It’s hard to miss the way that some people hate on Chuck Klosterman. Yes, the guy wrote a book with a bad title, is ubiquitous to the point of saturation, and he somehow managed to convince Virginia Heffernan to buy a Billy Joel CD with her Times corporate Amex. That can be grating. But think about the positive things he’s done, like making it possible for the Brady family to play the Keystone Kops at the amusement park. See, Chuck isn’t such a jinx!
The coffee achievers over at The Stranger put out a great cover this week. I’m jealous because New York’s alt-weeklies have two very lame covers this week. (How lame? They’re not even online.)
Also in The Stranger, an article on the enduring appeal of Death Metal.
When Charlie LeDuff, The Times resident Joseph Mitchell manqué was pried away from the Hell’s Kitchen barstool where he bent countless elbows, there was talk that it was against his will or that he was being moved to the minors. He filed a few lackluster stories on yawn-inducing topics like rats in Beverly Hills, made some enemies in Los Angeles media circles, and generally acquitted himself like the slightly snobbish East Coast transplant he was. (This role is now being filled by The New York Observer‘s Alexandra Jacobs, who has filed hard-hitting but condescending stories from the West Coast on screenwriters, celebrity stylists, and the farmer’s market.)
But, whaddaya know, the LeDuff man appears to have lucked into the gig of a lifetime out there in Cal-ee-fornia. LeDuff’s been doing some heavy-lifting on the recall and election and today files this on Governor-Elect Schwarzenegger (no matter how many times I say that, it still sounds like I misspoke). Suddenly, being sent out to the Times‘ avocado bureau doesn’t seem so bad, does it? Now if we can just do something about Bernard Weinraub…
American soldiers continue to die of violent causes in Iraq, as do Iraqi citizens and other foreign aid workers. Oh, and something about there being massive power outages and unemployment or whatnot?
Bear this in mind when you consider that news earlier this week of another three American soldiers’ deaths in Iraq ran on page A18 of the New York Times, and was more or less tangentially mentioned in another longer article about U.N. relations.
How we pine for the good old days of the early summer, when news of American deaths peppered the early morning papers’ front pages each and every day! Now all we get to hear about and discuss with our co-workers and family members is “$87 billion this, CIA leak that.”
Certainly one might throw out some captions here like “I call Rummy…you guys get Lewis, the closeted gay rations chef,” but on a more topical and news-related note, we’re going with, “Don’t worry, Donald, you may have been willfully left out of the Iraq Stabilization Group, but we have faith in your athletic skills.”
(with thanks to Danny for the source)
…Just some advice we thought it prudent to share with Republicans who steadfastly hate the “limousine liberal” crowd. Seriously, Governor Arnold can readily attest to the inefficacy of that (and so can Gay Davis! Har-har, you loveable residents of San Diego!)
After the GOP-led redistricting plan passed in Texas (the battle over which featured all those intra-state flight accusations and hotel hideouts over the past few months), Governor Rick Perry’s flack Gene Acuna snidely tried to dismiss the outspoken behavior of Alec Baldwin:
“Mr. Baldwin’s political views against President Bush and Republicans in general are well known and documented. I have no doubt that Texans will give the comments made by the star of ‘Beetlejuice’ all of the attention they are due.”
Come on. At least “Beetlejuice” was an OK film, directed by Tim Burton in his prime, no less. Go after “Mercury Rising” next time, and you’ll have us all on board.
best subway line to spot someone reading white teeth or the corrections – L TRAIN
Capturing the NPR zeitgeist of the L TRAIN, these discursive tomes are daily removed from vintage satchels and displayed accordingly. On a recent Brooklyn-bound excursion, a guy with a bunny-eared copy of Franzen’s Saul Bellow-styled smarminess surreptitiously scoped an asymmetrically coiffed woman equally unwrapped in Zadie Smith’s pre-Autograph Man shaggy dog. If the faux literati were pretending to read the Marquis de Sade with their morning coffee, rush hour would be much more interesting. -Brandon Stosuy
“Bunny-eared”? I think the phrase Brandon is looking for is “dog-eared,” right?
Big dilemma here, for those attuned to the details of election red tape (you know, x number of voters needed to get a measure on the ballot, y number of dollars to lobby for its passage). We’re assuming the New York Times, when it prepared this handy chart about the 2003 California recall “election”, used official data from the state’s registrar or other relevant election official.
So, then…pay close attention to the detail we’ve provided of the accompanying graphic which appeared on the Times’ website this morning: Are we really to believe that Peter Camejo, the Green Party‘s candidate for governor in both this and the last statewide election, is a Financial Investment Advisor? That is so fucked up.
