Captain's Quarters Blog


« LA Congressman Hires Starving Guardsman Movers | Main | Get Dead Soon! »

September 13, 2005
Waiting For Hef's Call

Earlier today, Kurt from Writing History dropped me an e-mail informing me that CQ had won recognition from a major national magazine as one of the top five "winning political blogs", certainly an honor considering the quality of writing across the blogosphere. However, when the magazine that honored me turned out to be Playboy, I have to admit that I didn't quite know how to respond.

First, I am certainly grateful to the editors at Playboy for selecting CQ for such an honor. While I haven't indulged myself in reading the magazine for many years, the publication has always had a sterling literary reputation, apart from its more controversial, er, photography. My first efforts at creative writing regularly got sent to their fiction editors, as Playboy paid top dollar for short stories in the market. At the time, I recall that they offered $2,000 for any submissions that got published, and twenty-five years ago, that was pretty darned good money. Unfortunately, it was darned good money for authors like Stephen King, and not like me. I did have a nice collection of Playboy rejection notes, which I actually kept for a while.

Given that history, having them recognize my writing now has a certain sense of vindication, if not a sense of 200,000 cents crossing my palm.

Kurt, in his funny (and R-rated) notice of this honor, lamentably says that the quality of the literary content of Playboy has not maintained its former high standard. I don't know whether Kurt's disappointment reflects reality, but I hope it doesn't. I doubt I will get the chance to find this out firsthand, however. When I checked it with the First Mate about picking up the latest copy to find out what Playboy said about CQ, she launched some completely unreasonable objections to other sections of the magazine I fully expected to skip over. (No, really. Trust me. Quit laughing.) In the end, however, we did reach a compromise. She's allowing me to buy the Braille edition of the magazine, and she will read it to me aloud.

Somehow, I just don't think it will be the same ...

Chad at Fraters Libertas also noted the honor, and evokes the J. Geils Band from about the same time Playboy kept rejecting my creative output. He also wants me to remember who my friends are when the inevitable invite from Hef comes to my door ...

UPDATE and BUMP: Daniel Radosh wrote the feature on page 50 of this issue, and it's really quite clever. The layout has four columns; the first lists the blog and an image that represents one of our posts. The second tells you when to bring each blog up in conversation when someone claims that X is the best of a certain type of blog. In my case, they recommend mentioning CQ when Power Line comes up as the best conservative blog. The third gives Radosh's review of each blog, and here's mine:

THE QUICK AND clever Morrissey leavens gleefully partisan analysis with doses of gleefully partisan humor. Not content to rely on linking to news reports, Captain Ed rolls up his sleeves and does his own reporting when it's called for.

The other bloggers honored by Radosh and Playboy:

Low Culture (Funniest political blog)
Matthew Yglesias (Best liberal blog)
Buzzmachine (Most influential blog)
Hit and Run (Best libertarian blog)

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at September 13, 2005 11:06 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Waiting For Hef's Call:

» Congrats to Captain Ed from The Anchoress
Named “one of the five best political blogs” by Playboy. Congrats in order. ... [Read More]

Tracked on September 13, 2005 9:59 PM

» March of the Conservative Penguins? from scoopstories
Hmm, just last week I posted my reviews of March of the Penguins and Bowling for Columbine and was commenting about the dearth of quality documentaries made by conservatives.http://blogcritics.org/archives/2005/09/04/175103.php Now I picked up today's ... [Read More]

Tracked on September 13, 2005 11:58 PM

» Blogs y Poder from trazos
... pero habrán otros blogs que han demostrado tener poder o por lo menos cierto nivel de influencia sobre una parte de los lectores de la blogosfera es el caso de www.captainsquartersblog.com que ... [Read More]

Tracked on September 14, 2005 12:19 AM

» Congratulations to Captain Ed from Jack Yoest
Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters recently was noted by Playboy Magazine as one of the top five winning political blogs. It is well deserved. Your Humble Business Blogger is a regular reader of CQ because of his analysis of politics... [Read More]

Tracked on September 14, 2005 7:49 AM

» Magazine Honors Captain’s Quarters from Penguin Proletariat
Earlier today, Kurt from Writing History dropped me an e-mail informing me that CQ had won recognition from a major national magazine as one of the top five “winning political blogs”, certainly an honor considering the quality of writing ... [Read More]

Tracked on September 14, 2005 10:43 AM

» Magazine Honors Captain’s Quarters from Penguin Proletariat
Congratulations to Captain Ed, his blog is simply essential reading. I can’t imagine how he manages to post as frequently as he does each and every day, and in such an entertaining fashion. [Read More]

Tracked on September 14, 2005 10:58 AM

» CONGRATULATIONS TO CAPTAIN ED... CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS NAMED TOP FIVE POLITICAL BLOGS BY PLAYBOY from Junto Boyz
If you're a conservative and don't read Captain's Quarters, you should check it out and consider it one of your must read blogs. Ed has his thoughts on this honor here. Also the other winners: [Read More]

Tracked on September 15, 2005 9:27 AM

» Bloggage from kellino
Bloggage [Read More]

Tracked on September 16, 2005 1:03 AM

» Zackary from Zackary
Rickey [Read More]

Tracked on March 30, 2006 5:00 PM



Design & Skinning by:
m2 web studios





blog advertising



button1.jpg

Proud Ex-Pat Member of the Bear Flag League!