The Blog Vacation

It'll be over come Monday. (For the Glitter n' Chuckles-askance, your pain is measured only in a matter of days!)

I've been working hard at my pathetic for pay job as well as trying to come up with ideas for the blog relaunch in January. (The deadline is for the new redesigned site to be up by Jan. 20 when Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States.)

I'm likely going to make the move to WordPress and fork over some dough to get some Web hosting. A few of you have offered to help, which is awesome and I will totally be contacting some of you in regards to your advice. Others of you have made great suggestions and requests on everything from what hosting I should go with to which individuals I should use to write about for a revamped "Incognegro" series. I am totally taking in all your feedback and if I'm slow in getting back to you (or I don't get back to you) it's because the response was so overwhelming. I appreciate that so many of you feel so strongly and positively about the site which is obviously still in a growing phase.

One thing I'm going to hate to do, but realize I have to do is follow the law in how I reproduce photos. The site is a victim of its own success and I can't run around like a renegade forever like no one is reading this puppy but my sister and my best friend, so ... there will be a lot fewer photos on BlackSnob 2.0 until I either become:

1) So insanely successful that I can afford a better picture service (least likely to happen)

2) Part of a larger publication that pays for the photos

3) A cheaper press photo service emerges similar to WireImage, which does only celebrity photos (boo!)

I'll still have photos, but I probably won't be as reckless when I put them up on the blog. I write this because during the final week of the election my readership doubled, including an extremely high spike on election day -- a record high of 13,000 visits -- and it has remained surprisingly high throughout my vacation and I'm not even busting out six posts a day. That and there has been a steady drip of attention from people with way more clout and credibility than me, therefore I need to clean house.

BlackSnob 2.0 will still mostly focus on pop culture and politics but I want to write a lot more about minorities in the media. I realize that a segment of you enjoy my unabashed stalking of CNN Weekend's TJ Holmes but I'm actually fascinated by almost all media figures. (I think I've written repeatedly that I'm in love with Ann Curry on NBC and created an award for hot journalists in honor of Ed Bradley. I miss you, Ed!) TJ's just on a short list of ones I find extremely attractive. But someone has to keep track of all the minority anchors, reporters, talking heads, pundits and politicos running about. I'm just going to appoint myself chief black/brown/Asian media stalker-gawker. Send your news to me. And if you're a brown person in the media, send me tips and photos about yourself. I KNOW YOU READ THE BLOG!!! I promise to be discrete.

I will also write more about random lifestyle issues, color issues, gender issues and whatever else I deem rant-worthy. The title "The Black Snob" is a touch misleading as the blog really isn't about traditional "snobbery." A joke wrapped inside another joke, it refers to internal class issues within the black community and isn't necessarily an endorsement of "Our Kind of People" (nor a diss). Mine is more of an intellectual snobbery, as in, my head almost exploded while watching a Tyler Perry film earlier this year and I think DL Hughley has no business on CNN. In real life I'm a nerdy, self-described hobohemian -- a broke, over-educated artistic drifter with a laptop. But "The Black Artistic Hobohemian Nerd Intellectual Snob" just wasn't as pithy.

That said, keep the ideas, suggestions and love coming. Thanks to everyone who's donated a dollar or more to the blog. On the right side there is a panel listing all the donors who have contributed (the "Snob All-Stars" list). You all rock!

Back to my vacation (sort of)!

Danielle B. aka "The Snob"