Blogfest roundup

Last night was the Brooklyn Blogfest, which made noise across the blogosphere this morning not for anything that deals with blogging, but the presence of sponsor Absolut and its new spokesperson of sorts, Spike Lee.

Some called it a shillfest, and Twitter had mixed reviews.

Here, a look at some of the responses from Brooklyn bloggers regarding the blogfest and the Absolut link:

F***ed in Park Slope: “The [Spike Lee Absolut] bottle itself looks pretty damn cool. It’s supposedly a nod to the stoop where Lee grew up… I don’t know about all that, cause my ass doesn’t have a stoop. But we live in a neighborhood with a s—load of stoops.”

Atlantic Yards Report: “[The] Blogfest audience … managed but a few boos when Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz was invited by Lee to sit next to him when Lee’s beloved New York Knicks play the BP’s Brooklyn Nets (or whatever their name is) at the new Brooklyn arena...And after Lee offered a few choice words about housing cost, his parents’ $40,000 brownstone (40 years ago), and the time ‘Fort Greene was Fort Greene,’ he ran into some internal conflict. ‘I’m not going to get into gentrification, but g—damn,’ he said, musing about ‘white linen tables’ on Lafayette and DeKalb avenues. Then he corrected himself: ‘This is to celebrate Absolut, so we’re not going to get into gentrification tonight. Sorry, Absolut.’

Brownstoner: “We decided weeks ago not to attend, because it was becoming clear to us that that the event’s organizer and some of the other participating bloggers had completely sold out to the evening’s sponsor, Absolut, which was using the blogfest to launch its new Spike Lee-branded line of vodka.”

Brooklyn Heights Blog: The sad part is that Blogfest 2010 surrendered its core purpose — a celebration of Brooklyn’s bloggers - to a brand. Not the end of the world, but maybe the end of an era.

Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn (run by Brooklyn Blogfest founder Louise Crawford, pictured with Spike Lee and Marty Markowitz): Spike Lee’s appearance was also fresh and fun. He calmly took to the podium and spoke about his childhood, observations about the changes in the borough, filmmaking, why he moved to Manhattan and more. He was there to “promote” his collaboration with Absolut on Absolut Brooklyn but he smartly didn’t try to sell the audience but just talked about his connection to Brooklyn and its stoop life.

What are your thoughts on the Blogfest? Did you boycott it like Brownstoner or not mind one bit? Sound off in the comments.