Laurence is still accepting rosters of potentially deceased famous people at The Dead Pool. I hate Mr. Death as much as the next girl, but he always prevails in the long run, so I might as well gamble on him and win prizes. (Believe me: there are a few people on my list I despised putting there, and I'll mourn them if they die this coming year. But I felt they had risk factors, and on they went.)

I need four more of you to send your lists in to Lair before 9:00 p.m. (PST) on New Year's Eve, so I can win the referral contest as well.

Thanks!

Posted by: Attila at 05:14 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 121 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I'm still upset with you for saying women don't soap their breasts in the shower like in horror movies ;p

Posted by: jeff at December 29, 2004 07:01 PM (f/b8o)

2 Like is full of these shocks. Soon, we're going to have a discussion about the Easter Bunny, but you'll want to have a drink first

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 30, 2004 12:01 AM (SuJa4)

3 I'm going to have one hell of a time coming up with ways of breaking nine-way ties, aren't I? Heh. I live for chaos.

Posted by: Laurence Simon at December 30, 2004 08:48 AM (uBCxH)

4 You live to be a bad influence: you just got me to make a wager based on who will die this coming year. Amazing.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 30, 2004 01:34 PM (SuJa4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

. . . takes a break from raising my blood pressure to make a good point. He's talking to a friend—I think I know who, but it probably doesn't matter:

We're both deeply into Religion and Spirituality but from different directions. In our last talk we both griped about how we're sick of the faux Holiday Spirit and the wretched music. He talked about how the true meaning of Christmas gets overlooked. No, not about the birth of Jesus which has tremendous controversy, least of which is "When..." and most of which has to do with an illegitimate birth. In any case, he mentioned the true meaning of Christmas has to do with light, that this time of year Christmas represents a temporary light from the long Winter's darkness.

Which is all well and good, I said, and fits in well with Hanukkah AKA The Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is about the miracle of oil lasting for eight days instead of one day, giving those extra days of light and thus extra comfort from the darkness.

And we both nodded our heads after seeing the light.

As human beings we don't care for the dark. It hides the boogeyman and other creatures. It allows our imagination to run a bit wild over every unexpected noise. Simply, darkness hides those that could, and long ago did, prey on us. With that, winter can be difficult as the nights are very long. We want something to break the boredom and shadows. We want something to remind us that spring will happen very soon. We want light. We want a festival. And so before Hanukkah we had something, a wintertime celebration. And we have Hanukkah, and Christmas, and more celebrations.

And so I say "Happy Holidays!" to all people, religious or otherwise, in the spirit of humanity.

Beyond these concerns, light (just in its physical manifestation, leaving metaphor aside) re-sets our daily clocks, allowing us to sleep better. Short, dim days wreak havoc on those who have sleep disorders. And the lack of full-spectrum light causes depression for many (Seasonal Affective Disorder, and all that).

Not to mention that our forbears had to negotiate some dark, dark streets at night, and—once snug in their beds—sometimes had to go outside into the dark if they wanted to pee in the middle of the night.

Reading at night was difficult to do, and expensive.

We have all kinds of reason to crave light.

Let the Sunshine in.

LMM is actually advertising here, so you'll probably go have to check his blog out. I assure you that it has redeeming social importance.

Posted by: Attila at 02:29 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 442 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Very illuminating. But my Mother-in-Law has an even more intrinsic view of Christmas: It's the time of year when and if you can get your lights strung on the house first, you and only you are the Keeper of Christmas and no one can take that away. It's that special time to spread guilt and resentment by throwing a big party in the neighborhood, serving shots and after-dinner drinks until the husbands stumble home well after their wives have already given up on them. It adds stress to others' Christmas while giving the party-thrower that warm feeling of superiority. A time to submit an itemized list of gifts, keeping in mind that these are not suggestions but well researched wants and needs, and any creativity will be met with severe ridicule upon the unwrapping of said creative gift. Or "instacule" as I like to call it. And finally, it's a time of giving. Giving just one more gift to instill in future generations the importance of buying more presents than anyone else. All wrapped in a bow that looks like an angel's fart and sings, "I care more than you." This was fun and healthy, I think. Thanks.

Posted by: Big Al at December 23, 2004 03:20 AM (FTNCi)

2 Ah, the spirit of the season. You, my friend, truly care.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 23, 2004 01:13 PM (SuJa4)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

on the parade of nuttiness that is the Bay Area. In a way that is beautiful, if not atrocious.

