In their infinite wisdom, the good folks over at alt-parenting site Babble have decided to give me my own blog.
According to their press release, Babble is:
"a revolution in parenting magazines: a publication that talks to urban parents not just as caregivers, but as fun, smart, intellectually curious people. It will apply Nerve’s tradition of irreverent honesty to the experience of parenting without the infantilizing, hyper-judgmental tone or acquisitive baby-as-accessory bent of so much of today's parenting fare."
I don't know how much help I'll be in fomenting the revolution. Unless the uprising is waged with loofahs, bottles of scotch, and witty banter, I'm generally not much of a "revolutionary" kind of guy.
However, I am genuinely glad that Babble approached me with this opportunity. I subscribe to every parenting magazine available and I've yet to find one that really speaks to ME. Most of them seem to be written solely for women and tend to promote this weird cookie-cutter cult of stay-at-home domesticity. Others place far too much emphasis on shopping and product placement. And very few really ever touch on anything personal or substantive.
But their biggest crime? None of them are funny!
Forget all the crap regarding hipster parents, urban mamas, AlternaDads, or Grups. At the end of the day, Babble is just a smart, edgy parenting magazine with a wicked sense of humor about being a parent. Because as any caring parent who has been barfed on at 4:00 am knows, parenting is very often an existential exercise in hilarity.
Anyway, I'm both extremely honored and humbled to join their irreverent collection of great writers (which include everyone from A.M. Homes to Jennifer Baumgardner to Walter Kirn.) REAL writers whom I've had the pleasure of reading over the years.
Current blogs over at Babble presently include Steve Almond's "Baby Daddy," Barbara Rushkoff's "A Girl Grows in Brooklyn," and Rebecca Woolf's "Straight From the Bottle."
Me? I've got no title for my new blog. And I've got a terrible case of brain flatulence these days. I've been thinking of a title for weeks and absolutely NOTHING is coming to my mind. So that's where YOU guys come in.
Since most of you know me pretty well, I figured you could help me come up with a witty title for my new Babble blog. So I've decided to have a little contest. Help me come up with a name for my new blog: a name, label, or catchphrase that I'll take over with me to Babble.
To increase the incentive and get your creative juices flowing, I've got some great prizes! Here's what the grand-prize winner will get:
(1) The latest high-end Digital Photo Frame from Phillips. So new that it's not even available in stores yet. These things rock the house. Not only is the picture quality stunning, it's clear that a lot of thought went into the beautifully streamlined design. They're absolutely gorgeous and would look great anywhere.
.
.
(2) An advance DVD of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," the brilliant film starring Sacha Baron Cohen. With classic lines such as "My moustache still tastes of your testes!" and "What's up with you, Vanilla Face?," this film has already achieved cult status.
.
(3) Your choice of one of my favorite NYC foods that I will personally vacuum-seal with love and send to you. Winner will select from one of the following: hot dogs from Gray's Papaya, bagels from H & H, pastrami from Katz's Deli, or bacon from Peter Luger's Steakhouse.
The contest will close on Friday, February 23 at midnight. Then, BossLady and I will decide which one we like best and we'll announce the winner.
Ready, set, go!
p.s. Special prize to the first person who correctly guesses the origin of this post's title. No googling!
Pop Rocks! By MetroDad, urban legend
Posted by: J | February 22, 2007 at 02:25 AM
the MD Saloon
Posted by: Brianna | February 22, 2007 at 08:47 AM
hot and fathered
Posted by: mr nice guy | February 22, 2007 at 10:25 AM
How about:
1.) MetroDad 2.0
2.) Peanut Sauce: Vacuum Sealed for Freshness
3.) Grand Central Fatherhood: MetroDad Managing Marriage and Parenting in Manhattan
4.) Big Apple Daddy: Neat, Portable, Sweet and Sour
5.) MetroDad Safari: A Look at One Man's Journey Into Urban Parenting
6.) Fatherhood Chaos Theory: NYC
Posted by: OneCrazyMomma | February 22, 2007 at 10:34 AM
Okay, thought of a few more...
Urban Jungle Gym
Tales from an Urban Jungle Gym
Growing up Peanut
Peanut and Prose (a take on a great bookstore here in DC, Politics and Prose)
Posted by: s | February 22, 2007 at 11:47 AM
Carpe Digitem!*
Comedy of Heirs
A Tribe Called Questionable
A Tribe Called Kim
A Tribeca Led Quest
Heir Reverent Behavior
Me Blog Witty One Day
What's Up, Swanky Butt?
