Carole's Bookmarks: From Junk Food to Food That Saves Lives

Gossip websites and blogs have become must-have acquisitions for mainstream media companies. AOL is the proud owner of TMZ.com, which welcomes a healthy 1.6 million visitors every month, and Yahoo! acquired celebrity news site OMG.com in June this year. Some web commentators have accused CBS of jumping on the bandwagon.

"I suppose CBS are banking on DotSpotter.com becoming much bigger, and are getting in now before prices get ridiculous, something that often happens when the 'next big thing' is touted around online," said one.

One reason for the seemingly unstoppable popularity of gossip sites is that websites can attract readers with stories that are much more risqué than anything published by traditional printed publications.

Celebs On the Web: The World's Top Gossip Sites

Perezhilton.com

The self-styled "Hollywood's Most-Hated Web Site!" is also the web's most popular gossip site. The blog started in 2004 as PageSixSixSix.com. Perez Hilton is the pseudonym of 29-year-old Mario Lavandeira whose vitriolic comments and habit of drawing over celebrity pictures have made him one of the best-known bloggers in the world.

Audience: up to 4.75 million daily

10/26/07

All Is Not Well

She needs to get her life together...fast! Amy Winehouse's concert in Zurich last night was a complete disaster. She was drinking on stage constantly, was crying all the time, and she could hardly sing her songs A lot of people left the show after 20 minutes.

TMZ.com

Launched in 2005 by AOL, TMZ stands for "thirty-mile zone," a term that originally described the area around Hollywood in which "on location" shoots were regulated. Famous scoops include the transcript of Mel Gibson's arrest for drink driving and Anna Nicole Smith's death. A TMZ TV show launched in America last month.

Pam to Blogger: I Am Not Addicted to Coke!

Posted Oct 26th 2007 12:24PM by TMZ Staff

Filed under: Wacky and Weird, Pamela Anderson

After posting on his site that Pamela Anderson goes on coke binges three to four times a week, blogger Jonathan Jaxson got a gift from the blonde bombshell -- and it wasn't her sex tape. It was a cease and desist letter!

People.com

One of the biggest, Updated every three hours.

Usmagazine.com

The online arm of Us Weekly went live in autumn last year. Unlike its UK cousins, Usmagazine.com gives its celebrity subjects an easier ride and has high production values. Offers games, videos, quizzes and polls as well as news and pictures.

Audience: About one million per month

TheSuperficial.com

The Superficial.com is devoted to celebrity voyeurism. The site had all the pictures you would see in a People magazine with more detail and more shots.

Renee Zellweger... is her face supposed to look like that?

Renee Zellweger attended the New York premiere of Bee Movie last night. "And, Mary, mother of God, what the hell happened to her? It's almost like she went to her stylist and said, "Make me look like a transsexual. But, you know, more pale." I'm going to say that Renee Zellweger was abused by a skin pigment at a young age. Either that or she feeds off the fear of children. It's a toss up.

HolyMoly.co.uk

The weekly Holy Moly email causes a stir in offices every Friday thanks to its mix of close-to-the-bone celebrity stories and gossip. It has recently launched on Facebook with a live feed.

Audience: 240,000 weekly mail-out subscribers and 750,000 web visitors per month

Others of interest:

Popbitch.com

Created by former Emap employee Neil Stevenson in 2000, Popbitch is a lo-fi weekly email of gossip and jokes. Stories come from an army of anonymous contributors who dish the dirt on celebs they encounter.

Celebitchy.com

WeSmirch.com

I Don't Like You In That Way

TheSkinnyWebsite.com

A Socalite's Life

Jewtastic.com

Do you love reading about Jews who control the world or at least are making a good attempt to do so? At Jewtastic. com we are Jewish celebrity-obsessed and love Jews. From Amy Winehouse to Caprice and Sacha Baron Cohen to Michael Douglas, we give you all the Jews who are making the news. Go on, enter the Jewtastic. com world.

And finally

AwfulPlasticSurgery.com

Need I say more? Maybe we have hit the lowest of the low, or for others a terrific guilty pleasure!

Okay, so I've given my piece to the seamy side, now we can focus on the light. (Remember Carl Jung: the dark side and the light existing in us all!)

Well, now that we've all had our fill of gossip, here's one thing we can do for the people of the world who are still very, very hungry.

TheHungerSite.com

Please visit this site if only for just one click. It's real and it makes a difference.

The Hunger Site was founded to focus the power of the Internet on a specific humanitarian need; the eradication of world hunger. Since its launch in June 1999, the site has established itself as a leader in online activism, helping to feed the world's hungry and food insecure. On average, over 220,000 individuals from around the world visit the site each day to click the yellow "Click Here to Give - it's FREE" button. To date, more that 200 million visitors have given more than 300 million cups of staple food

Not only does this site feed the poor but there is a click through for the Breast Cancer Site, The Rainforest Site, Animal Rescue, Literacy, and Children's Health. All of these sites enable you to give by clicking a button to give free food, mammograms, food for animals, children healthcare and to save endangered species.

Does it all sound to easy?

Well, it is. But once on the site there are more things you can do to make a difference in our world.

Once you've finished reading the Huffington Post, please spend a minute or two giving something to those in need.

Comments

[Minka]

Loved this article!!!! What fun!!! Good to take a little break from all the sad things going on today in the news....and just have some!!! Can't write a long post...got to go check out some of those naughty cool sites you mentioned!
Thanks again...keep writing
Minka

[kdjoins]

Taking a break from the knife, are we?

[cktirumalai]

The subject of your blogs reminds me of Alice Roosevelt Longworth's remark (the daughter of Teddy Roosevelt, she was for decades a conspicuous figure in the Washington scene) to someone on a social occasion, "If you don't have anything good to say about anyone, sit next to me."
Then too a lot of us like to see the mighty (or at least the celebrated) brought low or rendered ridiculous.

[mtonello]

Carole, i don't know where you find the time...but i'm SO glad that you do !

[thehuff]

OMG!!!!! with one single posting you have totally mapped out my weekend. Now all I need is a huge bag of chips and a glass of wine. LOL
Thanks for a totally FUN post.