"I am 120% sure that I don’t need one more thing I have to update, but I’m all about trying shit out. so. here we go …" And it was with these words that Julia Allison plunged head first into the world of tumblr, a sleek short-form blogging platform. Since then, other media mavens including Gawker alums Doree Shafrir and Alex Balk, as well as a growing number of New York City's literati have adopted this platform as their place for personal rants, lyrical waxing, and what have you. All the cool kids seem to be doing it (we haven't because we aren't cool...yet).

And Julia wants to take credit. So we asked ourselves, is Julia Allison capable of creating viral tumblr growth beyond just the "dregs of Manhattan media"? Like any good internet myth buster, we put this theory to the Alexa traffic test.

Our results show that tumblr traffic has pretty much flat-lined over the past 3 months. Sorry Julia, doesn't look good. But you can still revel in your early-adopter status!

Wanna know what we found (with the help of thecoolhunter) that's even cooler than the new toy everyone has been talking about? (Macbook Air) It's the iPod Conerto Table by Lovegrove & Repucci.

Ever want to act like you could dine in your own place with the most beautiful piece by Mozart being played in the background each night, on your very own grand piano? This table is for you. With a mounted base and speaker system for you iPod, just one open of the lid reveals two surface mounted speakers. For only $1400 USD, you can choose between the black or white model, and wow your future dinner guests as you will, no doubt, have the coolest new apartment accessory around. Would also serve as a great desk in any office....we want, we want!

[Narcissus]

"I am not young enough to know everything." -Oscar Wilde

We've been dubbed the Facebook generation, self-absorbed with our computers, iPods, and Blackberries. We can't go a day, rather an hour, without checking our email, and many of us have our own personal blogs. So it's no surprise that we are often characterized as a Narcissistic generation, a much more self-absorbed, "look-at-me" generation than our parents.

Today’s young people — schooled in the church of self-esteem, vying for spots on reality television, promoting themselves on YouTube — are more narcissistic than their predecessors. [NY Times]

Today's youth are marrying later, prolonging their "me-time", a time where they are clinging onto their adolescence in hopes of holding off adulthood and all of the responsibilities that it entails. But we are left wondering if this is really as dramatic as people are making it out to be. Mr. Arnett, the author of “Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road From the Late Teens through the Twenties” argues that this is "not a permanent generational characteristic", but rather just a "temporary condition of being self focused"

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[Photo from Gizmodo]

Our favorite Deity Steve Jobs just finished delivering his 2008 keynote speech, seconds ago, at MacWorld. Gizmodo is covering the entire event live since it started at 9:00 am Pacific Time (as is every other blogger out there it seems). A quick run down on what has happened so that you won't be the only odd man out at your dinner party tonight.

1. Unleashed a newer version of the "Time Capsule" which will help you back up your Macs wirelessly.

2. iPhone has been on the market for 200 days today. There have been roughly 4 million sold (averages out to 20,000 a day), and grabbed the second spot in the market (under RIM) in only one quarter's time. They have partnered with Google and Skyhook to make location tracking for their maps possible without using GPS, but instead using wi-fi locations and cell phone towers.

3. iTunes Movie Rentals. They have signed on with every major film studio and will have 1,000 films available by February. (Old releases are $2.99, new ones are $3.99). You can purchase a movie and then watch on Macs, PCs, ipods, iphones, etc and transfer back and forth. You can also watch on the new:

4. Apple TV. Price slashed today to $229, no computer is required to view anything from imovies, to flickr photos to youtubes, all transferable to your HD television sets.

5. Finally he unveils the Macbook Air (shown above). The smallest, sleekest, most powerful notebook computer yet. At 3 pounds you can fit this sucker into a manilla folder (which Steve demonstrated). It is 56% less volume than the MacBook, goes for $1799 and will be available in 2 weeks. Steve Jobs should run for president.

"It feels like the nerdiest, ugliest, meanest kids in the high school are trying to cancel the prom."

-NBC entertainment chief Ben Silverman on the news that striking writers might torpedo the Golden Globes via New York Mag's Intelligencer.

