Housekeeping notes

April 4, 2008

I wanted to take a moment to let readers know about a couple of professional endeavors that may be of interest.

First, much to my disappointment, Salon.com has decided to close down the Blog Report, which I’ve been editing for more than two years now, after inheriting the site from my friend Peter Daou. I’ve always loved the Blog Report, in large part because it offered something unique: an aggregator of sorts featuring content from the left, right, and center, from blogs with 15 readers or 150,000 readers, and everyone in between.

Over the last two years, I’ve featured nearly 8,000 posts from all over the blogosphere. I’m going to miss it.

Second, speaking of Salon, the Blog Report is no more, but Salon has asked me to chip in for the next couple of weeks at the War Room. Posting here will remain unchanged, but be sure to stop by and say hello. I’ll be over there between April 8 and April 23.

And third, it occurs to me that readers may not know that I co-host a radio show every Sunday afternoon here in Burlington, Vt. Along with my friend Bill Simmon, we have a show called “Poli-Sci-Fi Radio,” which airs between 4 pm and 6 pm eastern. As the name of the show implies, we talk about our two favorite topics, politics and science fiction (though rarely the combination of the two), and a good time is had by all. In a typical episode, listeners can hear about the presidential campaign, “Battlestar Gallactica,” the FISA debate, speculation about the “Oceanic Six,” etc. We cover a lot of ground in two hours.

If you’re not in the area, we make the whole thing available as a podcast. Whether you’re in the area or not, there are all kinds of ways of listening, watching, and participating. It’s a fun little show, and thought I should mention it.

OK, back to the news….

Will there be a podcast, because that sounds like a good show.

  • Thanks for all you do, Steve.

    And I’d also like to thank the folks who take the time to post here (most of them anyway!). One of the things that makes this venue so enjoyable is the interactive dialog and the relevant links which get popped in as the conversation is engaged. This blog in particular has a high signal-to-noise ratio and it almost always makes me aware of things that I hadn’t been before.

    Other blogs… not so much.

  • Will there be a podcast, because that sounds like a good show.

    Yep, we make it available the night of or the day after the show. Check it out and let me know what you think.

  • Well, as long as this blog stays up… 🙂

    Too bad you probably don’t make transcripts of the radio show available online, like you do for the various video clips posted on this blog. I’m deaf, so transcripts are very handy– the Internet hasn’t quite evolved to the point where there is a significant amount of captioning yet. I don’t expect transcripts from your radio show, though– I know that it’s a low-budget endeavour and there is probably not enough money or time available by the participants to devote to transcripts.

    I’ll just keep reading this blog!

  • Hmm, well that helps explain some of the affinity issues between us. I owned and operated The Science Fiction Bookstore in Des Moines a quarter century ago. I guess this means I’ll have to get an RSS feed to the War Room!

  • Sad news re the Blog Report. I’ve long marveled that you were able to get through that stuff on the right side of the page and still maintain your sanity. The best I could do was occasionally skim the excerpts — and even those drove my blood pressure to life-threatening levels.

    I’m confident that you’ll find a replacement gig — I mean, who wouldn’t want one of the best and hardest working bloggers in the ‘sphere on board?

  • we talk about our two favorite topics, politics and science fiction

    Hmmm, that sounds like a recipe for Republicanism.

    (though rarely the combination of the two)

    Oh, well that’s OK then.

  • So is Tigh really a Cylon, and has Starbuck actually been to Earth, or what? No, don’t tell me. I’m going to have to wait until the end of the 4th season and download all the episodes from Amazon because I just can’t take watching one weekly increment at a time.

    That aside, I’ll definitely check out your podcast.

  • Sorry to hear about The Blog Report Steve. I was over there a little while ago and saw the news. It really was a unique report and very well done.

    The War Room sounds like fun. You work so hard no one else over there will have anything to do. 🙂

  • Great news because Alex Koppelman has really dumb down the War Room by perpetuating
    MSM gossip rather than offering any real insight to politics or the campaigns.

  • I’d love to check out your radio show, but now that I’m a Spectre, I’ve just got so much to do. 🙂 The galaxy simply won’t save itself.

    +8 Paragon.

    Shame about the Blog Report. You could always incorporate something similar here. I’ll never understand how you manage to trudge through so much slime, though. Usually the snips of right wing blogs you post are all I can handle.

  • I’d love to check out your radio show, but now that I’m a Spectre, I’ve just got so much to do.

    Man, that Spectre reference is awesome…

  • +8 Paragon
    I believe you get a +8 Renegade for choosing NOT to listen to the show 😉

    and Gisleson, I would have LOVED that store! Alas, Steve’s not big on the scifi books (frankly he doesn’t have time to read any books lately).

    And to give some more details w/o clicking through the link, there is a live stream (even video!), plus chat. And it is 2 hrs. With how fast Steve talks, that’s a lot of content!

  • Man, Poli Sci-Fi Theatre sounds like it’d make a great program, heck even a great tv show. My son and I are still arguing about who are the Oceanic 6. I say the baby can’t be one of them, since he wasn’t technically on the plane. But then we get stumped about who else it could be.( Kinda like I can name 6 of the 7 dwarves our ancient wonders, but can’t get the full list out.)

    And do you guys dig Torchwood and Dr Who also?

  • I say the baby can’t be one of them…

    Actually, we discussed this on the last episode. Conclusion: Aaron is one of the six.

  • Too bad about the blog report…

    Maybe with some extra time a fusion of politics and science fiction could be worked out; i can think of a few politicians who i’d nominate for a trip to Mars…or to find out what happens when you cross an event horizon.

  • CB: You’re right. Aaron has to be one of the Six. The big question now is how Kate either passed him off as her own or was allowed, as a fugitive awaiting trial, to adopt a baby.

    You were already the best blogger around, but finding out that you’re a Lost fanatic made my day.

  • Now that Blog Report is dead why not include more juicy wingnut links here from now on? You know you want to.

  • Cheeze Louise, guys… My interest in Sci-Fi peaked 45yrs ago, when I was 13, and has held at zero ever since (just like cat blogging). I made an effort to reconnect with the genre when my son caught the Sci-Fi bug but, since he didn’t make an equivalent effort to find out why I liked murder mysteries… We agreed to disagree on that point. Some sort of poli-sci-fi conglomerate here would make me drop the site and what would I do then (this being my favourite one)?

    As for the idea of Steve’s bringing the Blog Report here… Bite your tongues. *No* amount of bleach-drinking would be sufficient to rinse out the amount of sewage coming out of the right wing blogging. I want to know it exists, and I want to have an — *occasional* — sample of it. Which Steve provides. Anything more is ulcer area and I’m too old to tempt fate in that direction…

  • Sorry to hear about Salon’s decision, Steve. Seems a damned shame, but I’m sure they have their rationalizations.

    Pointedly not RATIONALE.

    C’est la vie. C’est la guerre. C’est la pommes de terre.

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