As Julie Powell wins the first Blooker prize, awarded to a book built up from a blog, for Julie & Julia, the genre marches onward—and another blogger-turned-author is enjoying her moment in the media spotlight in a way that reinforces Cory Doctorow’s comments about Powell’s efforts: “Those who dismiss blogging as ‘mere’ confessional writing and complaining about one’s day job fail to appreciate just how engrossing those genres can be when handled by a talented writer.”
Although you won’t find the original version of Diablo Cody’s Pussy Ranch, the one that inspired her stripper-memoir Candy Girl, online anymore, you can see her all over the place, from a Suicide Girls interview to an appearance on Letterman. And she’s just installed a stripper pole in her apartment, which I’m willing to bet none of this year’s Blooker finalists did, not even “Belle du Jour.” (So, just to avoid confusion, that’s Cody in the pic at left, not Powell. I don’t want to get any email from mortified foodies…)