Most cities don’t have politicians who send pictures of their genitalia to porn stars. Very few do; at last count, the number totaled one.

Most cities don’t have a President who gets into debates on policy with foreign leaders; they don’t have internationally recognized music stars; they don’t create fascinating innovative tech companies. Most cities potter along, debating the police department budget or the addition to the zoo or an increase in auto thefts.

Most cities, in other words, are boring.

Talking Points Memo celebrates its tenth anniversary this week with some news hinting at its future and its position in the online news ecosystem. The pioneering left-wing political blog, launched by Josh Marshall on November 13, 2000, has grown tremendously over the last ten years — expanding from one man to dozens of staffers, winning awards for its coverage, and establishing itself as one of the most innovative online news organizations.

It’s time to stop being wishy-washy about our value assessments. A few years ago, someone convinced me to drop the title “Best Blogs” from this annual list and change it to “Most Notable” blogs of the year. It made sense at the time, when the medium was still figuring itself out: chiefs were being chosen, voice still being refined. But as I began to assemble this year’s list, it became clear that, no, these blogs actually were my favorites, not merely the most interesting.

Has the NYT Magazine figured out a way to save newspapers? The Times Magazine has seen cuts on three dimensions this summer — the cover is both shorter and skinnier (and the whole thing seems thinner). Times invesitgative pieces are notoriously expensive and this weekend’s is no exception.

However, this time around the Times did not foot the bill. Pro Publica — the non-profit journalistic outfit supplied the $400,000 story. Is this the future of investigative journalism?

A couple of weeks ago the AP made waves when it announced that, it was going to begin tracking its content on the Web to “to assure compliance with terms of use.” Now the folks at Neiman Journalism Lab have got their hands on a document labeled “AP CONFIDENTIAL — NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION” that details how the wire plans to make itself and its content relevant in the the new, over-sharing online world.

Gawker stepped over the line with their Bloodcopy campaign, where they were not only guilty of blurring the line between advertisements and editorial but of nearly erasing it altogether. And yet, the entire controversy made Bloodcopy one of the most successful ad campaigns Gawker ever ran.

In an interview with Nieman Journalism Lab trailblazing ‘bad boy’ Nick Denton said that Gawker Media’s recent return to page view pay opens the door for “checkbook journalism.” Meaning? If you send Gawker a tip that gets picked up in a big way, you get a cut of the ad revenue.