Posted by: Attila at 10:29 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 23 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . has the real story on this "armor scandal." Viva Power Line.

UPDATE: Link fixed, I think.

UPDATE 2: Power Line is apparently Time's "Blog of the Year," which means two things to me:

1) there is some justice in the world, and
2) Time may keep this tradition going. Next year, of course, the "Blog of the Year" should be me, based on something brilliant I'll be writing in, oh, July of '05.

Posted by: Attila at 02:45 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

Laurence's Dead Pool is open, and accepting rosters of prospective 2005 demisees until the ball drops in Times Square this New Year's Eve. A full roster of names is 15, and there are provisions for non-bloggers to join in (I believe there is a small charge to do so).

Act now, or you'll be out in the cold all year next year.

It's ghoulish, but fun. And there are classic Laurence-style animations on the page, as an added bonus.

Also, the whole process is simple enough for non-sports people to join in on. (I had thought years of skipping the office football pools would make this hard, but how difficult is it to comprehend "if I guess right Lair gives me free prizes"?)

Posted by: Attila at 10:17 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.

Christopher Cross explains why he's 37 times more interesting than Instapundit.

Posted by: Attila at 09:33 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 19 words, total size 1 kb.

is—at long last—exposed at Beautiful Atrocities.

(Go for the jokes; stay for the serious discussion about gays/women in the military.)

Posted by: Attila at 03:27 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Rusty has renamed his site Hot Lesbo Star Wars Chick Pundit, under the (doubtless coreect) impression that this will increase his traffic. He is blogging under the name "Princess Brittney Spears."

Get him while he's, um, hot. Hurry! He says he's changing his name back tomorrow.

Posted by: Attila at 09:15 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

There is an opening on the Watcher's Council. If you've wanted to get involved in this, now's the time to make your move. (Follow the link, and there is a further link to the responsibilities of the Watchers.)

Posted by: Attila at 04:47 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm up to 9% in the Weblog Awards Design category, after hovering between 8.6 and 8.8% for days and days and days.

Not that I care about these silly contests: I only dropped by there because I thought I'd left my, um, eyebrow tweezers there.

Hey! What if I could get a full 10% of the vote before this thing closes? Wouldn't that be cool?

Posted by: Attila at 11:55 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 67 words, total size 1 kb.

Runs a lovely satirical piece about one possible future of the new media, dated 2048 and featuring a discussion with "Senator Glenn Reynolds."

It's long, but it's thoughtful and funny:

Rushkoff first discussed the idea that ultimately produced the Douglas Rushkoff Corporation in an interview with Mediabistro (today a unit of the trade publisher Primediabistro) in 2004. "The next stage in the freelance universe, I think," he said then, "is for those of us who have managed to generate reputations to understand that we have those reputations through the luck of timing, and to start outsourcing. The universe is so big that we could write stuff that doesn't bump up against other stuff," he said—an insight that led to the creation of "Rushkoff bureaus" on six continents. "If the industry is going to be such that it only wants to reward a few recognizable faces," he said, "then those faces have to open up their purses and give us all work. I would love to be part of a writing collective—50 or 60 of us—and there are two or three of us with big names. We can even hire actors to be the fuckers!"

Rushkoff felt that there was a limited number of names that could be sold in the writing market, but much more writing that those names could do. His original vision for writing collectives allowed writers to utilize existing names (or create fictional "authors") to sell their writing and fully realize the economic potential of those names. Ruskoff's model allowed certain people to work on marketing, others to tour, and still others to work on writing. And instead of working for the names they were using, the names worked for the writers.

So go read it, already.

Posted by: Attila at 12:58 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 294 words, total size 2 kb.

John Hawkins has this year's results up. I appreciated the panel he put together: there were some heavy hitters there, but also a number of up-and-coming blogs. It was also lovely to see Kate of Small Dead Animals and Jeff of Beautiful Atrocities recognized/recognised (though Kate is becoming quite well-known in her own right, due to her high-profile guest-blogging stints and her clear upcoming win in the Wizbang Weblog Awards for this year).

And since Protein Wisdom won out over IMAO and Scrappleface, I'm hoping he'll, um, stop with the. The you know. The whiney stuff.

Via Mr. I'm Funny, Man, Do You Hear Me? Do You Hear Me? Who's Your Humor-Daddy?

In other news, even the tightest sweater on one's blog illustration apparently isn't enough to get a girl 10% of the vote in certain contests. What the hell is wrong with this world?

