New Tumblr Theme

I changed the template on my Tumblr to this beautiful Vertigo theme created by Matthew Buchanan. I turned the orange to pink, which is probably a horror for real designers, but that's what happens when the little people stick their hands into back ends, I suppose. Thanks, Matthew. It's very pretty. Also, I'd been using a one quote and one image a day format, but I decided to chuck that out of the window. I'd had enough of it. I'll be posting higgeldy-piggeldy there for a while. Relatedly, I love this photo of Christy Turlington. Boots for stompin'. You can see more here.

Welcome to Tumblrtown

Web designer and Tumblr Trey Piepmeier points out that if you read my Tumblr via the Tumblr dashboard, you won't see it... Well, it's hard to know how to say it. I was going to say, "You won't see it the way that it's supposed to be seen," but the idea that anyone can control or dictate the way things are "supposed" to be read on the web is cockamamie. Every day, I post an image and a quote to my Tumblr. The settings are such that if you go to the homepage of my Tumblr, you'll see the quote and the image for that day, paired together. But if you read it via your dashboard, or as Trey further points out, you attempt to link to the combination of the two as a whole, you can't. Because of the way Tumblr is, they are two distinct posts. That's because I like the way the format of the Quote posts are done, and I prefer that the image has a stand alone look, rather than, say, the tiny writing that you can scribble underneath it. Says Trey:

"It’s also a kind of brittle layout, in that it is impossible to link to a particular photo/quote combo, since the page number is constantly moving ever upwards. Perhaps someone could construct an entire Tumblog history all at once and call it done as they first publicize it. Like a book."

If anyone has further thoughts on the matter, well, I suppose you could let me know. Or it could just be, you know, what it is. After all, this format is simply a redux of a format I greatly admired on Riley Dog.

Tumblrs Are Fun

Did you know I Tumblr? Because I do. I really enjoy it. I like the stream-of-consciousness of it, that the tumblesphere is smaller and more intimate like the blogosphere used to be, because it's one of the few things I do online where I don't have to think. Also, it's pretty. More painterly, I think. I post a quote and an image there once a day, five days a week. Its current format was inspired by a blog I love(d), Riley Dog, R.I.P. These days, you can peek at Riley Dog proprietor Steve's online meanderings by way of his Google Reader.

Gawkakke

At 1:01 AM, Gawker night editor Ryan Tate ran a post entitled: "The Internet: Worst Overshare Anywhere Ever." The entry features a photo of Sex and the Ivy author and Harvard junior Lena Chen, who, at all of 20, has achieved a fair amount of virtual notoriety for writing explicitly about her sex life online. The photo was taken from Chen's Tumblr, The Ch!cktionary, which Chen created as an alternative to SATI after an ex-boyfriend spread naked photos of her across the Web.

The original photo is here. In it, Chen has an unidentified male's money shot on her face. As part of his Gawker post, Tate ran the photo. Apparently, Fleshbot isn't the only Gawker Media site in the business of posting graphic sexual photos in pursuit of revenue-generating traffic. Tate concluded Chen's post "advanced the art of narcissistic self exposure."

I don't quite get how reposting a photo declared an overshare on a high-profile blog doesn't square the original overshare by exactly how many Gawker eyeballs will ogle Chen's photo. So far, commenters have deemed it boring, gross, and lacking in self-respect.

In response, Chen wrote a spirited defense of what she'd done: "Quit Gawking: It's Just Sex." Yesterday, I interviewed Chen for a story I'm writing on "Sex and the City: The Movie" for Salon. Chen was thoughtful, articulate, and unlike another woman I interviewed yesterday, pretty unconflicted about who she is and what she's done. And she's 20. I mean, she's not even old enough to drink. Legally, at least.

Anyway, it made me sad to see her called out on the rug like that on Gawker. Frankly, I was surprised the post was still up this morning. I guess I thought Denton would have pulled it. But I guess he didn't. I also interviewed the legendary Susie Bright yesterday. I grew up in the Bay Area, and Susie was the original sexpert. At some point, many, many years ago, I went to a book signing of hers and had her sign my left breast. I didn't post a photo of it to the internet, but that was in the days before blogs. During our interview, Bright referred to something that she called "slut-baiting," and while I wasn't sure exactly what she meant when she said it, what Gawker did with Chen is sure it.

The fact of the matter is that writing about sex isn't easy. Chen is a human being. And while I won't be posting photos of myself with a pop shot on my face anytime soon, you gotta respect the girls who have the balls to do it. Why? Because you don't.