« Previous page |
Next page » |
Travel
June 27, 2007
God to Charlton Heston: Get Off the Road
The most important news story of the year came and went last week with barely a whimper. The Vatican released the Ten Commandments of Driving, the first new commandments the Church has had since Moses sauntered down Mt. Sinai more than 3,000 years ago. The only other time the Church came close to adding another Commandment was when a fellow named Jesus introduced his Golden Rule. In the end, though, even He didn't have the political clout to get his Rule passed as a Commandment.
Media
June 25, 2007
iPhone Almighty
With the release of the iPhone mere days away, anticipation is building to a near-religious fervor. If only that were a metaphor. All over the internet, the newest Cupertino, California, creation is being referred to as the "Jesus phone." And several media outlets reluctantly have gotten on board to spread the good word.
Sports
June 14, 2007
African-American, Unlike Me
What does Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton have in common with former heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis? They're both famous athletes named "Lewis," of course, but they also have the distinction of being two of the most recognizable African-Britons on the planet. What, you've never heard the term African-Briton before? Perhaps you, like certain media outlets we know, need to learn how to use the term "black."
Sports
June 13, 2007
A Journalistic No-No
Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers threw a no-hitter last night, which sent sports scribes scrambling to do his gem journalistic justice. Of course, to properly convey the magnitude of the feat—only the second this year!—headline writers were forced to make puns out of every major word in the story: Detroit-Tigers-Justin-Verlander. And they're off!
Media
June 8, 2007
Forget the Polar Bears
Comedian Larry David is the first celebrity casualty of global warming. At least that’s how the tabloid press has been describing his separation from his wife of 14 years, prominent environmentalist Laurie David. Evidently, the couple is amicably divorcing because they’re having difficulty adjusting to Laurie's newfound fame as a champion of a hot cause and producer of the Oscar-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth. Let the climate-change metaphors begin!
Media
June 5, 2007
Product Placement Everywhere
If advertisers had their way, here's what we'd be looking at: A newspaper column about television networks, sponsored by the TV network CW, whose new fall line-up will include five-second commercials and TV shows that thematically incorporate sponsors into its programming, including a sitcom about the Geico Auto Insurance caveman, which includes a heavy-browed character playing Dungeon Siege 2, a role-playing video game that itself has ads for other PlayStation titles within it.
Media
June 1, 2007
How Ironical
Last year's National Spelling Bee winner Katharine Close spelled ursprache correctly to close out her competition. In its recap of the event, the New York Daily News could not match her feat. This year, Getty Images (and publications like Slate that use its pictures) couldn't even get Close's name spelled right. But if the media were instead covering a grammar bee, the irony would be even thicker.
Media
June 1, 2007
The Stink Factor
The website StinkyJournalism.org claims to offer a "unique forum for citizens to publish research on errors they encounter in the media." For the last few days, Rhonda Roland Shearer—who is the founder of the site (and widow of Stephen Jay Gould)—has been publishing story after story questioning the veracity of photos of the Monster Pig, supposedly killed by an 11-year old boy from Alabama. But Stinky Journalism has its own malodorous journalism. (This post has been updated; click through to read.)
Media
May 31, 2007
Flying Blind
"I'm here to shoot a pilot." That's what film director Mike Figgis supposedly told security screeners at LAX, and the double meaning of "pilot" (combined with the intransigence and stupidity of his questioner) resulted in his spending several hours in the airport's lockup. That's the story that got wide coverage online. But Figgis now says it's not true.
Media
May 30, 2007
What Storybooks are They Reading?
After the Duke men's lacrosse team lost by a goal in the finals of the national title game, Jason Whitlock captured the thoughts of sportswriters around the country, writing that team's sloppy play denied them "the storybook finish many of us wanted." Perhaps Gelf missed out on a demented sub-genre of the modern fairytale, but it seems like a story featuring inebriated strippers and bogus rape charges doesn't quite cut it as mythical fare.
« Previous page |
Gelflog Media |
Next page » |
About Gelflog
The Gelflog brings you all the same sports, media & world coverage you’ve come to love from Gelf Magazine, but shorter and faster. If you’d like, subscribe to the Gelflog feed.
Subscribe to the Gelflog RSS