The World Star Gazette
Ever heard of The World Star Gazette? Sounds kinda like a tabloid. I was looking through my referrals and found one from the World Star Gazette. So I checked it out to see what it was. At first I thought I was looking at a cheap imitation of The Onion. Then I got to my own entry and I finally understood what it’s about.
The World Star Gazette is riding on the tide of blog syndication popularity. Much like the Living in China aggregator, it uses the feeds of various blogs to collect links and excerpts which it then places together on one page. Besides the front page, it also has different sections such as “politics,” “religion,” and “travel.” The creative part is that the World Star Gazette makes up its own humorous headlines for the blog entries, and usually does a pretty good job (although some people may not be pleased with the modifications). It currently has two of my entries listed as After Four Years in China, America’s Diversity, Fatties and Free Refills Are Shockers and China’s Urkel Actually Canadian (Haha, they’re calling Dashan China’s Urkel!).
I’m finding the new site a refreshing way of checking out some new blogs outside of my usual reading circle.
Wow. That is a really cool idea. Even more so since it doesnt sound like they ask permission first. Rule. It is almost as good as the Onion since all of these are true stories about real lives. I have to think that he is making fun of half the blogs he posts on there, i.e.: in “Mexico the Perfect Spot for Converting the Damned” he quotes “I am so excited to have the chance to devote myself to serving completely for 10 days straight, with no distractions (besides karen…but she’s a good one..).” Heh.
Kick ass, one of the first stories on there right now, “Honey, the Drug Dealing, Samurai Sword Fighting Neighbors Are At it Again,” is from Wantingseed.com! It’s sort of strange that they don’t ask permission, and I’m sure eventually someone will get pissed and sue or something stupid like that, but for now it’s cool as hell.
Cheesy but funny.
But I often wonder if anyone can get paid SOLELY as a blog writer. I don’t mean someone who works for an online newspaper like the NY Times, but rather someone who has his own website and just blogs and pontificates. I wonder how much would a guy like Andrew Sullivan–andrewsullivan.com–get paid. Does anyone know?
the love and affection from internet users is payment enough
i think most bloggers have at least a tiny bit of voyeurism in their genes.
Andrew Sullivan raised $80k during one of his fundraisers. It’s enough to get him a part-time assistant to wade through his emails. Beyond the top 20 political bloggers though, I have a feeling that everyone else is covering their bandwidth costs at best.
Andrew Sullivan is the blogger I read most. Not leftwing, not rightwing. I think a lot of his originality in thought is because he’s gay–and nobody gay can swallow ALL of the Republican party’s bullshit. Yet he’s also not a hand-wringing, oh-my-word-those-poor-prisoners liberal either. He’s principled and the best political writer on the net.
I’ve heard of the World Star Gazette also. Somebody submitted something I wrote and I got really excited because your work is being published on an internet magazine. Even though anybody can submit an article and make up their own title even if they didn’t write the article it’s still a great way for blogs to be treated more seriously.
I have been published in the humor section of the World Star Gazette about shaving my back. I think they considered me, and maybe a few others on the Sinosplice network because of your work.