Mondays are my whine days. I'll I want to do is whine, whine, whine. Today it may be the about the completely meaningless weather talk I had to put up with in the elevator, the outrageous retardation of people buying fake Fendi's on Central Park South, or even the fact that chocolate cake doesn't exist sans calories and just HAD to show up in my hands around 2:00, minutes after my mushroom pizza from Fred's had left them. Thank god someone else out there is stressed too. I like shared misery. Which is why I loved reading the NY Mag piece on 5 of the most stressful jobs in the city. It's part of their "Peace and Quiet" themed issue which I will most likely devour in its entirety this evening. These five "extreme Stress Cases" included Tiffany, the EMT; Anna, the Momfuku hostess; James, the bike messenger; and Barrett, the air traffic controller. So far, pretty reasonable choices. Then I came to the last one, the eleventh-grader from Dalton, Mr. Sam Askin More»

[Lincoln Tunnel]

Last spring, when word got out that Mayor Bloomberg was contemplating plans for bridge and tunnel toll hikes, Jerseyites cried bloody murder, while us Manhattanites rejoiced at the prospect of a reduced number Guidos and B+T. Now, New Jersey Governor Jim Corzine is proposing to massively hike tolls on NJ's main roadways, making it increasingly expensive to venture out into the armpit of America. More»

No not again? This whole out of wedlock pregnancy thing is beginning to sound all too familiar, and quite frankly its getting old, fast. Whatever happened to contraception, coitus interruptus, or better yet the rhythm method. So now you've heard it, Carla Bruni is preggers further adding salt and vinegar to the wounds of Nicolas's ex-wife Cécilia Sarkozy.

There has certainly been much debate recently in the blogosphere about Gawker, its changing voice, its continued relevance and influence on the media establishment, and its ultimate future fate. Al Saklin just wrote a Sunday Styles piece that begs the classic Gawker question, has Gawker jumped the shark? No doubt Denton was tickled pink by this article as he quickly posted several articles over the past couple of years that incorrectly tried to predict the site's downfall. And no doubt, some fans believe that with the departure of Choire Sicha and pals, Gawker, like Britney and Jamie Lynn Spears, has indeed finally jumped. No more boy who cried wolf, this time its for real. More»

Its pretty clear why Cécilia Sarkozy is upset at her former husband and President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy. Aside from being a bonified Playboy, Sarkozy has been gallivanting around the world with his new fiancé Carla Bruni. Well Cécilia is going to go down swinging, and plans to skewer him with her pen in a soon to be published book. Adding insult to injury, not only does she call him a philanderer, but a stingy one at best. Could you level a harsher criticism on a man?

[Blow, 2001]

Need help with keeping your new year's resolution to curb your coke habit this weekend? Well, some fine members of the NYPD may be able to help out a bit. Yesterday, police dismantled a "major international cocaine distribution ring" in Brooklyn. Their are no doubt some very, very unhappy distributors out there today. The shipment originated in Panama, and, will actually most likely have no affect whatsoever on your small supply of the drug. The street value of cocaine in the city is already at a remarkable high as several high volume busts over the years have driven prices up....and this has not stopped its massive popularity. (Um, duh, people here have money to spend from their 80-hour work week jobs that keep them buyers in the first place).

So what does this mean for all of you? Absolutely nothing. Even if prices of cocaine doubled this year we doubt it would have that much of an impact on usage. As for keeping with your new year's resolution for a drug free year? We are here to offer our full support.

Yes, we here at guestofaguest are all too familiar to the "blogger's yoke", or as we like to call it the blog ball and chain.  Its a constant vicious cycle, where you are always updating, checking the inbox, and looking for new content to post.  And then once you find content, you strain to put your own brand of reporting/humor/wit/sarcasm/snark on it.
Om Malik, of GigOm, has been finding it a bit too consuming these days.  So consuming that he just had a heart attack at the tender age of 41.

“The trouble with a personal brand is, you’re yoked to a machine,” said Paul Kedrosky, a friend of Mr. Malik’s who runs the Infectious Greed blog. “You feel huge pressure to not just do a lot, but to do a lot with your name on it. You have pressure to not just be the C.E.O., but at the same time to write, and to do it all on a shoestring. Put it all together, and it’s a recipe for stress through the roof.”

We wish Om a speedy recovery, and warn all of you current and soon-to-be personal bloggers out there to stay away.  That's in order.  It's one thing if you are getting paid to blog.  Then at least you can justify the health hazards involved.  But if you are looking for another addiction to kill some time, why not try gambling or drinking instead?