If a Blogger Falls in the Woods...

Like Puss in Boots and a rain slicker, last night I slogged through the streets of the Lower East Side to attend the book party for
Ron Hogan's "The Stewardess is Flying the Plane!" , a coffee table tome documenting American Films of the 1970s that Publisher's Weekly calls "one of the year's most fun."


Ron has been a good friend to R&R, frequently mentioning us in his highly regarded book blog, Beatrice, so naturally, anything we could do to support his book pleased us tremendously. In addition to turning up for an early peek at a book that looks to be a photo-orgasmic experience, I must say I was also curious to see who else would be at the party. Because in addition to running Beatrice, Ron has recently been hired to do the book news blog at Media Bistro's Galleycat, he is clearly one of the most influential book world bloggers. It struck me that the party would therefore be lousy with other famous bloggers, and as a ranter myself, I thought it would be cool to mingle with my peeps.

Well, I have to be honest: the party may well have been chock'a'block with litty bloggers, but I really have no freakin' clue. Since none was wearing a necklace or nametag spelling out his or her URL, I couldn't figure out who anyone was. And it forced me to come to the harsh conclusion that though these writers have achieved a certain superstar status in my mind* (*with notable exception to those who didn't mention SHAKING in their blogs despite repeated pitches, pleas and bribes and whom I now think of as "superassholes"), it was more like being in a room full of plain-clothed Peter Parkers.

This is not to suggest that they were all as ugly as Tobey Maguire (who looks to me like he suffers from a little bit of Downs), but rather that though bloggers have a goodly amount of influence within their circumscribed worlds, in the real world, they don't have that palpable shine that starlets do. It's weird, but when I was living in LA, I found I could identify who the up-and-coming actors were without having to be told. It was like those people just had a certain glow to them, like a spotlight was permanently trained on their faces. The bloggers... not so much.

Now certainly people who read and write about books seem worthier of celebrity to me than, say, a sister Hilton, but for some reason, I'm not convinced we'll ever see a copy of InStlye Magazine featuring an inky scribbler. That depressed me. However, if InStyle does choose to go in another direction, they should know that Renee and I are more than ready for our close-ups, and we'll even bring our own spotlights to add nuance.