Posted by: Attila at 12:30 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 151 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . continue. Way to prosecute the Trotskyites!

(Seriously—some good links there.)

Posted by: Attila at 05:41 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 21 words, total size 1 kb.

Annika has started a grass-roots movement to replace Kofi Annan with Sir Elton John. Her reasons are myriad, but among them is this pivotal point:

It's the way that he move, the things that he do, wo-o-o.

Which I think is important to remember.

Posted by: Attila at 02:38 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

Five hundred and five hits today (I think my personal best is around 600), and my total uniques are now over 40,000. I do realize those stats are tiny for some of you, but for me this is amazing.

You don't think it has anything to do with my nomination for the Wizbang! Weblog Awards, do you?

I've been doing this since March of 2003, when I began the old BlogSpot site. In the beginning I was getting eight hits a day, which turned into 15, which turned into 30. This past spring I moved to a "real" domain courtesy of Pixy Misa's Munuvian Mafia, and worked my way up to perhaps 60-70 hits. This past summer I asked Julie of BlogMoxie to redesign my page, and she whipped up a nice creation that went online in early September. In the first two weeks after the redesign, my traffic doubled, which probably had to do with the power of Rion Vernon's artand the mystique of tight sweaters. Since that time traffic has tripled, though I did go through a "post-election slump" in November that made me feel I was losing ground I'd previously gained. But it's all coming back, courtesy of Kevin and the Weblog Awards.

And that brings me to John Hawkins, who is once again dispensing the advice he gives "up and coming" bloggers, which amounts to working very hard and being very patient.

John's philosophy, which he calls the "very very rule"—

"Remember that you will have to be very, very, good, for a very, very, long time, while working very, very, hard to promote your work and you will be very, very, underappreciated the whole time."

We all know the exceptions, but I'm not so sure that some of the bloggers who enjoyed a meteoric rise aren't more vulnerable to burnout than the rest of us.

Posted by: Attila at 01:03 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 316 words, total size 2 kb.

1 I want 500 hits. Cool that you got them...

Posted by: Scott B at December 05, 2004 01:38 AM (y6ZHS)

2 Congrats on busting 40K. Yes, tight sweaters helps Actually, the first time I came to your site was a link from another blog, and, for whatever reason, the graphic didn't load using IE. I keep coming back for your writings, as well as the format makes it an easy read. I have seen some sites where the writing is great, but it is hard to read because of color schemes. Yours is great. Keep up the good work!

Posted by: William Teach at December 05, 2004 07:21 AM (KCG7N)

3 Yeah, that burnout can make some people 'touchy,' don't you think???...;-) I guess I need a sitemeter. But honestly. I don't care about the numbers. I really love the commenters and conversing with them. Thats really why I do it. (That and I am bored lonely housewife with no poolboy, yeah...that too) (J/K!!!)

Posted by: Rightwingsparkle at December 05, 2004 09:17 AM (nrlu9)

4 Yes! You have to approach it like a job. You do the job whether your results are up or down that day. And to think about what you can bring to it that nobody else can. Just between u & me, what Instapostit does isn't rocket science. But the new gen of bloggers seems to be more creative.

Posted by: jeff at December 05, 2004 03:16 PM (YfKrn)

5 I know, I know. I rarely visit Glenn, since it's just a big linkfest. And if I want that, I prefer Opinion Journal's The Best of the Web. Besides which, Glenn has never linked me. So how perceptive could he really be?

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 05, 2004 03:31 PM (SuJa4)

6 Hey! Remind me to be VERY careful what I post here girlfriend! Geeze!!!!!!!

Posted by: Rightwingsparkle at December 05, 2004 10:16 PM (nrlu9)

7 But he didn't link back here; he linked to your site. So only people who go both places will see what he's alluding to. Hey--not only do I not have a poolman; I don't even have a pool.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 05, 2004 11:34 PM (SuJa4)

8 you know. Thats true. I wonder how much of my blog they will read frantically searching for my reference to needing a poolboy. Men are so......needy.

Posted by: Rightwingsparkle at December 06, 2004 04:06 PM (nrlu9)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

About the Sears/Kmart takeover of France:

The retail industry received another shake-up today as Sears Holding Corp. (NYSE: S), the parent company behind the recent merger of Sears and Kmart, announced the acquisition of embattled European cheesemaker France (NASDAQ: FROG). The buyout deal, estimated at $2.7 billion, will position Sears/Kmart/France as the world's third largest retailer and 15th ranked military power.

