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Sports
April 27, 2007
ESPN Doesn't Like ####, Fo Sho
Ever since ESPN started to allow readers to comment on articles on its website in February, it's had trouble figuring out where to draw the line. First, the site decided to stop allowing the "conversation" on Page 2, after a particular incident involving a certain Bill Simmons article. Then, the Worldwide Leader made it very difficult to comment on a particular announcement by John Amaechi. (They've since rectified this.) Now, they're forcing readers to come up with different synonyms for boring.
Media
April 25, 2007
The Puns Slip Out
Biofilm, a company that makes the sexual lubricant Astroglide, recently leaked the names and addresses of 263,822 of its customers onto the web. A customer googled himself and was surprised to find a result that showed his personal information and his past Astroglide purchases. He reported the issue to Biofilm and now many more embarrassed customers want this information off the web. The company is rapidly trying to remove it from the Google search engine by going through correction procedures required by Google, with 500 files handled already. As news of the leak spreads across the Internet, bloggers, writers, and readers are having fun with risqué puns.
Media
April 23, 2007
Using the Dead for Publicity
In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting that left 33 people dead, media outlets from around the country scrambled to bring their viewers and readers a local angle to the tragedy. In central Kentucky, this grief was personified by Laura Crews, who approached reporters at a candlelight vigil and sobbingly told them that her friend Mike Patterson was shot in the thigh and still in the hospital. It turns out that this was a hoax.
Sports
April 18, 2007
Ignorance 1, Nike 0
"Thank you, ignorance." That's the first line of a full-page Nike ad on race and sports that appeared in Sunday's edition of the New York Times. (According to AdAge, the same ad will be run on several websites as well.) The ad thanks Imus—without naming him—for "unintentionally moving women's sport forward" by focusing attention on the Rutgers women's basketball team. Or, as the ad copy goes, for "making an entire nation listen to the Rutger's team story."
Sports
April 17, 2007
Which Group Has Gotten the Most Wedgies from Jocks?
Earlier this week, baseball celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut in the Major Leagues. Last week, a certain radio personality was fired for implying that a certain women's basketball team had dubious sexual mores and very curly hair. These divergent events prompted Gelf to dig into the cyber-archive and investigate the illustrious history of bigotry in sport. Of course, there has been bigotry in sports for as long as there have been bigotry and sports (Ty Cobb, anyone?). But which minority group gets it the worst from sports figures?
Varsity Letters
April 16, 2007
May 2: Varsity Letters Reading Series
New York's Varsity Letters sports reading series returns on May 2 at 8 p.m. At this free monthly event at a Lower East Side bar, hosted by Gelf, Mike Freeman, Jeremy Schaap, and Michael Weinreb will read from and talk about their work, and take questions.
Media
April 13, 2007
'ATHF':'South Park'::Surrealism:Satire
It's a little bit unfair to contrast the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie with the South Park franchise just because both involve cartoon characters saying things that cartoon characters normally don't say. But if you're a movie reviewer who hasn't spent much time watching ATHF's closer kin on the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block, such as Squidbillies or Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, a comparison of Frylock, Meatwad, and Master Shake to the foul-mouthed boys from a Colorado mountain town will have to suffice.
Media
April 13, 2007
They Fell Into a Ring of Puns
The late Johnny Cash's former lakeside home in Hendersonville, Tennessee, burned down last Tuesday. The lyrics to Cash's Ring of Fire include the word "fire" 19 times and "burn" or "burning" 20 times, creating pun potential that many news sources found irresistible.
Media
April 11, 2007
James Frey: Small Potatoes or Chump Change?
Writers who have been exposed as fabulists and plagiarizers must squirm every time something newsworthy comes along that reminds other journalists of their disgraced colleagues. The most recent forum for public shaming comes in reviews for the movie The Hoax, which is about to come out in theaters. It's the story of Clifford Irving, who deceived editors into thinking that he had somehow gained the trust of the reclusive Howard Hughes and was working on his biography. Here's how the New York Times starts its review of the movie:
Media
April 11, 2007
Newborns for Newhouse
The websites of Newhouse News Service's 26 newspapers require readers to enter their birth year, ZIP code, and gender because "knowing more about our audience will help us provide a better service." Of course, Newhouse can't verify what people enter on the websites of newspapers such as the Oregonian and the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Gelf tested how much leeway is allowed. Infants are welcome, but some centenarians aren't.
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