I've been reading a few new blogs, columns, and sites in various places all over the web. Check 'em out:

Huffington Post
The Left's answer to Drudge. Liberal commentator and failed California gubernatorial candidate Arianna Huffington's little corner of the web bounces readers to important political headlines and allows them to comment on the stories. But the meat of this site is not the news, but the blog. She's got everyone from Walter Cronkite to US Rep. John Conyers writing blog posts. And Huffington's own blog coverage of the Judith Miller / New York Times fiasco has been absolutely fantastic.

Cupcakes Take The Cake
All cupcakes all the time. What more do you want?

Tales of the Urban North
A fellow New Yorker, this guy--"Brad"--writes simple, efficient entries about life in the big city. Part of the personal diary genre of blogs, sites like LiveJournal and Diaryland give thousands of young people an outlet for thoughts, hopes, fears, and song lyrics. Brad loves Union Square, and he likes OKGO, and that's OK by me.

Go Fug Yourself
A Gawker for bitchy fashionistas. They like to laugh at fugly celebrities who go out in public in bad hats, screwy pants suits, and frilly dresses (sample of their brand of fashion critique: "She looks like the ruffled paper hats on the top of a rack of lamb."). It's all a sassy, nasty good time--and very addictive.

One Word
This is more a place where you get to write than read. They give you a word, they give you 60 seconds and a text field, and you just go with the flow. Say whatever you want about the word they give. Fun part is that everyone gets the same word all day--so you can read what others are writing. Come back tomorrow for a new word. Simple and wonderful.

Copy, right?
An mp3 blog. Wonderful Liza presents limited-time-only free downloads of musicians covering other people's songs. Obscure stuff, new stuff, all kinds of stuff. Expand your musical horizons.

Metacritic
This site compiles ratings and reviews of music, movies, DVDs, books, videogames, and TV. Like Rotten Tomatoes on steroids, with a much more pleasant interface. One of my favorite features is that they rank the best-reviewed CDs of the year, so if you're in the mood to buy some new music you can get a sense of what CDs are universally loved. Cool.