Filed under: PAINTER
by Chad Painter
Lists are an important part of journalism. Readers love them—especially when they can get indignant because their favorite movie/ city/sports team doesn’t make the cut. Writers and editors love them because they typically generate a lot of feedback and because it’s a good way to knock out some quick copy on a tight deadline. (Best-of lists always pop up around Christmas and New Year’s because journalists want to get out of the newsroom as quickly as possible that time of year.)
Filed under: SPIELBERG
by Greg T. Spielberg
It’s always strange to read about cigarette legislation. The discussions by lawmakers are inane and creepy since:
a) Cigarettes kill people every day, and
b) Tobacco lobbying is so transparent.
Everyone knows who big tobacco is, so donations to politicians and political action committees are clear as the air in smoke-free bars. Indoor nicotine clouds have been extinguished through the work of local and state governments — not Washington.
Filed under: SPIELBERG
by Greg T. Spielberg
The beauty in journalism is when writers tell stories that haven’t been beaten to death or weren’t irrelevant to begin with. I don’t know what the deal is with Alex Rodriguez and Madonna; I couldn’t tell you what Jesse Jackson said about Obama; I don’t need fifty-four opinions on Iran’s Photoshop skills. What I want to read are new and thorough insights into the expansive cultural and social worlds.
Filed under: SUSSMAN
by Emily W. Sussman
There is but one reaction that a thin person has upon seeing yet another Totally Predictable “Obesity in America” article (accompanied, of course, by unflattering mid-section shots of examples on the street).
“GOD, CAN’T THOSE PEOPLE JUST EAT LESS?”
Naturally, this is neither mature nor helpful.
Filed under: SPIELBERG
by Greg T. Spielberg
Yankee Stadium looked old-fashioned Monday night when its bare blue outfield walls played host to the game’s best sluggers. Parallel parked behind left field, the long, pin-striped Adidas ad just looked outdated. The black seats and matching Armitron formed a gaping hole where, in other stadiums, there are slides, pools and grassy meadows.
Filed under: SUSSMAN
The jury’s still out on whether MSNBC’s producers book their talking-points shows based on which weak and/or inarticulate Republicans are free that day. (Thoughts?) Still, with heartthrob super-journalist David Gregory firmly on board to kick Wolf Blitzer’s butt — not to mention hot-and-smart butch Rachel Maddow getting her own desk — it’s fast becoming the liberal cable news network du jour. It also doesn’t hurt that MSNBC eschews Sanjay Gupta-style ego fests and Anderson Cooper’s brand of puppy-dog journalism in favor of compelling documentary programming. (We’ll get to Matthews and Olbermann another day, I promise.)
Filed under: SUSSMAN
by Emily W. Sussman
Discussing the latest Miley Cyrus sex-bomb photo, Nancy Grace ripped some predictable Family Values spokesman a new a***ole last night. (Her compelling performance was rivaled only by Josh Hamilton’s.)
As usual, Nancy was only half-paying attention to the guy — I think I can quote her directly as saying “well, then, um, sir, uhhh, YOU’RE the one with the problem” — but it was great to see someone calling out this country’s hypocritical attitude about teen sexuality. Even more satisfying was the slitty-eyed vehemence with which she condemned hysterically over-protective parents.
Now, whatever you may think of Nancy, her show does seem to evoke a palpable current of Average American Female empowerment. When “MaryAnn from El Paso” and “Deanna from Milwaukee” — the show’s established demographic — call in to comment, an edge of authority welling up in their voices, they come off as well-researched and insightful…at least by comparison.
Nancy has the middle-America female demographic at her feet.
Filed under: SUSSMAN
by Emily W. Sussman
Magazines are a bugaboo for today’s readers. They’re glossy, tactile, and gravity-prone: something even the best-designed website could never accomplish. But they’re also expensive as hell at the newsstand and tend to pee out subscription cards all over the ground.
But until the day that publishers resolve their angst about putting all their content online, we’ll just have to bite the bullet now and then. Like in the name of this month’s Esquire — a gulp of cherry limeade in a world of club soda journalism.
Specifically, David Vann’s oh-my-God-I-gotta-finish-reading-this story about grad-student-turned-mass-murderer Steven Kazmierczak. School shooters, you say, yawning? Not so fast. Vann uses present-tense reenactments to tell the story of the days leading up to the slaughter, making Kazmierczak’s broken-down pathology thrillingly palpable — well worth the 5,000 words of psychic nausea.
Let’s face it: people who get Jigsaw tattooed on their forearms and who cheat on their long-suffering girlfriends with herpes-ridden Craigslist hookers deserve whatever they get.
NB: The issue also features a fascinating interview with Jenna Jameson. Along with confiding that anal sex is “just too intimate” to do onscreen, Jameson observes that “what the news is feeding us is so different from what is happening.”
Filed under: SUSSMAN
by Emily W. Sussman
Facebook is getting rid of NETWORKS?
Not quite. But they are getting rid of network pages, marking a devastating loss to a generation of insecure teens who otherwise won’t know what movies all the cool kids at their school are seeing.
(FYI: I’m off to a matinee.)
Filed under: SUSSMAN
by Emily W. Sussman
NEWS FLASH: Fossil fuels are expensive. And they’re running out. Coal is dirty.
Why not go nuclear?
Just saying…
