Month: October 2003

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Grave

All the Poop on New York Dogs

doggy.jpgGreat news! Conflicts in the Middle East are over, the economy has recovered, and nothing bad happened anywhere in the world today! Yippeeeeee!
How do I know this? The New York Times devoted half of the below-the-fold frontpage to New Yorkers and their dogs.
Listen, Bill, I have a dog, okay, and even I don’t care about this story. Save this stuff for the City section on Sunday and find something, you know, newsworthy to slap on the front of the paper.
Incidentally, many New Yorkers use the Times to pick up their dogs’ shit, so I guess this makes some sense.

Categories
Grave

From Californian voters to New York journalists: Recall fever!

friedman.75.gifEric “What Liberal Media?” Alterman‘s favorite whipping boy, Howard “I was on K Street!” Kurtz at the Washington Post, writes today about a movement that is underway to revoke a 1932 Pulitzer Prize awarded to Walter Duranty of the New York Times.
According to Kurtz’s piece in the Post (notably, the Times’ chief competitor in the annual race for Pulitzers), the paper of record’s new executive editor, Bill Keller, yesterday acknowledged that Duranty’s reporting on Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union in the early 1930s was egregiously in violation of journalistic standards and
“pretty dreadful . . . . It was a parroting of propaganda.”
After a review conducted by a history professor, Keller said, the Times essentially told the board in a letter that “it’s up to you to decide whether to take it back. We can’t unaward it. Here’s our assessment of the guy’s work: His work was clearly not prizeworthy.”
Columbia University professor Mark von Hagen said he found that the Moscow correspondent’s 1931 work “was a disgrace to the New York Times. There’s no one there who disagrees with me. They acknowledged that his is some of the worst journalism they ever published.”
Good to hear it. Duranty’s defense — if not outright praise — of Stalin’s gulag (one of the most shameful events of the past century, though Howard Kurtz doesn’t actually invoke it by name) was inexcusable, and perhaps indirectly led to the propagation of these forced labor camps and detention centers.
So, if the Times is looking to clean house and rid itself of potentially disgraceful awards given to those who “parrot propaganda,” we humbly look forward to the revocation of op-ed columnist Thomas L. Friedman‘s 2002 award. Friedman, after all, received his award based largely on his passionate writing on the events of September 11th, and more specifically, his defense of the present administration’s War on Terror™. Friedman’s most recent book, Longitudes and Attitudes (2002), is a compendium of these award-winning columns, and includes his twice-weekly musings on topics as diverse as why the bombing of Afghanistan was a just act, to why the bombing of Iraq was a just act, to…well, you get the idea. If the Bush administration wanted a viewpoint put forward, Friedman spent the past year providing justification for their actions.

Continue reading “From Californian voters to New York journalists: Recall fever!”
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Shallow

In the town, where I was born…

aero.184.jpgyellow submarine.jpg
New Spy Gear Aims to Thwart Attacks in Iraq by Eric Schmitt… “Yellow Submarine” by The Beatles
UPDATE: Talk about topicality! Yellow Submarine for the super-rich. (Sorry merely rich and filthy rich: this one’s for the super-rich.)

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Grave

“Fair Dinkum”: That’s Australian for “pandering”, mate

2003-10-23T062101Z_01_HOP305851_RTRUKOP_1_PICTURE0.jpgWhen then-Governor George W. Bush would canvas the Southwestern U.S. for votes during the 2000 Presidential Election, it was often noted that he would sprinkle Spanish aphorisms into his stump speeches when facing crowds that had any significant Latino presence.
Rest assured that that sort of pandering hasn’t come to an end. In his visit to Australia yesterday (before he was effectively chased off the continent by unruly hecklers and protesters), President Bush spoke to the nation’s joint houses of Parliament to express his gratitude for Prime Minister John Howard’s support during the invasion of Iraq:
“Five months ago, your prime minister was a distinguished visitor of ours in Crawford, Texas, at our ranch. You might remember that I called him a man of steel,” Mr Bush said.
“That’s Texan for fair dinkum.
“Prime Minister John Howard is a leader of exceptional courage, who exemplifies the finest qualities of one of the world’s great democracies. I’m proud to call him friend.”
If you’re as baffled by that expression of praise as most non-Aussies are, the phrase apparently conveys a sense of being “the real deal” or some such cliched colloquialism. Of course, as Bush’s speechwriters must have told him before writing his script, “fair dinkum” sounds so much cooler.