Reaction of Wall Street was mixed, with shares of Paris-based France rising 11% in late trading after the announcement, while Hoffman Estates, IL-based Sears Holdings dropped 19%.

"The acquisition of France indicates there will be further consolidation within the low-end, weird-smelling retail segment," said Ivan Kaplan, a retail analyst with Bear Stearns. "I wouldn't be surprised if Sears picks up another floundering discounter like Winn-Dixie. Or possibly Spain."

Gary Reed, an analyst with UBS, said the deal would position Sears/Kmart/France to remain competitive against mega-retailer Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT).

"It only makes sense for them to united to face a common foe," said Reed. "Both Sears and Kmart have lost significant retail share to Wal-Mart, and France recently surrendered Provence after the invasion of paratroopers from the 131st Wal-Mart Greeter Airborne."

"Attention Kmart shoppers! The glory of France, she is born anew," crowed France CEO Jacques Chirac, who will continue as head of the corporation's Northeast regional merchandising division.

Please read the whole thing: the retelling of the early 20th Century war stories is worth it all on its own.

Posted by: Attila at 06:06 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 248 words, total size 2 kb.

. . . does it take to screw in a lightbulb? I dunno, Man: first you have to cram them in there.

In other news: Goldstein-style, I'm declaring myself almost half as well-designed as Cold Fury. (Though, as I understand it, even Little Mr. Mahatma thinks I'm well-designed.)

And don't miss the fascinating little debates in the comments section on whether I should perhaps be disqualified because Julie of BlogMoxie designed this website, or whether there are just too many femme blogs represented.

I say you can never have too many femme blogs.

Posted by: Attila at 01:54 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 99 words, total size 1 kb.

Vote early, vote often, over at Wizbang!. Try not to vote for yourself (I've decided not to, but you most certainly are allowed to).

Of course, if I win the glory goes to Julie of Blogmoxie, because she'd definitely deserve it. (My nomination is in the "best design" category.) Still, I approved the new look of the blog, so there's that.

Going over there and voting for your favorite blogs is also a great way to get exposed to a lot of excellent writers you wouldn't otherwise be reading. Even if you don't actually vote, it's a lovely roundup of the best web writers out there.

And, you know—vote or die.

Now be good.

Posted by: Attila at 04:16 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 120 words, total size 1 kb.

Is it me, or is Jeff of Beautiful Atrocities being just a little bit arch in his descriptions of Barbara Boxer's fiction? I mean, here she is trying to ply her trade in the literary vineyards, and Jeff comes along just stomping all over her fledgling efforts.

I knew right-wing bloggers stifled people's dissent. I never realized before tonight that they also stifled creativity.

Posted by: Attila at 11:57 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

. . . has the raciest holiday skin I've ever seen.

Posted by: Attila at 06:08 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

1 "Holiday skin" is right. (Wasn't that the name of Hole's little-known album of punked-up traditional Christmas music?)

Posted by: Jeff Harrell at December 02, 2004 09:33 AM (UAuME)

2 well, that was an interesting piece of spam, eh?

Posted by: William Teach at December 02, 2004 02:43 PM (cuTsc)

3 Ugh. They hit every entry, going back at least a week and a half. I'll have to go through methodically later on and clean the rest of it out.

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 02, 2004 03:47 PM (SuJa4)

4 hehe thanks Attila ;D. I had the idea to 'moon' xmas, and look where it got me! Rawr!

Posted by: goldie at December 02, 2004 06:50 PM (YboA1)

5 Before Xmas Eve you'll need your own traffic cop. Personally, I'm still wondering about the physics of the underwear worn by the woman in the illustration. But that's me

Posted by: Attila Girl at December 02, 2004 11:16 PM (SuJa4)

6 Hah! Know any good lookin' traffic cops? I might be needing one . Seriously, that Julie has a lot to answer for. My Xmas skin, your nominated design... she searched for AGES to find my pic and I just adore it. I too wonder about exactly where the underwear goes, and then I decide that ignorance is prolly bliss

Posted by: goldie at December 03, 2004 03:37 PM (DHOFC)

7 This one is, uh, interesting.

Posted by: Brian O'Connell at December 04, 2004 08:44 AM (pvgsd)

8 Love your site! Good luck at the awards. About your blog being the raciest xmas theme, I think my blog may have yours beat in that department. I got booted off of blogsnob because of it! I wouldn't change a thing. Happy Holidays!

Posted by: James at December 09, 2004 02:43 PM (OtYHV)

Hide Comments | Add Comment