The written word isn’t dead – at least not yet. In its last few remaining years it’s making a fevered stand on the Internet, there to die a slow and agonized death, suffocating in a sea of YouTube videos of dogs riding skateboards, and sprawling multi-player videogames in which Mongor battles the Purple Mega-Death. Bam! Splat! Pow!

Dude, that is 2 kewl 4 me. Thnx!!!!

Before the written word withers from even its online perch, however, there are a few spots worth visiting. Call them “must reads.” Specifically, Micheal Kinsley for a dose of enlightened and often funny political commentary; Peggy Noonan when you need a shot of conservative cant (and who doesn’t every once in a while?); James Walcott, who offers up a prose style on steroids and a bilious wit; and Frank Rich, who has done some inspired work in his skewering of the Bush madness.

Michael Wolff is fun for some culture dish, and Hendrik Hertzberg is necessary because hardly anyone handles a sentence better.

And of course Andy Borowitz, because sometimes satire is the best weapon. Oh, and the politically insightful Nora Ephron, whose writerly voice is pure charm.

I’d list some more, but there’s a video I want to watch on YouTube. A bunch of guys put an iPod in a blender. It is SO WICKED.