Blog, le retour / Blog II

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July 20, 2004

Et c'est reparti! Salutations de mon petit bureau surchauffé à Los Angeles, avec la nouvelle compilation disco-techno-brésilienne de DJ Dougie de Prague en fond sonore. C'est mon univers: un PC fabriqué par le joueur de basse et génie des ordinateurs Jeff Solomon, un petit drapeau suisse planté dessus, le New York Post, très anti-français mais addictif, la télé bloquée sur la chaine toute info MSNBC et un ventilateur assez pourri acheté pour 5$ à un couple gay stylé lors d'un vide-grenier sur Beachwood Drive (pour les branchés à L.A., avec vue sur le sigle Hollywood. C'est aussi là où sont tournées plusieurs scènes de Joey, la nouvelle sitcom dérivée de Friends, qui n'est pas mal du tout.)

Here we go again! Greetings from my small overheated home office in Los Angeles, with the new Brazilian disco-techno compilation of DJ Dougie from Prague playing in the room. This is it: a PC made by bass hero and computer whiz Jeff Solomon, a little Swiss flag on top of it, the idiotically anti-French but addictive New York Post, MSNBC on TV, and a terrible fan bought from a stylish gay couple at a garage sale on Beachwood Dr. (For all the hipsters in L.A.: that's where they're shooting scenes of the pretty good new sitcom Joey, the spin-off of Friends.)

Merci de tous les mots sympas pendant cette retraite offline. Que pensez-vous du nouveau design? Est-ce que le texte est suffisamment lisible (dans le sens, pas trop petit? Pour le style, je ne me fais pas d'illusion, ah ah.)

Thank you for all the kind and nice e-mails during this offline retreat. What do you think of the new design? Is the text readable enough? As for style, I know my limits, har har.

Pourquoi tant de temps pour redémarrer? La faute à Schwarzie et Wacko Jacko! Sérieusement, j'ai eu mal de boulot depuis l'été où Schwarzenegger a annoncé sa candidature au poste de gouverneur de la Californie. Les soucis judiciaires de Michael Jackson m'ont retenue aussi.

Why did it take so long to resume this blog? It's all Schwarzie's and Wacko Jacko's fault! Seriously, I've had lots of work since Schwarzenegger announced he was running for governor of California. Michael Jackson's judicial troubles have kept me busy too.

J'ai été décue par les guéguerres vicieuses entre certains blogueurs et les nouvelles volées de commentaires haineux. La campagne électorale américaine n'arrange rien de ce côté de l'Atlantique. On a rarement les bloggers aussi divisés et polarisés et certains blogs que j'adorais sont devenus des professions de foi politique.

I was also disappointed by the petty and vicious wars between bloggers, and a new crop of heinous commentaries sprouting everywhere. The U.S. presidential campaign is not improving the atmosphere on this side of the pond. Man has rarely seen bloggers so divided and polarized, and some blogs that I used to love have become political credos.

Ensuite, j'ai eu des problèmes avec le logiciel de blog Movable Type. Sans Sheila de Tart Graphics, j'y serai encore: elle m'a aidée à refaire le blog en intégrant MT et a été merveilleuse. Merci Sheila! Pour les blogueurs à la recherche d'un nouveau look, elle offre des designs de blogs cool et gratuits sur son site.

Then I've had trouble with the blogging software Movable Type. Without Sheila from Tart Graphics, I would still be fidling with it: she has been wonderful helping me redo the blog from scratch by integrating MT. Thanks Sheila! For bloggers in search of a new look, she's offering cool, free blog templates on her site.

Enfin, je n'aime pas vraiment écrire, même si je vis de mes mots d'une certaine façon. Evidemment, tous ces mois sasn blogger censés me permettre de dégager le temps de lire des bouquins ou à répondre aux emails en retard ou à apprendre l'espagnol (cf le débat sur l'utilité d'apprendre l'espagnol en Californie déclenché par ma copine Cathy sur le blog Volokh Conspiracy) ont filé à toute allure, sans grands résultats! Conclusion: autant bloguer, ce qui permet de rester au courant et de lire les uns et les autres ardemment.

And last, I don't really like writing, even if I somehow make a living out of it. Of course, all these off-line months were supposed to help me find time to read books or to answer late e-mails or to learn Spanish (don't miss the debate on the usefulness of learning Spanish in California that was started by my friend Cathy on the Volokh Conspiracy) have gone so fast, with little result. The conclusion is: you're better off blogging, and it allows you to stay in the loop and to read blogs with a passionate dedication.

Posted by Emmanuelle at July 20, 2004 10:42 PM

Comments

Hooray!

Welcome back to the filthy, not-so-good blog world! I like the new site design. It is pretty.

Suggestions: A little space between the banner and the start of the page? Mebbe make the text column a small bit more wide? That is all. Or just keep it like it is, and post some stuff!!

Love,
coyote sam

Posted by: Ken Layne at July 21, 2004 12:28 AM

Thanks Coyote Layne! And also for the Gmail account that I've been neglecting. You're right, I'll introduce the much needed space. Now off to bed - the house has turned into an oven.
xo
Spring Roll the Cat

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 21, 2004 12:52 AM

"Spring Roll" is the actual name of the actual cat Os snatched from the coyote's jaws....

Posted by: Matt Welch at July 21, 2004 12:59 AM

YOUPI!

THE blog that introduced me to the Blogosphere! Welcome back!

*Does the Chicken Dance*

Posted by: Chninkel at July 21, 2004 1:22 AM

Welcome back! Love the new look.

