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I was pleased to have the opportunity to interview Doug. If you don’t know, he’s the hardest working man in the blog business, maintaining both Our Book of Scrap and Epic Carnival, where he serves as an editor to a gaggle of contributors. Frankly I was surprised he had any extra time at all. But, he did an extra line of blow and cranked out this interview with me.

A little different format for this interview. As you can see I dropped some of the standard questions in an attempt to generate a more conversational interview. Please feel free to send me your feedback.

What are the origins of Our Book of Scrap?

You want the truth? It is a little odd. I apparently have an addiction to creating Web sites. In the past I have started (and closed) three other Web sites. I got tired of running them for various reasons, mostly because they just weren’t keeping me interested in doing them, and I had decided I was done making Web sites. So about a year ago I started up OurBookofScrap.com for me and my close friends to post photos and things we found funny on the Internet to share with just one another. It was a private site that only we could view. As I pretty much expected, no one posted anything but me, so it was turning into “The site of stuff Doug finds interesting.” After a month or so of that I decided to open it up to the public. Since none of my friends and family seemed to be interested, I figured maybe there were other people out there who would be interested and share a similar interest in boobs, sports and stupid people. So I took off all the personal stuff and just started posting things that I found funny or interesting. It’s my own little scrapbook of stupid, thus the name Our Book of Scrap.

You have a successful blog, so why start a massive undertaking like Epic Carnival?

It’s an extension of what I do at OBoS in a way. I wanted to take all the good stuff I read at the dozens of blogs I frequent and see if we could combine our efforts to make one really good Web site. It’s a Book of Scrap of entertaining writers. I’m not sure whether I achieved that yet, because EC is still a large work in progress, but there is no arguing the combined talent of the writers and the articles they have written (other than me, who sucks to high heaven, but I know a good boobie when I see one.) The FanHouse got the ball rolling with this concept, but they can only hire so many writers and there was just too much talent still out there that deserved a larger audience, so I thought this concept might work. So far, so good.

What are your goals for EC? What do you expect the next year to look like?

My main goal is to make EC a site that people feel the urge to visit every day. With the authors currently under our umbrella I think we are on course for that to happen. I would like to see the site become a bit more structured, but at the same time I want the authors to feel free to post about whatever they want, whenever they want. They were picked for the site because what they do on their own sites is good and I don’t want to hinder them being able to transfer that over to EC. I am still letting the site find its legs a little while I try to steer it in a direction that is best for both the readers as well as the authors involved.

In balancing writers’ freedom vs. site structure, what are the most important factors you consider when making a decision regarding content?

You mean there are more questions than the first three?! Oh, man.

The only real limitation regarding content is that everything on the site has to be what’s in the best interest of the site and the people involved. So many people put a lot of work into the site and what they write and I don’t want one person or one article to permanently damage all the effort that has been put forth. There’s just been too much personal time and effort invested to see that happen.

What lessons have you learned managing 40+ writers as an editor?

There really haven’t been many surprises. I knew that managing this many people was not always going to be easy, but I also knew that these are people cut from a very similar cloth. Usually if an issue arises the authors will police themselves. I try to stay out of the way unless absolutely necessary. (By the way, the authors will vehemently dispute this. Ignore them.)

Along that same vein, how do you get anything accomplished?

Drugs, Danny, I mean, Jon.

Actually it’s rather hectic, but I guess I am getting better at time management. I have had to cut down on the 4,000 missives I write over at OurBookofScrap.com and go with shorter ones like Anna Kournikova In A Bikini … No Explanation Needed and A Photo Of Jessica Alba’s Ass … Just Because. They still get the message across that I am trying to get out.

Managing 2 blogs is difficult enough, but I imagine you have some sort of job as well. What do you do for a living?

Isn’t it obvious? I’m a shepherd. I also do a little marketing and public relations on the side.

Switching gears a bit, what sports and teams do you follow?

I follow the White Sox. They can have a losing season every year for the rest of my life because I never thought I would see a World Championship, so I’m good now. In football, it’s the Titans. I was a diehard Oilers fan as a kid and had to make a decision when they moved. I decided that since the players were still the same that it was ok to be a Titans fan (ONE YARD DAMMIT! ONE FREAKIN’ YARD!). I tried to be a Texans fan, but that was fruitless. I also follow the Lakers. All these teams are the opposite of my Dad. He was a Cubs, Browns and Celtics fan. Go figure. I also root for my alma mater, the Iowa Hawkeyes, although that’s been a struggle the last few years (die Steve Alford).

Doug, you’ve got some ’splaining to do. How do you end up a White Sox, Oilers/Titans, Hawkeye and Lakers fan?

Like I said in the previous answer all these teams are the opposite of my Dad. He was a Cubs, Browns and Celtics fan, so you should ask him. I had to be a contrarian I guess.

Why did I pick Iowa as a college football sleeper this year? What is the deal with that team?

I thought they would be a sleeper too, but for some reason they basically suck. No idea why. Once they lost to Indiana I officially quit paying attention to them. To make matters worse the Illini seem to have made a deal with the devil this year.

What did you major in at Iowa?

Marketing. I actually do what I went to school to do, other than the blogging part. We worked on stone tablets back when I was in school.

What is your take on the Vince Young era? Norm Chow?

Frankly I am stunned by how well the Titans have played this year. They lost their top running back and two top wide receivers and replaced them with, well, nothing. Vince Young IS the Titans offense and somehow opposing defenses have still not been able to contain him. (If the Madden curse doesn’t kill him, my bragging on him surely will.) As for Norm Chow, he has made an incredible adjustment not only going from college to the pros, but also to having a completely different type of QB than what he had at USC. I was excited when they hired him, but wondered how he would adjust. So far, he has been better than I could have expected.

How will this year go for the Lakers?

Depends on how happy Kobe is and whether Phil returns. I am a fair-weather NBA fan, meaning that since Jordan left the NBA, the weather has been cloudy and hard for me to see. Maybe he will come back and play for the Lakers this year.

A fair-weather NBA fan, are you sure you don’t live in LA?

I’m sure. It’s just that the regular season has become unwatchable to me. I grew up with Magic, Bird, Dr. J, Isiah, and MJ. Call me old, but no one today has the same charisma and skills that those guys had. Now get off my lawn!

A little word association:

FanHouse-

Mottram.

Kitna-

Jesus.

Heidi Klum-

Body.

John Madden-

Fat.

Ozzie Guillen-

Tired.

What is the next step for you and your blogs?

The next step is to get up tomorrow and do it all over again, only better. I would like to address one thing though: For some reason, there are certain people in the blogging world who genuinely dislike our site and not necessarily because of its content. I have no idea why they dislike it, but they do. We haven’t done anything to deliberately harm anyone. We haven’t stolen any writers from anyone. All we did was put together some fun and entertaining people to try to create something new and fresh and different, but there are those in the blogosphere who have taken a personal dislike to the fact that we put EC together. Maybe it’s because we aren’t part of the “original blogging fraternity” that exists out there (and it does exist), I don’t know, but whatever the reason or reasons are, I don’t understand it. If you don’t like the content, don’t read it, but don’t be petty.

Oh yeah, don’t forget to visit my true love: www.hotcelebrityasses.blogspot.com.

Any suggestions for future interviews?

The Prophet of ProphetFighting.com and Nation Of Islam Sportsblog are two that come to mind.