Gawker today is launching a new blog, Sploid.com, that will try to push into the Drudge Report's news space with a British tabloid style and politics "between the whiny left and the ranting right," the New York Observer's Joe Hagan writes. Ken Layne, one of the creators of the late L.A. Examiner.com, will post from the West Coast, and former Gawker editor Choire Sicha will handle New York, Hagan says. His story actually focuses more on the upcoming Arianna Huffington group blog, which he says has added Warren Beatty to a roster that includes Senator Jon Corzine, David Geffen, Viacom co-chief Tom Freston, Barry Diller, Tina Brown and Gwyneth Paltrow. It's aimed at being a liberal counterpoint to Drudge, whose creator says dismissively: "This isn’t a dinner party, darling...This is the beast! This is the Internet beast, which is all-consuming, as anyone knows who works in this business."

Also: The Observer has pieced together an unauthorized masthead (with titles) for The New Yorker, which famously does not reveal its staff list.