells Fox employees not to "fall into the easy trap of mourning the loss of U.S. lives" while reporting on Iraq.
Of course, the pressing national issue of the day -- gay marriage, and whether the issue is Constitution-worthy -- is getting plenty of hits in blogland. U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, who says the "future of the the family/marriage/country/ultimate security" hangs on whether gays can marry, took the No. 2 spot among "bursty people" and jumped to No. 6 among key people. But the defeat of a vote on the issue in the Senate also grabbed headlines, as did party-line-breaking Sen. John McCain's description of the issue as "un-Republican." But as those Republicans say, it's not over till it's over.
In Democratic Party land, seems that former First Lady and now-Sen. Hilllary Clinton didn't get an invite to speak at the Democratic National Convention, and fund-raiser Judith Pope rose to the ranks of Wednesday's bursty people list for saying Hillary's snub is a slap in the face to all women.
And then there's the tale of Daryl Miller, who isn't one of those compliant, take-your-shoes-off, let-us-search-your-bags airline passengers. He dropped his pants while in the security line at the airport...and wasn't wearing anything underneath. No doubt his sense of emotional payback was immense, but Miller was arrested by Minnesapolis airport officials for indecent exposure, nonetheless.
Sure it's a repeat, but it's quirky. Teen-ager "Jive Turkey's" tale of being flipped off by President Bush has blog staying power, clinging to the No. 34 slot among key links.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Vacation anyone? BlogPulse looks at some top amusement-park destinations for the summer...Disney, Six Flags and Cedar Point.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:23 PM | Permalink
July 13, 2004
Belated Balloting, Blogger Burnout...and Bush Birdies?
Hmmm...this country has survived a Civil War, several World Wars, an October Cuban missile crisis, flu epidemics, Watergate, disco and other horrible nasties without ever once hinting at -- openly -- the possibility of postponing to delaying Presidential elections. But it's a topic that's been blogged about a lot in the past few days, capturing seven of Monday's top 40 links, six of Monday's top 15 phrases and this Newsweek story.
If I understand this correctly, it's great to promote free elections in counties that need democracy, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, but OK to postpone them in the country that supposedly does democracy best of all? And as some bloggers ask...if we postpone elections, do we opt for regime change instead?
Recent blogs contain some other interesting faces and ideas in the news. Among them is Ron Reagan, son of the late president, who's crossing party lines to speak at the Democratic National Convention. Joining him on this week's bursty people list is Tom Mauser, father of Daniel Mauser, a Columbine High School student who died in those fateful attacks. Mauser is promoting a petition to extend the ban on assault weapons...in direct defiance of the National Rifle Association and Bush Administration. And then there's this tidbit from Wired about blogger burnout. How long can bloggers keep filling those entries before tiring or running out of ideas? It depends.
Now about that Presidential birdie? Blogger "jive turkey" claims that as the Presidential motorcade rolled through East Lampeter, PA, last Friday, the Commander in Chief flipped the bird at his small band of teen-age protesters. Read for yourself. The fuzzy photo is not the kind of hard, CIA-standard evidence one would like of the actual event. But given the senate intelligence committee reports of the past week, perhaps as reliable?
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: How is bicyclist Lance Armstrong holding up in his quest for the most Tour de France victories in the history of cycling? See how he compares with leading competitors.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:52 PM | Permalink
July 09, 2004
Spam, Sausage and Spam (But Not THAT Kind of Spam)
Oh, sure, there are terrorists warnings galore and political discussions aplenty about the upcoming conventions and vice presidential worthiness (on both tickets).
But let's talk about what's REALLY important and why actors David Hyde Pierce (aka Niles Crane), Hank Azaria (several voices on "The Simpsons," including Moe, the bartender) and Tim Curry (Dr. Frank N. Furter of The Rocky Horror Picture Show fame) take three of today's top five bursty-people slots. The three are the lead actors for a Broadway version of Monty Python's "Spamalot." Make way for killer rabbits, coconut-clopping horses, armless/legless fighting knights and everything else that earned "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" a 2004 designation as the best British movie ever made, as voted by a British subsidiary of Amazon and the Internet Movie Database. "Spamalot" is based on the movie, with help from original star and Pythonite Eric Idle.