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Shallow

How to write an obituary without breaking a sweat

rerun.jpgToday’s journalism lesson from The New York Post: How to write an obituary entirely from the Internet Movie Database.
From ’70s TV star ‘Rerun’ dies by Michael Starr
Berry, known for wearing colorful red suspenders and a jaunty red cap, was also known for his TV catchphrase “Hey, hey, hey!” which he shouted whenever he encountered his buddies on “What’s Happening!!” which ran on ABC from 1976-79.
From Biography for Fred Berry from IMDb
Continually wears a red beret as his character did in “Whats Happening”
Post:
Berry, who recently had a cameo in David Spade’s big-screen comedy “Dickie Roberts”
imdb:
Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star(2003) …. Himself
… aka Dickie Roberts: (Former) Child Star (2003)
Post:
After being canceled, the show returned six years later as “What’s Happening Now!!” for a short-lived run with most of the original cast, including Berry.
imdb:
“What’s Happening Now!” (1985) TV Series …. Freddie Stubbs (segment “Rerun”) (1985-1986)
“What’s Happening!!” (1976) TV Series …. Fred ‘Rerun’ Stubbs
Post:
Berry, who was married six times to four different women (he married two women twice), battled a severe drug problem in the 1980s and, in 1990, was diagnosed with diabetes.
imdb:
In 1990, when diagnosed by doctors with diabetes, he was told he had to lose weight or his life would be shortened. After placing himself on a strict regiment, he lost 108 pounds and 18 inches off his waist.
Has been married 6 times to four women. He married two women twice.
Post:
Berry later became a Baptist minister.
imdb:
A Baptist minister.
Earlier journalism lessons from low culture.

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Shallow

MTV finds its Pulse

Just got my hands on a copy of MTV’s Spankin’ New, the new MTV Magazine. It’s just like Pulse, the free magazine Tower Records used to give out (some overlapping writers, too). Only I had to pay $5.95 for SN. Talk about value-added!

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Shallow

What Easterbrook could learn from Rousseau

rousseau3.gifEveryone and their mother has been heaping shit on Gregg Easterbrook for his now infamous Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and the Jews blog entry. Frankly, I’m bored with this whole thing (so bored, I’m not bothering to link to Easterbrook’s original essay, his apology, or any of the excellent commentary out there on sites like Radosh and The Antic Muse or to The New York Times article), but all this talk of Gregg writing faster than he thinks, not arranging his thoughts well, etc. reminded me of something Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote in his Confessions way back in the early, early days of blogs in 1782:
When I write, my ideas are arranged with the utmost difficulty. They glance on my imagination and ferment till they discompose, heat, and bring on a palpitation; during this state of agitation, I see nothing properly, cannot write a single word, and must wait till it is over. Insensibly the agitation subsides, the chaos acquires form, and each circumstance takes its proper place. Have you never seen an opera in Italy? where during the change of scene everything is in confusion, the decorations are intermingled, and any one would suppose that all would be overthrown; yet by little and little, everything is arranged, nothing appears wanting, and we feel surprised to see the tumult succeeded by the most delightful spectacle. This is a resemblance of what passes in my brain when I attempt to write; had I always waited till that confusion was past, and then pointed, in their natural beauties, the objects that had presented themselves, few authors would have surpassed me.
So, if Gregg had only waited for his thoughts to form properly (and cleaned the pipes regularly like Spanky Rousseau), he might not be in all this trouble now.

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Shallow

Mmmm… 64 individually wrapped slices of cheese(cake)

toronto9.jpgFor some reason, Yahoo felt the need to post 64 images of Scarlett Johansson today.
If you’re a man, comfort yourself with the fact that Scarlett told The Times recently: “Men have no aid to tell them that they’re getting older. They just see their bodies decaying. A young, fertile, fruitful woman can help you across that bridge.”
If you’re a woman, try not to hate her for saying, “For older women, death happens inside. What comes with that death is a kind of liberation.”
Scarlett Johansson will turn 19 on November 22.

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Shallow

The Journalist of Desire

I’ve been a fan of George Gurley’s New York Observer work for years now. I love his calculatedly tossed-off writing style, his relentlessly Gurley-centric approach to New York, and his transparent desire to talk to as many attractive women as possible every time he puts on his Press hat.
This week, Gurley continues his special brand of journalism by asking women (and some ‘famous’ men like Macaualy Culkin and Tad Low) about their vaginas.
In the past, Gurley has used his Observer credentials to talk to sexy female bartenders, talk to women about their feet, sit down with pseudo-actress Tiffany Limos, share some time with a b-movie actress, go out with 21 year-old socialite Elisabeth Kieselstein-Cord, talk with Ultra-V rocker Maggie Kim, look longingly into the eyes of digital pornographer Natacha Merritt, say “ahhhh” to some hot lady dentists, muse on women over 50 he’d like to nail, spend the day with gorgeous nobody Elle Eklund, go clubbing with Taylor Stein, explore Brazilian bikini waxing, approach random women and tell them how beautiful they are, and ask women why they love Manolo Blahniks.
But of all the girls he’s loved before, none compare to his true dream girl, Republican pipe cleaner, Ann Coulter.

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Shallow

A Caricature for 40 years, now a cartoon

kidnotorious.gif
Every phone box and bus stop in midtown is smeared with the cartoon face of Robert Evans, so I feel it’s my duty to inform you that Kid Notorious is on tonight at 10:30 PM EST on Comedy Central. I don’t know whether the show’s good or not, but the presence of a sassy Black maid and an anime-like cat called “Puss-puss” on the Kid Web site doesn’t bode well.
Anyway, here’s some advice for all you aspiring starlets from Uncle Bob’s book:
Speaking to the ladies: If you’re ever approached with the line ‘You ought to be in pictures, I’m a producer,’ tell the guy to fuck off. He’s a fraud, and the picture he wants to put you in don’t play in theaters. ‘You ought to be in pictures’ just ain’t the M.O. of a legit producer. Quote me if you want.
Consider it done, Bob.