The new writers just keep on coming – this time, in the form of Stephanie Mannis, a chronic Yelper who won us over when she sent us a bit of marketing collateral she wrote for work about an American answer to the Beatles. Welcome aboard, Stephanie! Here's the buzz in the 215 blogs this week: Jeff Deeney over at Phawker sang the praises of author Susan Jacoby, who in turn railed against the dumbing down......

A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets. The trailer for The Matrix, redone entirely in CGI, and recast entirely with Muppets. The CGI isn't the best (which is understandable, given that this is a student project), but the casting is excellent. Rizzo the Rat as Cypher? Brilliant! Btw, make sure to stay through to the end; there's an amusing epilogue. (Via Jill) Apropos has got some great treadmill-related links today.......