Posted by: Brian Linse at July 21, 2004 2:36 AM

Thank you Brian the best dude! It's that time of the year again: a blog party around several pitchers of margaritas. This time we'll host it. We're thinking of a Garden party in early August... information will follow by e-mail

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 21, 2004 9:09 AM

Welcome back ;-)

Posted by: JLR at July 21, 2004 11:57 AM

Ah enfin de retour!!!
Comme Chninkel, c'est LE Blog qui m'a fait connaïtre la Blogosphère!
encore merci et bonne continuation!
le design est parfait...ça n'est pas le flacon qui fait l'ivresse;)

Posted by: phildard at July 21, 2004 2:44 PM

Merci Philippe et Jean-Luc!

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 21, 2004 3:12 PM

Fimoculous explains in a much more graceful/witty way why he has stopped blogging

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 21, 2004 11:16 PM

Welcome back to bloggerdom!

That chair looks like an ergonomic nightmare.

Posted by: A Fly on the Wall at July 21, 2004 11:20 PM

Ikea, cute but you're right, not the best ergonimics

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 21, 2004 11:32 PM

Re-bienvenue !
j'espère que tu es de nouveau à bloc après cette longue pause :-)
Bon retour, n'écris pas trop (on voudrait pas que tu nous refasses un blog burnout), et le nouveau design est très bien :-)
bises
lau
ps : petite suggestion: peut être grouper les langues ensemble, c'est dur à lire les petits blocs de textes alternés français/anglais

Posted by: lau at July 22, 2004 1:38 AM

The polarization and politicization of the blogosphere was and is a part of the natural ebb and flow of things. Blogs are the 21st Century version of soapbox oratories and as that old form of mass communication proved, only those with the loudest and most strident voice will be heard and draw a crowd.

Posted by: Rodger Jacobs at July 22, 2004 10:30 AM

True Rodger, it's all natural. It's a good thing to have strong political convictions but I don't see a lot of healthy debates in the blogosphere right now. Too many pro-War and systematically anti-European bloggers deride people "from the other camp". On the other side, you have an anti-Bush hysteria that's not very mature either. Alk of this fuels often strident, anonymous comments that make some blogs look like "the hugest wall in the giantest public restroom", to borrow Frank Black's expression.

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 22, 2004 10:56 AM

Let's not forget that a lot of bloggers need that daily ego massage that a fresh posting and the subsequent comments from readers provokes. If folks did not feel the compelling urge to spew their personal thoughts onto the net on a daily basis they might not so often be hoisted upon the petard of their own verbiage. The dust storm over Cathy Seipp's remarkably ill-informed comments about speaking Spanish in L.A. is a perfect example of this.

I have a website but I don't blog on a daily basis and when I do politics is not a part of it. I get paid for my Op-Eds elsewhere and that's enough. I do not have some vainglorious idea that there's a cyber audience out there just dying to know where I rise and fall on the latest social or political issue.

Posted by: Rodger Jacobs at July 22, 2004 11:47 AM

C'est amusant d'être journaliste et de ne pas aimer écrire. J'ai le même problème, il me faut une commande pour que les mots sortent !

Nous ne nous connaissons pas mais je viens de passer (en mai) quelques jours chez quelqu'un qui m'a beaucoup parlé de toi : Rick Brunner.

Posted by: sophie at July 22, 2004 2:09 PM

Welcome back Em!

Posted by: Martin at July 22, 2004 4:12 PM

Merci Martin! Et Sophie aussi. Tu connais donc Rick! J'ai hate de le revoir et de revoir NYC. On a passé le réveillon du 31 ensemble à Budapest. En ce qui concerne écrire, ca n'est vraiment pas mon truc. C'est gonflé de dire ca, car j'ai de la chance d'être journaliste pigiste et de gagner ma vie, mais... argh. J'ai un papier à pondre ce soir, une vraie torture! A bientôt. (Tu as un site?)

Posted by: Emmanuelle at July 22, 2004 7:12 PM

oui j'ai un blog (http://sophie.typepad.com/sophildeleau/) mais uniquement en Français. Je vis au Portugal, j'essaie d'en parler. En fait, c'est Olivier (www.oliviertravers.com) qui connaît bien Rick. C'était très gentil de sa part de nous héberger à NY. J'espère que nous allons pouvoir convaincre Addy de venir nous voir !

Posted by: sophie at July 23, 2004 5:57 AM

Les aventures lusophones sur son blog de Sophie et de sa fille Lolo sont sympas.
Sophie est invite blogueuse sur mediaTIC, aussi ;-)

Posted by: Jean-Luc at July 23, 2004 9:58 AM

Rodger:

My sentiments exactly!

The lazy blogger is the thoughtful blogger!

http://www.pointsofdeparture.blogspot.com

Posted by: Cletus Nelson at July 23, 2004 2:47 PM

ouidio wzbfbmk.

Posted by: Prospero at July 27, 2004 12:05 PM

Aaaaah !
(C'est aussi le premier blog que j'ai lu !)

Posted by: philippe at July 28, 2004 6:37 AM

Oops, sorry -- i meant to post that above comment on another blog :-p

I hate spammers -- last week i got 3000 new comments on my blog - had to deactivate my comments and rename the .cgi file for comments.

Anyhow, Welcome BACK! We need to kill these fools -- perhaps TypeKey is the answer.

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Posted by: Some Name at November 18, 2004 6:22 AM