Leveraging the power of the “Bloggosphere”…
Okay, how do we feel about PR companies targeting blogs? I’ve been approached by a couple PR people in the past few months, and I’m feeling rather conflicted about it. Here, I’ll describe the two cases so you can see what I mean:

1. Small PR company promoting local independent musician’s upcoming album release. They Google his name and find a post on my blog. They email me, offering to send me the new album to listen to and review if I like. They’re very friendly, non-pushy, and actually have their own silly blog. Their email makes me feel vaguely flattered.
2. Bigger, fancier PR company send an email about a Sydney gym they’re promoting. They’re running an online contest to win free membership, and they want bloggers to promote it. They don’t mention why they targetted me. Their website has example case studies for how they “leverage social networks and the power of the Bloggosphere.” This makes me feel like a cog in a giant machine.

But really, it’s the same thing, isn’t it? Or do you agree with me that somehow the first one is more acceptable than the second? I actually do like the musician, so I acquiesced to that one. (I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet, but thankfully they’re not nagging me or anything.) The gym contest seems harmless, but it still irks me a little. It feels so impersonal. Or am I just mad because they didn’t flatter me?

Anyway, I figured I’d at least put the issue out there, rather than be tempted to secretly sell out without telling anybody…

More goodness from McCain’s VP pick: “[Former Wasilla mayor] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving “full support” to the mayor.” That paragraph comes from TIME magazine. OY. (And according to the comments on Jessamyn’s site, the librarian DID get fired, only to be reinstated and later resign.)

Cream Cheese Penguins. SO CUTE. And the idea of pairing them with a cheeseball igloo is just brilliant.

The Handpresso. I need one of these! I hate the coffee that comes out of the machine at work.

Plastic canvas meets the 21st century. Sweet! I wish I’d thought to make the connection to computer pixels.

My sister has succumbed to the lure of vampire smut…

ZOMG. Hypercolor is back. We really are doing this reliving-the-80’s thing, aren’t we?

HELLO, Daniel Radcliffe! (Snookums is going to start calling me Germaine Greer again…)

Baby Name Explorer. Pretty neat little graphs! “Kristine” peaked in the 1950’s, oddly, but poor “Rodd” doesn’t even show up on the list.