The Father, the Sun, and the Goalie Host
Heir Horn
Hyper-extend My Phalanges!**
* (Latin for "Pull my finger!" Well, okay, maybe "Seize the finger!")
**("Pull my finger!" in Park Slope)
Posted by: Mike | February 22, 2007 at 01:51 PM
-Knee High in Baby Shit
-The World According to Peanut
-Vacuum sealed for your pleasure
-Up a creek and without a clean diaper
Posted by: nikki | February 22, 2007 at 02:31 PM
Downtown Dad: Discussions of the Daily Grind in Manhattan
Tour of the World According to Pierre Kim, UberChic MetroDad
Extemporaneous Expressions of Fatherhood and Family (Well-read, Well-bred and Well-fed in NYC)
City Boy morphs into Metro Dad
Global Gotham Guy = Metro Dad
Adept Big-City Dad & Effective Father in Gotham
(ABCDEFG's of parenting for the huddled e-masses) Your logo could be the outline of the Statue of Liberty
Okay, enough for now.
Posted by: OneCrazyMomma | February 22, 2007 at 05:11 PM
I. just. can't. stay. away.
The Grateful Dad
The Evil Dad
The Dad Zone
Posted by: metro mama | February 22, 2007 at 06:03 PM
Mac-Daddy!
Posted by: cherrymartini | February 22, 2007 at 07:01 PM
What about "Mad Doter"? It's an anagram of Metro Dad and is truly what you are. :) By the way, I live in Birmingham, home to Dreamland.
Posted by: Katherine Hilton | February 22, 2007 at 08:50 PM
I'm too tired to think of an actual title, but if you don't want to put a reference to your daughter in it directly (as someone before me suggested), the tagline could be "Warning: may contain Peanuts"
Posted by: jena | February 22, 2007 at 08:58 PM
I'm kinda partial to Henri's the Unbearable Lightness of Breeding, but if you're looking for something a little more timely I say -- dadjelina.
Posted by: sandy | February 22, 2007 at 09:21 PM
Congratulations! I'm a new reader and already a fan!
My suggs:
1. Working for Peanut
2. MetroDad: Tower of Babble
3. MetroDad: Blog in a New York Minute
4. MetroDad: Hipster Dad in New York (As a new reader, I'd click on this.)
5. Ski Boots in the Oven
My votes (as if I had a vote):
+From Here to Paternity (no worries, satire is not copyright infringement)
+The Daddy Wears Prada (LOVE this one!)
+Bibimpop (appeals to my Korean appetite)
+Crouching Tiger, Hidden Cheesestick (appeals to my cheesy sense of humor)
Posted by: Miss Stinky Fish | February 22, 2007 at 11:17 PM
One bourbon, one scotch, and one baby.
iDad.
Who's your daddy?
Or, go back to your tagline contest. There was some good stuff in there, if my memory serves me correctly.
Posted by: Papa Bradstein | February 22, 2007 at 11:20 PM
"Heemeeonhefwepsy"
No? Really? ;)
No matter the title, your new blog is going to be great and you'll have droves of readers who love it. Congrats on the bond with Babble.
Posted by: april | February 22, 2007 at 11:25 PM
A Tribeca Called Kim-fest.
Eh, my poor attempt at using A Tribe Called Quest since you love them so much.
Metrodad: Where hair and parents have gel.
Metrodad: My hair has gel, my parenting (skill) hasn't.
Metrodad: Stylish hair, stylish parent/daddy/father.
Metrodad: Where hair and fatherhood has style.
Posted by: Wandering Chopsticks | February 23, 2007 at 12:11 AM
-Nut Brain-
"All I really needed to know I learned from a Peanut"
Posted by: skurf | February 23, 2007 at 01:35 AM
Metro Dad: NY Kon Man
Posted by: Chi | February 23, 2007 at 02:14 AM
MetroDad: the Man of Teal
Faster than a speeding Peanut...
More fashionable than a rococo votive...
It's a blog. It's a mane! It's MetroDad
Posted by: Mike | February 23, 2007 at 02:54 AM
Metro Dad...Inside Edition
Posted by: erin | February 23, 2007 at 08:58 AM
Metrodad: Hit Me On The Flip Side
Posted by: candace | February 23, 2007 at 09:56 AM
La Vie en Prose
Posted by: Laura | February 23, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Peanut, Scotch and Kim Chee...
Posted by: Big Pumpkin | February 23, 2007 at 10:31 AM
38th Parallel Lives
Posted by: | February 23, 2007 at 11:07 AM
Modern man meets Heemeeonhefwepsy
Kimchi, whimsy and peanut.
