Especially when I'm stressed out, I like to open up people magazine, US Weekly, or check out what's happening on people.com. At the gym, I regularly see people checking out these same magazines. It's the age-old obsession with the lifestyles of the rich and the famous, I guess. Or the fundamentally human need to know and relate to other people (even if it is a little distant).

Anyhow, in recent years it seems that the relation between celebrity and media has become increasingly strained. Various stars have gotten in trouble for attacking paparazzi and photographers have been fined for trespassing on personal property.

So if anyone wants to know who to sit with at lunch, here's The List of the cool kids. It's even helpfully divided into A-, B-, and C- sections. The mission statement is all fightin' words (or dirty talk): "Blogebrity is welcoming the explosion of the first generation of bloggers and their rise to media dominance." Writing Machines Blogroll-endorsed Dooce shows up on the A-List, albeit as "Armstrong, B. Heather," since it's alphabetized by the bloggers' real last names. Which seems weird. Also weird is the exhaustive length of the list (Print Preview has it at 20 pages). For all the exclusivity that the list's format implies, it's actually pretty inclusive, making quality-comparison difficult. It looks like there's too much in the blog canon already . . . which I guess means that the e-lit e-majors of the e-future are really screwed.

Oh, and someone in the class needs to get on the list.