TresSugar

Website du Jour: When Love Breaks Down

TresSugar — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 02:00:00 -0700

"Before there were blogs, there were zines," writes the blogger behind When Love Breaks Down, a bitter but hilarious breakup blog with a twist. The breakup happened more than 10 years ago, and the blog is based on pages ripped from a zine the writer published back in 1998.

Each post features a page from the zine in all its cringe-inducing glory, complete with modern-day commentary, like this annotation on the entry above:

I really thought once you had a kid, you would grow up. Or at least have a conversation about leaving your family, at least a conversation, before you just up and do it. Before you just cheat and leave. I mean, that’s Lifetime movie plot, not real life.

Zines were totally the blogs of the 1990s; everyone was doing it! To learn more about the back story, keep reading.

Book Bag: Awkward Family Photos Blog Gets a Deal

TresSugar — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 06:00:15 -0700

One of my favorite web finds of the past few months, Awkward Family Photos, is moving from photo blog to photo album. In a fairly predictable development, the bloggers behind this brilliantly funny site just scored a book deal with Three Rivers press. So now you can have not only your awkward family photos adorning your coffee table, but other people's, too!

Bloggers Mike Bender and Doug Chernack have been hearing from agents every since the blog debuted in May; the book is slated for release in May 2010. If you need something to read between now and then, I've got you covered.

I'm glad to see quality blogs getting book deals, but I'm also skeptical. A concept like Awkward Family Photos is so perfect for the web - why confine it to the more static book format? Then again, it worked for Post Secret and Stuff White People Like. What do you think?

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Blogging For Nothing: Matthews Rejects Blogs as Sources

CitizenSugar — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 14:30:20 -0800

Chris Matthews has limits! When he's not saying things like MSNBC "is the network of the 21st century," he's upholding archaic journalism standards.

Last night on Hardball, he cut off a reporter from the NY Daily News when she introduced blogs as the source of rumors - and, yes, she clearly presented them as rumors - about Caroline Kennedy. He said, "Let's stick to journalism. I don't do that here. If it's just blogging, let's drop it."

Bringing us to the - when did blogs become big, 2002? - 7-year-old question: Do blogs have any place in news? I thought it was answered with a "yes if used properly" at least five years ago. Apparently not!

Should Chris Matthews get with the times, or should more journalists follow his (albeit one-time) return to old-school journalism?

Iran Considers Death Penalty for Bloggers, Russia Jails One

CitizenSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:00:42 -0700

The beauty of the Internet is getting to say exactly what you want in a public forum, right?(Well that and stalking ex-boyfriends and shopping at work, but I digress.) The ability to speak one's mind in bytes and blips has landed one blogger with a jail sentence for extremism. A Russian man who called the local police “scum” and calling for the clean-up of the force he blogged that the police should be burned in the town square twice a day. For this posting, was convicted of “inciting hatred or enmity” and given a one-year suspended sentence.

Free speech activists said the ruling is creating a dangerous precedent: “This was an absolutely unjustified verdict ... This verdict means it will be impossible to make rude comments about anybody.” News of the sentence permeated Russian blogs yesterday leading some to say, "I don't know now if I should be writing here or not." For his part, new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he prizes free speech and that Russia should use a light touch when policing the Internet. That's not the case in Iran. To see what's happening there, read more.

In Iran, they have a somewhat different interpretation to "light touch" - the death penalty. Their parliament is debating a bill that would call for death for anyone “...establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption. . .” Though the government itself will decide what would constitute “promoting corruption." Among other death sentence crimes in Iran are apostasy (leaving a religion, in this case Islam), prostitution, rape and armed robbery.

No word on the world's reaction to the ultimate crime against blogging - starting one and then never posting again.

Is cyberspace the next battleground for free speech? Can speech on the Internet be protected as a vital outlet for those in countries with state-controlled media or oppressive governments?

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Army Deletes Soldier's Blog: In Line or Censorship Online?

CitizenSugar — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:15:52 -0700

Kaboom: A Soldier's War Journal (subtitled: Embrace the Suck) is embracing no more. The blog, kept by a soldier who wrote under the name LT G in Iraq, known as one of the most honest and compelling dispatches of blogging from the warfront, has been shut down by those above his pay grade.

Kaboom's LT G wrote often about his periodic wide-open disregard for military decorum (sometimes openly questioning superiors online) and just as often mused on the daily personal exploits of time in country - like the time he almost went out into the warzone sans pants.

But after a passionate posting inspired by being asked to become the company XO, his superiors had decided he'd gone too far. The last posting reads, "I have been ordered to stop posting on Kaboom, effective immediately. . . it was too much unfiltered truth. I’m a soldier first, and orders are orders. So it is."

