The Huffington Post

That's Arianna Huffington's new celebrity-and-journalist group blog. Find it here.

There's been a lot of talk about Huffington Post on the 'Net all week, mainly negative, but I only got a chance to check it out for myself yesterday. I'll be honest: the format sounded like something that would be amusing but not neccessarily useful.

Arianna has gathered hundreds of her cool, insider-y friends, ranging from witty celebrities such as John Cusack and Larry David to actual politicians to political commentators and even the occasional random humorist (like Greg Gutfeld, editor of Maxim UK). And she just opened up a blog for them, and encouraged them to write whatever they want.

You hear something like this, and immediately think it's wrong as a blog. I mean, the whole point of blogging is that people with an inordinate amount to say about the world have a place to just speak their minds, and others can come and puruse what items they find interesting. So having celebrities and writers, people who are afforded the chance to speak their mind 24 hours a day anyway, writing seems like a waste. I don't need to read Huffington Blog every day to find out what Greg Gutfeld finds interesting...He edits a whole magazine I can read for that.

So it's a mixed-bag kind of deal. Some of the stuff is really stupid, like John Cusack's Hunter Thompson obit (which essentially reported that John Cusack knew Hunter Thompson), or Greg Gutfeld's instructions on how to turn your SUV into an ice cream truck.

But some of the posts are really great. Like Dennis Miller's CNBC producer posting the e-mail he received announcing that his show had been cancelled, or Larry David sympathizing with nominee John Bolton's desire to harshly chastize underlings. All in all, the thing is a lot more satisfying, entertaining read than I had expected, and I'll probably be checking in with it semi-frequently for cool bits to post here on The Inertia.

Also, Arianna has a news section modeled on The Drudge Report, with little links all over to interesting or bizarre news stories. And I can always use another one of these, the better to find goofy news articles to mock for your entertainment and edification.