Patrick Goldstein becomes a blogger

The writer of the Times' weekly Big Picture column will now start posting to a blog, also called The Big Picture. The print column will become a rehash of what's been posted on the blog. He explains in the paper:

As you might have heard, this newspaper, along with every other paper in the country, is under siege. Our whole business model is in free fall -- circulation is dropping, profits are down and lots of talented people are losing their jobs. We can moan and groan about it or we can try something new.

That's the idea behind launching the Big Picture blog. As much as I've loved writing a once-a-week column, the world of entertainment and pop culture is moving so fast that it's become impossible to keep up with all the action without weighing in more often than once a week. Over the last few years, I've found myself addicted to reading blogs. The best ones offer a wonderfully brainy, personal and irreverent way of seeing the world....My guess is that someday soon our blogs will be the backbone of the paper.

He has been soft launching since May.