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housekeeping
I've had it with you people
I promised I wouldn't take another vacation. The last time I did, all hell broke loose. Larry and Sergey turned a Nasa base into their private jet hangar, Six Apart dumped its CEO, and Kevin Rose broke his iPhone. I dread the notion of leaving the Valley unsupervised for a week. But since September, I've replaced my entire collection of minions. Valleywag is now run by two drunks, a fag, a whore, and a madman. I am leaving Valleywag, and you, gentle readers, in their hands for a week, while I reacquaint myself with sunshine. And perhaps a wee bit of tin-smithing. I shall return on June 30, with the fervent hope that there will be a few Facebook and Yahoo executives left to write about by then.
Valleywag editor spins firing as great leap forward
Sweater-bear editor Owen Thomas just sent the following email to staff here. It's so obviously designed to be leaked that my only reaction is: Owen, can you please not use the little asterisks for bullet points? Movable Type screws up the formatting when you blockquote them. MORE
great moments in journalism
Owen Thomas ruins Julia Allison for the rest of us
"At first, she wore a va-va-va-voom dress. I told her she'd catch pneumonia. Now she wears a sweater and jeans. I'm very proud of that." — Valleywag editor and sweater bear Owen Thomas, bragging — bragging! — about his campaign to stamp out the last remnants of glam in Silicon Valley. Thanks for nothing, bosstard.
silicon valley users guide
The 250
Not every conversation happens online. A phrase you won't find on Twitter or Technorati is The 250 — pronounced "two-fifty" — a cruelly sarcastic euphemism used in real-life conversations for the small, cliquey group of self-appointed Web 2.0 insiders who seem to spend their days blogging and Twittering about one another. The gist is that The 250 are the 250 people who matter to The 250. None of the other 6 billion people on Earth care which of The 250 are dating each other or got onto a panel at South By Southwest. I'm loathe to name names other than Valleywag editor Owen Thomas, whose site the other 249 check obsessively for mentions of themselves.
caption contest
Robert Scoble almost made Owen Thomas cry
Your editor, awkwardly embraced at Six Lounge in Austin. (Photo by Caroline McCarthy)
party report
Sunday-night cocktail recipe: Sweet Caroline, dash of bitters, stir
Think of a high-school reunion held the day after you graduate: That was the vibe at the Side Bar Sunday night, where Gawker Media (publisher of fine weblog media products) threw a party for Valleywag and our sister sites, io9 and Lifehacker. We won Twitter praise for the free beer and minimal line out front, despite the wall-to-wall crowd in the Side Bar's expansive patio. Valleywag alumna Megan McCarthy, whom I never see in San Francisco — yes, she's been avoiding me — showed up toting Wired's award for best website started before most SXSW attendees were born.Vile videoblogger Loren Feldman showed up and didn't say anything truly nasty, to my disappointment.Julia Allison appeared, dressed as Julia Allison with a furry, green hat. Scott Beale and Brian Solis were on hand lensing everyone; Beale caught me and Caroline McCarthy of News.com having a moment, above. More photos, after the jump. More »
sxsw
Anybody else sick of those smug bastards living it up in Austin?
"I'm bored as fuck and jealous all those assholes are in Austin and I'm not," my colleague and professional troublemaker Richard Blakelely told me over the weekend. Social media minx Alisa Leonard concurred in a Twitter: "not at sxsw and feeling like everyone went to the prom besides me." My sentiments, exactly.
caption contest
"Want a lift, Pete?"
Mashable's Pete Cashmore and your editor at the Side Bar in Austin. (Photo by Caroline McCarthy)
sxsw
Julia Allison crashes SXSW, explains it all
Professional funnylady and amateur gossip Heather Gold just invited Julia Allison, professional gossip and amateur tech event crasher, onto her panel on — ha, ha — Gossip. "Explain to Shaila [Dewan, New York Times correspondent] what you do again," asks Heather, "since her coverage is of real disasters and not the Internet." Her response? More »
sxsw
Owen Thomas is my boss
owenthomas: Landed at AUS. What's the plan, folks? I'm on California time and the night is barely legal.
i really, really hate it here
How do you annoy me? Let me count the ways
My gripe about Web 2.0 invites has prickled a few PR 2.0 types who fervently believe that my career will just explode if I sign up to get spammed on Eventbrite. Look, people: In one day, Valleywag nitpicker-in-chief Owen Thomas will typically contact me through (1) email, (2) SMS, (3) IM, (4) voicemail, (5) Campfire, (6) Facebook, (7) Movable Type comments and (8) Tadalist which he uses only because it sounds gay. Usually he wants to remind me that we're supposed to use an <em> to italicize words in posts but an <i> tag in comments. (And I had to fix his HTML in this post, too. - Ed.) So if you sent me a Super Press Release on Facebook, I was too distracted to notice.
too insidery
Valleywag finally, finally dubbed "porno" site
WebProNews writer Jason Lee Miller has no problem with Melissa Gira Grant's awesome, awesome service journalism for underserved Valley boys. But he's taken aback by that Gene Simmons video. I wondered myself: Why is it on Valleywag? "The ecosystem that the Valley, from Google on down, has built," editor Owen Thomas replied, "enabled Simmons to bypass the traditional media and promote himself directly to fans." Translation: It was on the Internet!
too insidery
Before I started working at Valleywag, my favorite posts were always the "too insidery" ones that gave a peek behind the curtain. Here's a brief excerpt from Valleywag's group chat today, as our fearless leader tried to change the topic from Apple's Web services to Cisco, the telecom giant which announced earnings today.
Insight into the inner workings of Valleywag
Before I started working at Valleywag, my favorite posts were always the "too insidery" ones that gave a peek behind the curtain. Here's a brief excerpt from Valleywag's group chat today, as our fearless leader tried to change the topic from Apple's Web services to Cisco, the telecom giant which announced earnings today.Owen T.More »
Can anyone tell me how many billions of dollars more Cisco makes than .Mac? Thank you.
news flash
... but not as bitchy as former Valleywag editor Nick Denton. This according to definitively bitchy MIT Technology Review editor Jason Pontin. He just friended me on Facebook, so I guess I'm bitchy enough.
Valleywag editor is "a bitchy young man"
... but not as bitchy as former Valleywag editor Nick Denton. This according to definitively bitchy MIT Technology Review editor Jason Pontin. He just friended me on Facebook, so I guess I'm bitchy enough.
nerdfight
Jason Calacanis has "all the money"
After warning me that he was coming to the CES Press Room and to "stay out of his face," blog blowhard Jason Calacanis stormed over to me to "introduce" himself and slam my boss and brag about how much money he has. Money can't buy you a snappy comeback, however. More »
wrapup
Valleywag's 3 biggest goofs of 2007
The trick to running a gossip blog is to reject most of the rumors you get. Otherwise, no one believes anything. You quickly learn to spot the gullible chatter, the obvious attempts to plant a story, the too good to be true. Well, usually. We blew it big three times this year by trying too hard for the scoops. More »
7:24 PM on Sun Dec 23 2007
By Paul Boutin
2,342 views,
2 comments
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