Mainstream Celebrity Gossip

This section lists the blogs that most people visit to learn the latest gossip about celebrities, newsmakers, and media personalities:

Awful Plastic Surgery

lplasticsurgery.com">http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/>lplasticsurgery.com

The editors of this blog compare new and old photographs of familiar celebrities to point out how people have used cosmetic surgery that doesn't do much to enhance their beauty.

Gawker.com; Defamer.com; Wonkette.com

http://www.defamer.com/

http://www.gawker.com

http://www.wonkette.com

Gawker, Defamer, and Wonkette are influential media gossip sites that monitor the U.S. media industry and celebrity machine in a sarcastic tone of voice. All the sites are published by Nick Denton who manages a network of topical blogs from New York. Gawker provides sarcastic commentary about news and magazine stories involving broadcasters, newspaper editors, and writers in New York City. Defamer clips items that puncture the vanity of Hollywood celebrities in Los Angeles. Wonkette covers politicians and the D.C. press corps. Gawker was one of the first blogs to gain media attention as an example of the micropublishing phenomenon. Founding editor Elizabeth Spiers moved on to New York magazine and Mediabistro.com. The site is now edited by Jessica Cohen and Jesse Oxfeld who took over from Chiore Sicha, now executive editor overseeing a platoon of Gawker-inspired blogs. Mark Lisanti writes Defamer.com from Los Angeles. Ana Marie Cox edits Wonkette.com from D.C.

Fametracker

http://www.fametracker.com

Fametracker parodies the stock market by creating a market trading in the value of celebrities. Watch outit's silly but addictive.

Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8545433/

Jeannette Walls dishes on MSNBC.com. It's mainstream but worth a visit for easily digestible gossip about celebrities you've actually heard of.

New York Social Diary

http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com

Remember the society pages in your local newspaper that covered all the parties and the rich people who attended them? David Patrick Columbia has translated that concept to the Web and posts pictures and write-ups about the swanky charity events in Manhattan. If you like to read Vanity Fair, you'll like this site because it posts the same gossipy tidbits about wealthy industrialists and European aristocrats and stories about the rich months before they reach the newsstands.

Page Six

http://www.pagesix.com

Page Six is not strictly a blog, but its daily updates on the rich and famous in New York and Los Angeles fuel many blog entries, and it is widely linked on the blog rolls of many people.

Blogs with Bite: Snarky Blogs About Celebrities and Pop Culture

The following blogs are more salty and often post unverifiable rumors. Read with a grain of salt.

Conversations About Famous People

http://conversationsfamouspeople.blogspot.com/

Blogging under the name "Distressedjeans," the author of this site skewers our obsession with celebrity by posting fake gossip and commentary about her rich and famous friends in the news.

Go Fug Yourself

http://www.fuggingitup.com/

This delightful blog is the online version of the catty girls in high school who sit together at lunch time and mock the outfits of other students. In this case, Heather and Jessica mock the outfits of celebrities who pose on the red carpet in tacky garbs.

Jossip

http://www.jossip.com/

Jossip.com is a blog that mocks the mixture of media with celebrity gossip by posting a new form of journalismjossip.

Fishbowl New York; Fishbowl Los Angeles; Fishbowl Washington, D.C.

www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlNY/ (or LA or DC)

All these blogs cover the local media of their cities and are a part of the Mediabistro.com website, a professional skills development organization for journalists. The Fishbowl New York blog is cowritten by Elizabeth Spiers, who was the founding editor of Gawker.com (mentioned earlier in the chapter).

Look What the Cat Dragged In

http://www.hollywoodweeklygossip.blogspot.com/

This site is a blog that collects celebrity-related headlines and posts them all on one page. Great for getting your gossip on the go!

Blogosphere Players Cheatsheet: Sisters In Sarcasm

The blogosphere is dominated by smart-mouthed young women who are not afraid to share their opinions or bite the hands that feed them:

Jessica One half of the Go Fug Yourself blog

Heather The other half of the Go Fug Yourself blog

Elizabeth Spiers The first editor and writer of Gawker.com, a blog that mocks the media

Jessica Cohen Replaced Elizabeth Spiers as the writer of Gawker.com

Miu von Furstenberg Authors A Socialite's Life; not to be confused with Diane von Furstenberg, the real celebrity socialite and dress designer