Media

March 24, 2006

The CNN Factor

Why would a company pay enormous sums of money to hire a famous actor to do a voiceover for its product, and then not even bother to identify him? According to a recent AP article that appeared on CNN.com, it has something to do with creating a mystery, and thus increasing the brand's "cool" factor. One angle the article does not probe, though, is that perhaps companies do things like this to get free publicity on sites like CNN.com.

Media

March 22, 2006

Mike Wallace on Mike Wallace

This Gelfer expected a certain blogger who shall go nameless to cover the talk by legendary CBS newsman Mike Wallace at the New York Press Club, so I didn't take notes. But since she couldn't make it, here are a few tidbits from memory (I type this as I watch Steve Kroft tell Stephen Colbert that the 87-year-old Wallace's imminent retirement from 60 Minutes will lower the average age of correspondents by 10 years):

Media

March 20, 2006

Cunt: Anatomy of an Apology

On March 15, the Baltimore Sun issued an unusual apology:

A photograph published yesterday with an article about the court-martial of a guard at Abu Ghraib prison showed a book cover that contained an obscenity. The obscenity went unnoticed during editing and should not have been published. Publication of the photo violates The Sun's guidelines. The Sun apologizes for the oversight.

Media

March 17, 2006

On African Optimism

In an article in Granta entitled "How to Write about Africa," Binyavanga Wainaina sarcastically advises would-be journalists and authors to write as though the continent is a single primordial entity, complete with bare-chested noble savages, destitute but jolly.

Media

March 14, 2006

The Hindi-Film Actor Plague

In this week's edition of Zooming In, Gelf's quasi-weekly roundup of undercovered local stories from around the world: a Norwegian woman finds her stolen goods online; a missing Nepali mystic; and Japanese reaction to a blown call. One of our favorites deals with how Bangladeshis' movie-star looks cause "social problems" in Malaysia.

Media

March 2, 2006

Don't Quote Me on That

Among the highlights of this week's edition of Oops, Gelf's quasi-weekly round-up of media corrections: An aggrieved cab driver, hog gambling, chicken wings, and Enron perfume. Here's one of our favorite corrections this week:

Media

February 23, 2006

Good Sports

In this week's Olympic edition of Zooming In, Gelf's quasi-weekly roundup of undercovered local stories from around the world: Lindsey Jacobellis pulls a Devon Loch; a controversial Indian luger; and a Swedish miracle. One of our favorites deals with Canadian fans' newfound respect for the people of Norway.

Media

February 22, 2006

'Bad Movie, Good Actors'

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 Brokeback Mountain, Freedomland, Nanny McPhee, and more. This week's Bogus Blurb of the Week comes in an ad for Go For Zucker:

Media

February 18, 2006

Leakers Wanted

Slate is asking its readers to submit juicy primary documents: "White House memos, wiretap transcripts, financial disclosure forms, college transcripts, wills, e-mails, police reports, pending regulations, expense account filings—anything sufficiently piquant to interest the lay public," Timothy Noah explained Thursday. Since Noah acknowledged that The Smoking Gun was an inspiration for the idea, Gelf asked TSG founder William Bastone what he thought of the new Slate feature. In an email, Bastone replied to explain why he welcomes the competition, but is wary of audience participation:

Media

February 17, 2006

'What Are You Writing?' 'A Valentine's Day-Olympics Column.' 'Hey, Me Too!'

Several sports columnists Tuesday took on the weighty topic of Olympics lovin', in honor of Valentine's Day. Two columns stood out to Gelf for running surprisingly similar jokes. So we asked the columnists what happened. The answer was no big surprise: It seems that two buddies covering the same event sometimes end up writing very similar things. In fact, coincidentally, the two columns would have shared another passage, if not for intervention by editors.