Huffington Blog Meme

So, Arianna Huffington is starting a blog to which she has invited many big name celebrities, writers, politicians, and pundits to join in.

Among those signed up to contribute are Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman.   

Not bad.  It got me thinking, and thinking led to blogging, and blogging led me to start this meme.  Who would be your top 5 people, living or dead, that you'd want to see blog? List them in the comments or on your own blog and trackback, then pass it on!  Here are mine.

1. Orson Welles - It would be a blog in the great James Wolcott tradition, only meaner.
2. John Keats - The definition of idealistic, scrappy, rebellious and young.  In other words: a blogger.
3. Andy Kaufman - Although he'd probably turn it into something that everyone called genius but no one understood for 20 years.
4. Nick Hornby - Because I know I'd be smarter and more well-informed when I got done reading him.
5. Dennis Miller - circa 1990, not today.  You know, back when he actually gave a shit about what he was saying and hadn't reduced himself to a caricature of his own style.

You're up...

UPDATE: To get things started, I'm tagging Lori, Collin, and eRobin, because I'll make them feel guilty if they don't do it.

Comments

[Lori]

I curse you, you evil guilt monger.

[Lori]

Mission Complete:

http://loribradley.typepad.com/add/2005/04/five_people_liv.html#comments

[collin]

I thought the idea was picking five people who weren't already blogging:
http://andykaufmanreturns.blogspot.com/

[Dylan]

Damnit! Why didn't anyone tell me?

[ae]

Nick Hornby is a great choice! Who else? Hmmm...

[Jack Diederich]

First, watch out for Arianna - she's only watching out for herself.
Second, dig her red hair, I'm partial (Still Life with Woodpecker rules!).
Lastly, five non-bloggers?
1) Mark Twain. The mind reels.
2) Ambrose Beirce. Ditto.
3) George Orwell
4) Rod Serling
5) Winston Churchill. You can't include #1 without the the other I-dunno-who-said-it-so-I'll-attribute-it-to-him guy.

[Jack Diederich]

crap, erase Winston at #5 and insert Benjamin Franklin. He could churn out a book's worth of sayings a year. That has to translate into a lot of good posts.

[Dylan]

Dude... Mark Twain is perfect... why didn't I think of that?

[eRobin]

I just finished my list. Thanks very much for tagging me. I've never been blog tagged before!

I wish I had thought of Orwell. I went largely with American progressives from the early 20th century because I think we're headed back there.

For me, I think:
1. Lucille Ball
2. Elenor Roosevelt
3. The Unsinkable Molly Brown (just because I love her character and wit)
4. Princess Diana
5. George Burns

[Dylan]

Who is this?

[Ms.Q]

All good choice, Dyl. I'm gonna have to say the following five are my dream list (and these are subject to change daily). How can you choose just five?

1. John Lennon - between nonsensical rants and political tangents aimed at anybody and everybody, there would always be something entertaining, enlightening, and/or thought-provoking going on there. He really appeals to my self-indulgent side.

2. Susan Sontag - just because the woman was brilliant.

3. Dorothy Parker - the original queen of snark.

4. Peter Sellers - I would want this to be a real, soul-baring journal detailing his inner pathos and demons and what drove him to be so frickin' funny.

5. I'm stuck here. Maybe one of the Monty Python boys. Oooh, I know! Terry Gilliam needs a blog!

There, I am pretty sure none of those currently exist but I would for sure check in with them if they did.

[jo-fo]

Drat, Ms. Q. stole my top person! This is kind of hard actually, but here it goes...

1. John Lennon - irreverance, politics, quirky humor, and love all bundled into one guy.

2. Hunter S. Thompson - ditto; and add drug-induced haze, psychotic ramblings, and unnecessary use of abbreviations to the above.

3. Ellen DeGeneres - because she could make me laugh by saying "hello", and because she is unashamed and unapologetic of anything about her (as well she shouldn't be).

4. Ani DiFranco - if I had one tenth of her abilities, or could even begin to comprehend what life is like in her shoes, my brain capacity would overload (and it needs it).

5. Cameron Crowe - simply for the fact that I don't believe the man can tell a bad story (I know somebody's gonna prove me wrong on that one, but oh well).

[Aubrie]

Sorry, that was me. I thought I had my signature on it and I didn't.

[Andrew]

I didn't even realize until now, Colin had already listed several Kevin Spacey characters; I had him down before I saw that...Hunter Thompson took a while to show up, he would definitely be a favorite of mine.

[ae]

Alright, Dylan. I've got my list (posted at Roxanne's, too):

1. Bill Hicks
2. Michael Ondaatje
3. Sacajawea
4. Peter Sellers
5. Lewis Carroll