This week's Guestbar Blogger is the splendiferous Bonnie Burton, publisher of grrl.com. I'm looking forward to the whimsical items she's sure to post. I met Bonnie about seven or eight years ago in Boulder, Colorado, when she was a VJ for a public television station there. She's been involved in so many things since then I thought a mini-interview was in order. — Mark
Give us a quick resume rundown, Bonnie.
I was the Senior Editor at Excite@Home for five years where I ran the Entertainment section, the GenX/Slackers area called Web Waste and the Just Kids section. I managed to get paid to play with sock puppets on an online weekly video show for Web Waste called "Ask Bonnie," and often babbled about UFOs and Elvis. After the layoffs, I went to work for Winamp.com (AOL Music) and managed to do the same thing only this time I was surrounded by impressive underage hacker types who developed Winamp, Shoutcast, Gnutella and other interesting techie stuff.
What are you currently up to?
I now write weekly horoscopes for Emode.com. (It's fun to say that at dinner parties because everyone thinks you're psychic.) And I'm hunkering down on a book proposal about funky crafts to wow my favorite book publisher – Chronicle Books. And of course I run my beloved labor of love, Grrl.com.
What are your favorite magazines, TV Shows, and musicians?
I'm a huge sucker for zines. So far my favorites include Beer Frame, Giant Robot, Thrift Score, Mystery Date and ARTitude. Comics are a gigantic part of my reading diet as well — Love and Rockets, Skeleton Key, Optic Nerve, Sandman, Meatcake, Tank Girl, Scary Godmother, Art Babe, Gloomcookie, Lenore, Squee, HATE, etc. I'll buy pretty much anything from Fantagraphics comics or Slave Labor. I tend to act more like a comic book artist groupie these days. Most of my pals are either comic book artists or illustrators.
I love to cook so currently I'm addicted to both "Iron Chef" and "The Naked Chef." And "Trading Spaces" is a great show where neighbors switch houses and redecorate a room for each other. In another life I think I was a forensic pathologist, because I can't get enough of all the "Law and Order" shows. Oh yeah, and of course "The Simpsons," "Invader Zim" and "Spongebob Squarepants" are cartoons I can't live without. And because I'm a girl, I must watch "Sex and The City." Oh and I can't possibly leave out "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," "Ab Fab" and almost every show on the BBC4 network. Did I mention that I watch a lot of TV?
Since I used to primarily date musicians, I try not to think about them anymore. But I am a huge fan of the bands Sully, Dressy Bessy, Apples in Stereo, Broadcast and Le Tigre. And I will never get bored with music I used to slow skate to in the '80s — Cure, Cocteau Twins, The Jam, Buzzcocks, Yaz, Billy Idol, etc. You can always listen to my faves on my online radio station Grrl Radio on iTunes and Shoutcast. Here's the link for more info because I'm a big ham: http://www.grrl.com/musicreviews.html
How many visitors do you get at grrl.com?
According to my records I get a bit over 45,000 visitors a month, but then again those vistors click like mad all over the site because I have some impressive pageview numbers. Ick, I sound like a sleazy biz dev dork now.
How do people sign up for your Phreaky Phriday Phun Linx mailing list?
It's easy peasy to get my weekly column of weird Web site reviews I call the Phreaky Phriday Phun Linx. All you have to do is go to this area of Grrl.com and type your email address in the subscribe box. http://www.grrl.com/phun/phunindex2002.html Then you'll get the column in your mailbox every Friday.
What is one fact about you that you've never before revealed in your writing or on grrl.com?
Shhhhh. Don't tell anyone but I was once a Barbizon model! Heh.
