I was writing a long baseball post, but my computer crashed and ate it. It will go up on Saturday night.

For now, check out this draft of the speech President Bush should deliver at the GOP convention, courtesy of the most neglected blog around, Noah Millman's Gideon's Blog.

Newly-housed Laura, formerly a resident of Apartment 11D in the Heights, asks a question from her new suburban location (say hello to my grandmother in said location):

What makes for a good weblog? Is it sharp, witty political commentary or insightful life stories?

Truly, this is a Mars-Venus question, where the answer is wholly dictated by your mindset.

One type of reader (let's call them, for no particular reason, "men") looks to blogs for useful commentary and links on specific issues. (Let's call those preferred blogs "political blogs.") These readers aren't opposed to the revelation of the blogger's personal details per se, but wouldn't really see the point unless such details are relevant in some way to the issue at hand.

Another type of reader (let's call them...I don't know..."women") might look to blogs to, in Allison Kaplan Sommer's felicitous description (quoted by Laura), "really get a feel for what it is like to be someone else, living a different life and opening ourselves to their experience." (Let's call those blogs "personal blogs.")

Of course, most people probably partake of both mindsets at some points, but I think it's safe to say that many people probably gravitate towards one kind more than the other. But there's no reason to say that personal blogs are necessarily better than political blogs at fulfilling their professed aim, or at meeting their customers' wishes. Allison's statement that personal blogs are "the very best blogs" is nothing more than a value judgment, based on a pre-existing mindset. To those of us [blessed/cursed] with a different mindset, Allison's mindset - the notion that "really get[ting] a feel for what it is like to be someone else" is preferable to the most thought-provoking and informative commentary on a given issue - is close to incomprehensible.

I respect the ability of those who can write the best personal blogs; I know how difficult it can be to render feelings as words. But at the same time, can't you argue that our ability to "really get a feel for what it is like to be someone else" is necessarily limited, in a way that intellectual comprehension of arguments or commentary is not? Communication of feelings and empathy are necessary components of interpersonal relationships, but does blogging have to partake of those elements to be successful? Answering "yes" tells you more about the assumptions you bring to the computer than about the nature of blogging.

In honor of my return to blogging, I'm organizing a blogger get-together.
Since I can't make the usual Friday night affairs, this one will be on Thursday, August 12th at 7:30 P.M. at "Cafe K" in Manhattan (48th St. between 5th and Madison). This will be the second (or third, depending on who's counting) kosher blogfest I've organized, and I hope it will be the best yet - I'm hoping to draw people from the politics, baseball & Jewish-blogging worlds, and get them together to see if they have anything to say to each other. I anticipate we all will.
Come one, come all. Tell your friends.

I finally say Spider-Man 2 today. For those who didn't grow up reading the comics (Mrs. Manhattan, for example), it was an excellent film, far smarter than your average summer blockbuster. For those who did (me), it was transcendent. Here's one of the best reviews I've seen.

The filmmakers have hit most of the canonical themes from the comics already; in fact, there's only one they haven't done yet. Are they really going to do a Gwen Stacy on MJ? I doubt it (if only because no career-conscious Hollywood producer would allow it), but am looking forward to seeing what they do with that story.

When I'm pressed for time...I find it easier to blog about politics than about baseball, because it requires less analysis.

- An e-mail from the Baseball Crank

That's certainly true now. I can't go too in-depth at this hour, but the deals from this year's trading deadline added another several reasons to the infinite list of why I'm glad to not be a Mets fan. Check out Sabermets for a classic (and spot-on) initial reaction to the trades and for a round-up of reactions from other Mets blogs. My condolences to Mets fans on the coup-d'etat of Steve Phillips - there's no more logical explanation.

UPDATE: Check out this naplam-filled summary from Avkash at the Raindrops. Too true. What were they thinking? (Link from the Baseball Crank.)

Caution: rambling and unfocused post ahead, due to blogging rustiness.

Has anything happened while I was out?

No, I don't have an annual policy to take several months off from blogging, despite what it may seem like. Life just seems to work that way.

I've been wondering how to write this post for a while now, and have finally settled on the Sam Kinison approach: "SAY IT!!! JUST SAY IT!!!!"

So I'll say it. The initial extended blogging pause was due to a combination of work pressures & home-related issues (a renovation that caused us to move twice in 3 months, but has been completed), neither of which was bad. But in the meantime, our son has been diagnosed with autism. A bit ironic, given the series of posts that brought this site some of its greatest visibility some time ago. (And nothing has happened to change my mind about thimerosal, but that's for another time.) But rich irony is a poor substitute for the son we used to know.

This development obviously reduces time for blogging, but - more importantly - it's sapped the mental energy I need to blog. I've always found not blogging to be as addictive as blogging. Combine that with the usual feelings of guilt about spending time with anything not contributing to recovering our son, and the neglect to which I have subjected you all is the result.

Plenty of bloggers have opined that blogging should only be done for fun, and should stop as soon as it begins to feel like work. Well, blogging is fun. But it's also always been work as well; I can't do it any other way. That attitude contributes to the intermittent posting pattern that has always been a feature of this site, but I'd rather have that - even if it means a permanent consignment to the blogosphere's minor leagues - than not being able to look at myself in the monitor's mirror.

And that's why I'm not giving up the site just yet. I'm not going to surrender to the pressures of practicalities in dealing with the demands of my job and my son's condition, or to the voice of despair that tells me I shouldn't be spending time on things like this. I may need to surrender to rationality at some point, but not yet. Blogging is work, and has therefore become a life-affirming act. Blogito, ergo sum.

I hope my son will appreciate it some day.