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Media
May 8, 2006
The Internet is the Leading Cause of Plagiarism
It's not just ESPN radio personalities who rip off email forwards for material. Daily Iowan managing editor and columnist Alex Lang put his byline atop a column entitled "Top 10 Reasons Why Jack Bauer Rules." Many of the reasons to adore the star of Fox's 24 have been kicking around the web and email forwards for a while, including on Astrochimp. (And a few of them have also appeared previously as Chuck Norris Facts.)
Media
May 8, 2006
What's in a Name?
The New York Times's 29-page memo to its staffers calling for improved writing and fewer clichés (posted on Gawker) contains this surprising suggestion about anecdotal openings for articles from Dean Murphy, who covered the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for the newspaper: "There should be a particular effort to avoid using people in these sorts of ledes with names that, at best, will cause the reader to stumble and, at worst, stop reading any further." Gelf is all in favor of curbing anecdotal journalism, but we're not sure such a measure should be based on the unwieldy names of people who, at best, had no control over their lineage from certain countries.
Media
May 8, 2006
California Dreamin'
Did you know that, until this weekend, there was a chance for a second-round NBA playoff series between two Los Angeles teams? More to the point, did you know that many members of the media thought that this possibility merited columns upon columns devoted to it? Now that the Suns have won three games in a row (the last one in a blowout) to knock the Lakers out, it's fun to sift through the editorial wreckage of the aborted Hallway Series.
Media
May 7, 2006
To Hell With Honest Advertising
In an occasional feature, Gelf compares critics' blurbs in movie ads to what the actual reviews said. Not surprisingly, selective quoting and ellipses often turn pans or middling remarks into raves. Book publishers are often even more liberal with their quotations of critics. For New Yorker writer Caitlin Flanagan's screed against feminism, To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife, publisher Little, Brown, and Company performed alchemy on a scathing Newsday review, turning shit into gold.
Internet
May 4, 2006
Spamming Stocks
Serge Ollu says he is pissed off. As the vice president of HE-5 Resources Corporation, he has been besieged with angry emails and phone calls from people who have received mail from spammers urging them to buy shares of his newly acquired company. "Those guys have put me in a bad situation with their shitty spam," he tells Gelf.
Sports
May 4, 2006
Witnessing LeBron
We are all witnesses. So says Nike, and so say the cliché-ridden sportswriters who can't stop plugging the LeBron James ad campaign. Sure, it's a slightly clever phrase that is especially good fodder for ridicule when James's teammates stand around gawking at the star's moves, but does it really merit so many prominent mentions in the media?
Sports
April 28, 2006
Power Outage
Earlier this month, former Dodger's manager Tommy Lasorda gave the Atlanta Journal-Constitution his take on alleged steroid users such as Barry Bonds: "People say to me, 'Well, they still have to hit the ball.' No doubt about that, but those fly balls that were on the warning track are now flying into the seats, and that's the difference. It's just not right." Even in his criticism, though, Lasorda may be giving Bonds too much credit.
Sports
April 27, 2006
A Game Is Worth 3,000 Words
The Mets beat the Giants, 9-7. Barry Bonds hit his 711th career home run. That took barely a dozen words to say. The New York Times took a few hundred words, three different ways: The Associated Press's early report, the staff-written game story by Ben Shpigel, and a column by Jack Curry. Shpigel and Curry traveled across the country to witness the semi-seminal event, costing their employers a fair chunk of change. Perhaps in the future, extra Times writers can take seats vacated by the Sacramento Bee, which has decided to go in a different direction.
Media
April 26, 2006
Bogus Gasoline Trend Spotting
Over at Slate, Jacob Weisberg writes that rising gas prices make politicians act irrationally. But people in government aren't the only ones that throw reason to the wind when faced with this overhyped phenomenon. Two recent articles show that some in the media are just as silly.
Media
April 24, 2006
Eating Shoes at The New Yorker
Werner Herzog is a reckless, immature, narcissistic, lying jerk with a death wish. All of that emerges in Daniel Zalewski's recent New Yorker profile (sadly, not yet online), but somehow, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the acclaimed director emerges as a loveable and misunderstood rogue. The article follows Herzog as he navigates the toxic atmosphere he has created on the set of his newest film, Rescue Dawn. Among his many other self-created challenges, the New Yorker explains, Herzog must deal with a dimwitted production company principal who thinks that The Rundown represents the apex of fine cinematography.
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