In 2007 the Army passed new rules governing what soldiers could and could not say online, being required to "consult with their immediate supervisor . . . prior to publishing or posting information in a public forum." The rules are framed as a way to protect operational security, though in the instance of Kaboom, all events were described after the fact, and all identifying details changed. Supporters of the blog think the removal of Kaboom exposes a blackhole of censorship in the blogosphere. Did the Army go to far, or were they right to remove Kaboom?

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VF Plots Blogs on the Spectrum - Opinionated or Earnest?

CitizenSugar — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:00:24 -0700

In a stellar hybrid of New York magazine's Approval Matrix and the fascinating Political Compass, this week's fun tidbit from Vanity Fair shows the big blogs on a spectrum from news to opinion and scurrilous to earnest. Who doesn't want to see where Politico stacks up against Radar, and Michelle Malkin against FireDogLake?

With rollover pics popping up fairly pointed descriptions of the blogs, it does fairly point out that the Huffington Post is shamelessly pro-Obama and that Drudge has an unfailing reach with his Republican-friendly headlines and ugly step-sister graphics. Go check it out and see if you agree with their rankings! Should Arianna Huffington and Michelle Malkin be next-door neighbors? Where do you think CitizenSugar would fall on the spectrum?

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Check This: CNN Uses Blogs and Facebook to Cover Tornadoes

CitizenSugar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:00:23 -0800

I guess it's true: We really are person of the year. This morning, while covering the devastation caused by the tornadoes that ripped through the mid-south, CNN relied on reporting from some very personal sources: Facebook and blogs. Using pictures of upturned cars posted on local Facebook pages and reading a posting from the blog Sassy Southerner to report the story, CNN pulled together a very eyewitness account, using no formal reportage.

With the death toll now reaching at least 52, President Bush has pledged aid to the states affected. The storms also ravaged Union University in Jackson, Tennessee.

It's a big story to be sure, with many affected - my question is this: Is CNN enhancing the telling of the story with these eyewitness accounts, or is reporting the news best left to the journalists? Did a Sassy Southerner tell the story better than a Wolf Blitzer?

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Gender Roles - Love 'Em Or Leave 'Em?

OnSugar Blog — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:10:00 -0800

Here's a poll from OnSugar blog Rantings of a Single Girl.

Let's go back to the 1940s for a minute. My grandmother was married, raised a kid, ran a farm, taught school, and kept a clean house. All while my grandfather was away at war. After my grandfather came back from the war and had recovered from his wounds, they went back into their traditional roles. He ran the farm and did all the "manly" things. My grandmother raised my aunt, taught school, and still had dinner on the table by 5:30 PM every night. All while pregnant with my dad.

I'm exhausted just talking about it.

I bring all this up because I've been thinking about gender roles lately. I look at my parents. Granted, my dad still does majority of the "manly'" things around the house and my mom does the household things, neither one is afraid to help out the other. My dad does housework. My mom can swing a hammer when needed.

And that's what I like.

I'll never be able to date a guy who believes in traditional gender roles. As much as I like cooking and being in the kitchen, I don't like being expected to be there. If we have kids, I'm not going to be the one who raises them. I certainly expect their father to help out. At the same time, I don't expect him the only one who takes out the trash or fixes things when they break. I think 50/50 is a good blend.

So could you be with someone who firmly believes in traditional gender roles? Or would you rather share the load?

Want to see more? Start following Rantings of a Single Girl or start your own OnSugar Blog. Maybe your stories will be posted here on TrèsSugar!

Are Video Proposals Online Cowardly or Cute?

TresSugar — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:00:42 -0800

Last night Tumblr users signed on to see "Marissa Nystrom, will you marry me?" bannered across their dashboards, whether or not they followed proposer Justin Johnson's blog. The link goes to this genuinely thoughtful, romantic, and well-edited video, but I presume his girlfriend follows his blog. So the only reason I can see to link the video to the world is to consummate its place in the controversial genre of public marriage proposals.

Public proposals seem unabashedly confident at first, but only the most heartless, unafraid-to-make-a-scene askee would say no. Put it on video and not only is he not asking her in person, but he's putting pressure on her to say yes in front of the largest stage of all. And when it's online, you can't leave your audience behind.

TMI? Woman to Broadcast Baby's Birth on Live TV

TresSugar — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:00:00 -0800

It started out as a blogging gig for a moms-to-be site, but 23-year-old Lynsee, a teacher from Minnesota, decided to take it a step further. Along with her mother, husband, and midwife, she's going to have a cameraman film her giving birth while it's broadcast on live television. (No graphic shots, however.)

Although her husband Anders was hesitant at first, he finally agreed to it. "We wanted to share this experience," said Lynsee. "If I were in a classroom, I'd be teaching about development. It was a way for me to teach . . . A way for me to use myself as a textbook."

I find it odd that Lynsee asked to keep her last name private for this news story but is going to have someone film and broadcast to strangers one of the most private experiences of her life. (But maybe that's just me.) Is giving birth on television for strangers to watch TMI?