Back on the serious side of life, the concept of a "July surprise" during the days of the Democratic National Convention have taken over the top two places among "bursty phrases" as well as Thursday's top link. According to published reports, U.S. intelligence officials are pressuring the Pakistanis to (surprise!) kill or capture terrorism's bad guys -- Osama bin Laden, Ayman Al Zawahiri, or Mullah Mohammed Omar -- and preferably do so during the publicity-intense days of the July 26-28 Democratic convention (or at least before the November election). Hmmm. If it's the element of surprise they're after, is it possible to steal someone else's thunder when the thunder-stealing move has been publicized ahead of time?
On the political front, Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry and recently announced running mate Sen. John Edwards (along with filmmaker Michael Moore) have moved into the top three slots among Thursday's key people, pushing President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney several slots further down the list. Thursday's No. 2 BlogBite, a blog called To the Barricades, also hints at behind-the-scenes suggestions to replace Cheney on the Republican ticket with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sen. John McCain for former NY mayor Rudi Guiliani. Bush is also getting traction for his decision not to speak at the NAACP annual convention. By doing so, he becomes the first Prez since Herbert Hoover not to attend the convention, which starts July 10.
Call it blogger respectability? Wonkette blogger Ann Marie Cox, 31, has been tapped to cover the Democratic National Convention for MTV.
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: The Seven Deadly Sins. What'll it be? Lust? Pride? Sloth? Choose your vice....
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 03:37 PM | Permalink
July 07, 2004
Veep News is Hot News!
Sen. John Kerry's choice of North Carolina Sen. John Edwards as his Democratic running mate dominated post-July Fourth news coverage and the blogging world as well.
Tuesday's list of key people included no less than five links to the Kerry-Edwards ticket, and Edwards scored four of the top five slots among burstiest people as well. Blog references ranged from the official announcement to the GOP attack response to many observational musings. Add in all the other vice president-related personalities (Cheney, Gephardt, McCain) and news of Kerry's veep choice dominated 11 of the top 40 key people links.
The Kerry-Edwards team garnered even more traction among top links in Tuesday's blog results, grabbing mentions in 21 of the top 40. Of course, some of those included the New York Post's glaring headline blunder that erroneously touted Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt as Kerry's running mate. I'm guessing the Post's newsroom cafeteria is serving up lots of "Dewey Defeats Truman" crow this week...
And hey! How about those wacky Iraqis? A web site called "Rock, Paper, Saddam" offers mindless entertainment created from images of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein's recent appearance before an Iraqi court. Someone was bound to do something humorous, and why not rock-paper-scissors? Much less uplifting are the results of a poll of Canadian teens, 40% of whom consider Americans to be "evil."
TREND OF THE DAY: Which online intrusion gets more traction? Check out Spam vs. Spyware vs. Adware.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:36 PM | Permalink
July 02, 2004
Say This About the US of A...We Like Variety (And Lots of It)
On this Fourth of July weekend, you gotta love a country that can be so, well, darned unpredictably fully of unending variety. Among the key people popping up on this week's BlogPulse are Michael Moore and Harry Potter (both of whom have surpassed previous leaders President Bush and John Kerry), Britney Spears, Bill Gates, Howard Stern, Avil Lavigne, soldier Wassef Ali Hassoun, and Doc Ock, the bad guy in Spider-Man 2 (which became the second movie in a week to set a box-office opening record).
Which begs a follow-up question: Who is Deforest B. Soaries and what is he (atop the Bursty People list) advocating? The head of a world power's elections system....recommending the suspension of elections? Oh wait...that's the head of the U.S. Federal Elections Commission, raising the spectre of suspending elections in the US of A in case of another terrorist attack. Isn't this country supposed to support free election with open arms? Aren't free elections our specialty? Isn't that the concept we want to take hold elsewhere around the world?
If you were asked to spy on your fellow citizens for the good of your country, would you? That's why trucker Eddie Dean is getting some ink in the blog world today. In a creepy, spine-tingling sort of way, don't you think?
TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: Make it a movie-heavy weekend. Here's a look at major competition for Spider-Man 2 and a look at the growing numbers of big-screen documentaries.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:19 PM | Permalink
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