Jason Calacanis, founder of Silicon Alley Reporter and boomtime hype-merchant, has re-emerged as a blog booster. God help us. Calacanis, writing in Elizabeth Spiers' comments, predicts Gawker will be worth $10m, and advises Elizabeth Spiers, the writer, to hold out for equity.
   His valuation would be flattering, and his advice to writers intriguing, were it not for the similar predictions for Silicon Alley Reporter, which came to nothing -- and I don't remember Calacanis being so liberal with worthless equity at Silicon Alley Reporter.
   Calacanis is a smart and engaging guy, and I'm a believer in web media, but the last thing the world needs now is his brand of late 90s enthusiasm. Here's a reality check: Gawker and Gizmodo do about $2,000 each in ad revenue a month. Roughly the earnings of a starving freelance writer. Calacanis should hold the hype till the first blog IPO. And, if you're a starving freelance writer-blogger, and a magazine offers real money and benefits: take the deal.
What I did on my vacation [ElizabethSpiers.com]