I would like to create a blog site with features like Engadget.  The editor can upload blog and albums while users can comment.  I know it's even easier to use blogspot but it's blocked in China.  I have tried Joomla before.  It seems a bit slow even after removing most of the modules and the memcache plugin doesn't help much either.  Is there any other option?  Do I need other plugins to run WordPress as blog?
CMS for Blog site
cms;blog
Use WordPress. You don't need anything other than what comes out of the box (unless you want a different theme, than you just need to upload it the /wp-content/themes directory).