Michiko Kakutani buries bloggers and Franzen in mass grave

Not really about bloggers, but still:

While some readers will want to give Mr. Franzen points for being so revealing about himself, there is something oddly preening about his self-inventory of sins, as though he actually reveled in being so disagreeable. And while it doubtless takes a degree of self-absorption for anyone to write a memoir [read—blog], in the case of this book the author's self-involvement not only makes for an incredibly annoying portrait, but also funnels the narrative into a dismayingly narrow channel.

—from this book review of The Discomfort Zone.

Shostakovich Prelude and Fugue in G minor [1951]

g-minor-prelude-piano-shostakovich
Originally uploaded by thane.