On fatherhood, fashionistas and the flip-side.
Metrodad: keeping peanut from the elephants since 200_.
Posted by: cazzableu | February 23, 2007 at 11:08 AM
Funny, Urbane, Berkeley Alum Reproducing (FUBAR!)
Gouda, Frank Insights, and Mirth
The Peanut Gallery, a MetroDad Reproduction
And some more fun with MetroDad:the Man of Teal = Superman as metrosexual theme!
Superman's Metropolis =MD's NYC
Superman's alias: Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter
Metrodad's alias: Pierre Kim, well-mannered blogger
Superman nicknames: the Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader
Metrodad nicknames: the Man of Teal, the Capers Crusader, or the Cape Cod Crusader
Superman's dog: Krypto, MD's: MetroDog
Superman's retreat: the Fortress of Solitude
MetroDad's: the Fortress of Attitude ; )
Superman's weakness: Kryptonite
MD's : Popeye's Spicy Fried Chicken
Finally, picture Superman's emblem:
blue background, yellow diamond, big 'S' in red
and now MetroDad's:
teal background, gold lamé diamond, and big 'MD' in what else? cranberry (clench your teeth and say "crawnberry")
Posted by: Mike | February 23, 2007 at 03:07 PM
Your new label: In Deep Kim Chi
Posted by: LeeAnn | February 23, 2007 at 03:07 PM
Pull My Finger...
Some things about parenting never change
Posted by: Kvetch | February 23, 2007 at 05:39 PM
Cheaper Than Therapy
Posted by: henri | February 23, 2007 at 06:12 PM
It's a mans world, but I'd be nothing without my woman or girl. I know, it's long, but...(taken from James Brown, & SPIKE TV)
Posted by: LeeMarvin | February 23, 2007 at 07:44 PM
Père Pressure?
Posted by: velocibadgergirl | February 23, 2007 at 11:32 PM
Fuck! I'm late! Stupid west coast time. Well anyways...
"Lap it up"
(Milk, scotch, love - it works with anything.)
Posted by: the weirdgirl | February 24, 2007 at 12:43 AM
I thought it was "what is my label when I exit WOMB status" like, meaning, when Tip was born (or was that a fife line?)
Okay I know I'm totally late ... but ...
How about:
Peanuts, Rhymes & Life
Peanut's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (hey that's catchy, huh???)
The Low End (Parenting) Theory
Midnight Poopy Marauders
Posted by: mrsfortune | February 24, 2007 at 10:57 PM
1) P.T.A.
(Parental Training Assistance)
(Peanut Transit Authority)
(Poop Toilet Ass)
2) The Adventures of Peanut and Pod
3) A $900.00 stroller is just the begining
4) Metrosensible
5) 3p's and an ipod
or
3p's and a pod
3p's=(Peanut Peepads PMS)
6) Poop is just a four letter word
7) Food, Fatherhood, and Four letter words
8) F.I.T. (Father in training)
9) Boat Drinks (Best line from things to do in denver when you're dead)
10) Why can't I have a breast pump?
11) You can milk mice? (Line from Fockers)
12) What we have here is failure to illuminate.
13) Fatherhood and Taxedermy, it's all about how you present it.
14) Babylon Peanut
15) Time to take off the training wheels
16) I wish my dad was like me
17) 21st century digital dad
18) Dadology 101
19) Not as advertised
20) Sold as is
21) no pook guy or no pook dad (rough cantonese)
22) peanut no dawn fee
23) You can still be hip (or cool)
Posted by: eightcupsofgravy | February 26, 2007 at 01:37 PM
1) Dad-Da-Dum-Dum
2) MetroDad knows Best
3) Because I Said So!
4) Don't make me pull over!
5) Trust me - I'm NOT lost!
6) Tales of the Crib
Good luck with your new blog!
Posted by: Carolyn | February 27, 2007 at 07:06 PM
All the Flavor, Half the Fat: MetroDad!
Posted by: Latia | March 04, 2007 at 09:12 PM
Congrats~ what an awesome gig! Hope I'm not too late for the contest!
- They Call Me Dad
- They Call Me MetroDad
- Ctrl + Alt + Dad
- MetroDad & Peanut
- The MetroDad Chronicles
- MetroDad & Me
- Love, MetroDad
I like just MetroDad too! =)
Posted by: Jenny | March 06, 2007 at 02:38 PM
Was there ever a decision?
Posted by: MammaLoves | March 08, 2007 at 11:53 AM