March 15, 2006
Here a blog, there a blog
The New York Times is downright schizophrenic. On the one hand, they've put their most popular columnists behind a TimesSelect firewall, forcing online readers to pay up or forego daily doses of Maureen Dowd, Thomas Friedman and Bob Herbert.
On the other hand, they're linking to free, staff-written food & wine blogs. Their ponderous restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, has been chruning out for about a month now. There's a promise of livelier writing from wine critic Eric Asimov's whose blog, The Pour launched earlier today.
Asimov promises to avoid the ritualized shorthand of tasting notes and concentrate instead on the pleasures of wine. Can't wait. Meantime, check out his links: online editions of Spectator and Parker are there, to be sure, along with some really idiosyncratic blogs. It's like being turned loose in a friend's wine cellar and finding all sorts of great bottles.