What I'm Reading Online

I thought I'd let y'all in on a couple of things that I've come across lately that have really made me think.

First off, let me plug Slate.com. If you've never heard of it, it's a web magazine run by the Washington Post Company. It has a definite leftward tilt, but I really enjoy a lot of the commentary that gets posted.

One of my favorite features is when they invite semi-prominent people to do a week's worth of online journals, giving you a glimpse into who they really are as a person and how they think. This week Slate has had Judd Apatow, a comedy writer/director who has enjoyed recent success with Anchorman (one of my personal favorites) and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. I've found his posts to be enjoyable all week, but really liked today's musings on the state of the nation and how it relates to our fascination with celebrities. Check it out at http://www.slate.com/id/2126915/entry/0/.

Another thing that I really like is when Slate invites several prominent critics/thinkers to exchange open letters discussing their thoughts about issues in popular culture. Last week they had three women trading their ideas about how two recent books - Pornified: How Pornography is Transforming Our Lives, Our Relationships, and Our Families, by Pamela Paul, and Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture, by Ariel Levy - reflect the state of America's sexual culture, particularly as it pertains to contemporary feminism. Now, I know that many of you wouldn't think that you'd find that discussion to be interesting, but I loved how reading their comments pushed me to think about issues that I would normally ignore and to engage those issues from perspectives that I wouldn't naturally assume. The dialogue can be found at http://www.slate.com/id/2126570/entry/2126575/.

If you choose to look at either of these, I'd love to see you post comments about your thoughts.