« Previous page |
Next page » |
Media
December 18, 2006
Dragonian Reviews
The movie Eragon, based on the book of the same name by teenager Christopher Paolini, has gotten terrible reviews from critics who complain about everything from the crappy, campy acting to the character and place names that sound like prescription medications. Most of all though, they take issue with how unoriginal the plot is. In his review for the Associated Press, David St. Germain describes the movie as "essentially Star Wars—with dragons. Or maybe The Lord of the Rings—with dragons."
Media
December 15, 2006
'A Bad Cross Between Monty Python's Life of Brian and a School Play'
In this week's edition of Blurb Racket—the Gelf feature in which we take a close look at those critic blurbs that are a fixture of ads for movies—see breakdowns of blurbs for The Nativity Story, Eragon, Blood Diamond, and more. This week's Bogus Blurb of the Week comes in an ad for Apocalypto:
Media
December 15, 2006
When 'Fag' Joined 'Fuck' in Realm of Taboo
Here's Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Joey Porter on Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow's late hit of Porter's teammate on Dec. 7: "That's what fags do. He's soft. He wants to be tough, but he's really soft." Porter later apologized, saying he didn't mean to denigrate gay people, only Kellen Winslow (to the great mirth of Deadspin). But what was Porter apologizing for? If you get your news from mainstream media and not blogs, you could be forgiven for being quite confused. Here are some of the replacements publications used for the word "fag," ranked by the number of characters used in place of a word of three letters:
Media
December 9, 2006
The Pulitzer Prize Picture Problem
Anyone who's worked at newspapers can tell you that some facts are cursed. You can spend untold hours trying to clear up a point, only to have it re-muddled right at the last second. A curse apparently is afflicting the attempt by Joshua Prager, a senior special writer at the Wall Street Journal, to correctly attribute a famous photo.
Media
December 8, 2006
Gore Galore
Apocalypto, the Mayan adventure flick directed by Mel Gibson, has gotten mixed reviews. But no one seems to think there isn't enough violence in the film; many of the reviewers resort to simply listing the various ways in which maiming and death occur.
Media
December 4, 2006
The 'Gone with the Wind' of Rock Comedies
In this week's edition of Blurb Racket—the Gelf feature in which we take a close look at those critic blurbs that are a fixture of ads for movies—see breakdowns of blurbs for Casino Royale, Happy Feet, Deck the Halls, and more. This week's Bogus Blurb of the Week comes in an ad for Fast Food Nation:
Media
November 28, 2006
Maybe Strange Romanian Sites Aren't the Best Source for News After All
Right now, if you go to Google News and type in Tracy Morgan, your first search result will be an article from Playfuls.com about the comedian's recent drunk driving arrest in New York. While the story is pretty straightforward— it borrows several sentences from the related Associated Press report—it curiously makes no mention of Morgan's current starring role on the NBC comedy 30 Rock.
Media
November 22, 2006
Chimps Dig Mrs. Robinson
A recent paper in Current Biology shows that, contrary to humans, male chimpanzees seem to prefer older females as sexual partners. While the scientists behind the study propose that this difference is a result of both humans' tendency to form unusually long-term mating bonds and the lack of menopause in chimpanzee females, much of the media coverage of the study has been light on theory and heavy on innuendo.
Media
November 15, 2006
Like 'Groundhog Day,' if Bill Murray was a Cop with a Nice Ass
Is there a way to write about the new show Day Break—which stars Taye Diggs as a Los Angeles cop living the same day over and over again—without mentioning that its schtick bears more than a passing resemblance to the movie Groundhog Day? Let us answer that: No. A rough Gelf survey found that well over half of the reviews mention that the new show is like the Bill Murray masterpiece, but with a twist. Here our some of our favorite comparisons:
Media
November 13, 2006
I Like! (Some But Not All Things About This Movie)
In this week's edition of Blurb Racket—the Gelf feature in which we take a close look at those critic blurbs that are a fixture of ads for movies—see breakdowns of blurbs for Borat, Volver, Babel, and more. This week's Bogus Blurb of the Week comes in an ad for A Good Year:
« 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