RIP, Neil Postman, philosopher prince in the Empire of Signs.
Turn off your TV tonight and read Amusing Ourselves to Death
[Thanks, Dave]
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Month: October 2003
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The curse of Predator
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The Company you keep
Actor Tom Arnold extended his congratulations by phone and told Fox News that he wished he could have attended the victory party. Actor Gary Busey spoke to the crowd and defended Schwarzenegger from the sexual assault allegations that had dogged him in the last few days of the campaign.
…from Foxnews.com
Depressingly accurate lede from The Los Angeles Times:
Californians have never known more about a new governor. We’ve seen him naked on screen. We know about the Nazi father, the celebrity journalist wife, the bodybuilding titles and the crude behavior toward women. We have seen him in theaters, fallen asleep to his voice on television and imitated his accent.
Californians have never known less about a new governor. We’ve never seen him hold office. We don’t know what programs he’ll cut, how he’ll balance the budget, how he’ll negotiate with recalcitrant legislators or how he’ll manage the state’s bureaucracy.
THE NEW GOVERNOR: So Familiar Yet So Unknown, by Joe Matthews (requires registration)
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Amusing image of the moment
Does Sharon know?
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Don’t they have CSI in Africa?
“We can only prosecute if there is sufficient evidence to justify the charge, but there is not enough evidence,” said Chris MacAdam, a lawyer for the National Prosecuting Authority.
Five Policemen Won’t Be Tried in Biko Killing, by The Associated Press
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Vanilla love
Suggested slogan: Sightly less nauseating than Vanilla Coke.
This just in from the public interest journalists at Page Six: Woody Allen is shopping his memoirs to publishers . According to suspiciously unnamed “publishing sources,” the book “will lay open the secrets of his affairs with Louise Lasser, Diane Keaton, Mia Farrow and his current wife, Soon Yi.” (Not exactly the most alluring list, but you work with what ya’ got.)
Great! Just what we need. More shitty writing wavering violently between self-aggrandizement and self-pity, intellectual name-dropping, pathetic rehashing of jokes that were funny 30 years ago, glorifying of a lost social-climbing New York lifestyle, and a naked grab for immortality. Basically, his last 10 movies only without the pretty young things for eye candy. Can’t wait!
Besides, didn’t Woody already write a book called Getting Even? Maybe this one should be called Without Morals.
50 Dollar bet: Blurb from David Remnick.
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An epistemological question for the ages
Can you simultaneously buy and steal an election?
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Don’t ever call me again
What happened to you, California? You used to be cool.