I blame Rupaul:
“As soon as they arrived in Anshan, however, the problems began. They were asked to sign a contract that offered monthly pay far below the advertised level, initially just $24, minus a $13 charge for room and board. Bonuses were promised, but only for those who produced eyelashes above quotas.” – Chinese Girls’ Toil Brings Pain, Not Riches by Joseph Kahn
George Will shows off some unsurprisingly corny pop culture knowledge (what does Maureen Dowd think?) by wasting his opening paragraph with a drawn-out references to Witness. Are we to believe that Witness is the only way Will can discuss integrity? Why not The Indiana Jones Trilogy?
George Will, film buff and closet Harrison Ford fan. Who knew? I guess now we know posted all those Hollywood Homicide raves on Ain’t It Cool News.
Knut Royce.
Huh, huh, huh. I said “nut.”
It’s a truism that you can tell everything you need to know about a publication from its choice of headlines and sub-heads. (What? It’s not a truism? It is now.) With that in mind, let’s look at a couple of magazines’ and newspapers’ coverage of the same thing, namely, actor Peter Dinklage and his breakout role in The Station Agent.
“He’s taken small roles to great heights — and now with Sundance fave The Station Agent, this up-and-coming actor is livin’ large”
Does your magazine like to use multiple, overlapping puns in their subheads that signal irreverence and a willingness to make nice to celebrities and their handlers? Hello, Entertainment Weekly! (requires subscription)
GET SHORTY AN OSCAR
Does your newspaper pride itself on looking out for the underdog yet have an unhealthy affinity for crass humor? Greetings, New York Post!
THE BIG TIME
Did your magazine agonize over whether to make a pun about your subject’s size and then decide to do it anyway? The New Yorker, you rock!
Actor Peter Dinklage lives large
Is your publication Canadian and therefore exempt from coming up with anything even remotely clever? Oh, Canada.com!
“[I]f there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.
Quiz time: George W. Bush or Tony Soprano?
“Still, the awkwardness passes, and the sight of Joe wandering cheerfully into the shot, munching a bowl of cornflakes, or whatever, and hailing the baffled husband without concern, is my favorite encounter in the movie.”- Anthony Lane, The Current Cinema October 6, 2003
Reasons why I can’t stand K Street:
-Bragging in the second episode about the impact of James Carville-feeding Howard Dean his line in the first. (Not only do we make news, we shoot and edit the show as fast as the news cycle!)
-Being forced to imagine just what it might be like inside the Carville/Matalin marriage.
-Watching journalists like Joe Klein and Howard Kurtz giggle and smirk (respectively) through their cameos. (Yippee! I’m on TV and it’s not even Sunday morning!) (Incidentally, Klein described a Carville-like character in his pseudonymously published book Primary Colors as looking like he’d been conceived during the love scene in Deliverance. Meow!)
-Not being able to read the newspaper anymore without wondering what stories will make their way into the show next week. (Of course, Mary Matalin’s continued consulting with Dick Cheney will certainly limit or change the tone of coverage.)
Reasons why I enjoy K Street:
–Roger Guenveur Smith is an amazing actor and maybe this show will finally bring his one man show A Huey P. Newton story to a wider audience.
-The little Soderberghian touches like the phantom woman who keeps appearing to John Slattery (shades of Solaris?).
-The name of the imaginary lobbying/consulting firm is Bergstrom/Lowell, which is clearly a reference to muckraking former 60 Minutes producer (and occasional Times investigative pinch-hitter) Lowell Bergman, memorably portrayed by an over-the-top Al Pacino in The Insider.
-Knowing that George Clooney gets to be a politician without giving up his movie star lifestyle.
Joe M. Allbaugh: Damnit, man. Everyone and their mother is making money in Iraq and we’re sitting here with our thumbs in our asses!
Edward M. Rogers, Jr.: You found those xeroxes? I was drunk.
Lanny Griffiths: Shut up, you idiot. Joe’s right: we gotta monetize this Iraq thing now!
Joe M. Albaugh: I got an idea. We should start our own company to hook people up with George.
Edward M. Rogers, Jr.: Like a dating service?
Joe M. Albaugh: No, you idiot. A consulting firm.
Lanny Griffiths: That’s a capital idea.
Joe M. Albaugh: Literally!
Rogers and Griffiths laugh
Edward M. Rogers, Jr.: I don’t get it.
Washington Insiders’ New Firm Consults on Contracts in Iraq
New Bridges Strategies.
I have seen tomorrow’s Maureen Dowd column and it contains a Pepe Le Pew joke.
