{"id":71416,"date":"2005-09-16T20:29:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-17T00:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/?p=71416"},"modified":"2024-12-03T20:34:06","modified_gmt":"2024-12-04T04:34:06","slug":"blog-star-confidential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/2005\/09\/16\/blog-star-confidential\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog Star Confidential"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Note: this article was published on the now-defunct New York Blade<\/a><\/em> web site. I have reposted it here for posterity.]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For New York\u2019s gay blogging elite, it\u2019s more than just a phase<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By JAMES WITHERS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradford Shellhammer has a few choice words about the state of the blogosphere. First, he says, the current glut of new blogs means trouble for readers: There are too many options and few worth reading. What\u2019s worse, everybody who has something to peddle now has a blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don\u2019t expect too much nostalgia from Shellhammer, a New York blog star whose juicy online dispatches date back to 2000, about the good old days before hype hit the blogosphere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

After all, Shellhammer is one of the power bloggers hyping the launch of Queerty.com, a new journal of all things gay that started up Sept. 6. Assuming the editor\u2019s helm seems like a perfect fit for Shellhammer, one of the \u201coriginal\u201d gay bloggers whose personal site, bradfordshellhammer.com, boasts a lively blend of daily dirt and bite-sized interviews with the city\u2019s queer glitterati. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now the blogging boom has become old hat \u2014 especially in gay circles. From the role bloggers played in exposing Jeff Gannon\u2019s seedy past to teenager Zach Stark\u2019s online cries for help, queer readers have tuned into blogs in a big way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Sreenath Sreenivasan, head of the new media program at the Columbia School of Journalism, the trend makes a lot of sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlogs are having the most impact on niche communities and niche topics,\u201d Sreenivasan says. \u201cThat is where gay and lesbian bloggers come in. Blogs do well when they have a targeted audience. The mainstream media cannot cover everything. It has all kinds of economic and traditional barriers that keep it from covering everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queerty, which is the offspring of David Hauslaib\u2019s celeb site Jossip.com, offers an opinionated blend of lifestyle blurbs aimed at gay readers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe only blog out now even close to it is Andy Towle\u2019s and I adore his,\u201d Shellhammer says, referring to Towleroad.com. \u201cBut this one is going to carry some similar tones as Andy with less politics and more design, fashion, travel and grooming. Which is my background.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like Paris<\/strong>
With all the buzz, it might be easy to think blogs are ready to take over the world. Sreenivasan warns not to drink the Kool-Aid just yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey are also over-hyped,\u201d he says. \u201cIt isn\u2019t like a million people are reading blogs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And though exact numbers are harder to nail down, it\u2019s arguable that few blogs are making money. Commercial ventures like Queerty, Gothamist or Wonkette are the exception and not the rule. Most blogs remain the channel of choice for unrestrained navel-gazing \u2014 with the kind of self-indulgent writing that only a mother could love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not to say there\u2019s no value in such personal sites. For Toby Halliwell, a D.C. blogger by way of Staten Island, the world of blogging helped him find his voice in the real world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/td><\/tr>
Longtime bloggers Bradford Shellhammer<\/strong> (above) and Toby Halliwell<\/strong> (below) keep readers plugged in with their catty observations on modern gay life.
<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was a senior in high school, I was deeply closeted and very much into the whole online scene,\u201d says Halliwell, whose catty observations appear at vividblurry.com. \u201cBut the Internet was the only place where I felt comfortable being gay. And so for me, blogging was a perfect fit. It let me connect with other people like me, and it gave a voice to things that I could never bring myself to say to someone\u2019s face.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such public honesty can come with a price. Just ask Zach Stark. The blog world was blazing this summer about the Tennessee teen who wrote about coming out to his parents and their decision to send him to a Christian conversion camp. The 16-year-old boy suddenly turned into a cause after he penned thoughts that would have once remained hidden in a personal diary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gay bloggers have grown accustomed to the medium\u2019s unusual blend of anonymous outlet and public forum. It\u2019s the kind of crossroads that can make a meta-celebrity out of a reluctant high schooler or create an awkward situation when a blogger gets spotted by a fan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember the first time someone recognized me from my blog,\u201d Halliwell says. \u201cI was at a bar and I felt like Paris Hilton.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blogs on stage<\/strong>
Andy Towle started blogging to keep in touch with friends. But his Towleroad site slowly transformed into a site where readers could find a brew of pop culture and hard news \u2014 sort of like a magazine. Towle, by the way, is a former editor of Genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOriginally, its purpose was simply to be a place where I could share photos and writing with family and friends, and over the past few years it has evolved into more of a magazine,\u201d Towle says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His site isn\u2019t the only thing that\u2019s changed. Dan Rhatigan, a Brooklyn blogger who has been journaling online since 1998, says he\u2019s watched the medium itself evolve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe culture within blogging has shifted a lot over the years,\u201d he says. \u201cIt has gone from a weird micro-culture to something that is now so widespread.\u201d For Rhatigan, blogging has changed from more than mere pastime into a genuine way of life. In January 2004, he teamed up with fellow bloggers Chris Hampton and Andy Horwitz to create the WYSIWYG Talent Show, a monthly showcase that features bloggers reading in front of an audience at P.S. 122. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the longest running single project I have been become involved with,\u201d Rhatigan says of his blog, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ultrasparky.org. \u201cIt is mostly there for me and I have no reason to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither does Bradford Shellhammer, especially now that his years of blogging have segued into an actual paying gig. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore every freaking queen in the world got a blog, bloggers fell into two categories: cool people and connectors, who embraced technology early on,\u201d Shellhammer says. \u201cThe others were freaks, dorks and scary people unable to make friends in traditional ways. Both these categories still exist.\u201d Anyone who has blogged longer than four years, he says, probably falls into one of those two camps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judging from the first few days of Queerty\u2019s content, with topics ranging from Katrina to colon cancer, you might say its editor could find his way in either category. Above all, the mash-up of pop culture and news carries with it a winking edge and sharp wit \u2014 attitude you\u2019re not likely to find on the sort of sites Shellhammer slams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlogs, before anything else, are fun,\u201d he says. \u201cThey allow people to create. And I think that\u2019s a wonderful thing. Just don\u2019t expect me to read the crap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Note: this article was published on the now-defunct New York Blade web site. I have reposted it here for posterity.] For New York\u2019s gay blogging elite, it\u2019s more than just a phase By JAMES WITHERS Bradford Shellhammer has a few choice words about the state of the blogosphere. First, he says, the current glut of new … Continue reading “Blog Star Confidential”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ultrahistorical","category-ultrapress"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71416"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77563,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71416\/revisions\/77563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ultrasparky.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}