Hard, Cutting

"The Ruins" = Horr(or)ific "Little Shops of Horrors"

2008-01-20T23:35:00.000-05:00

It's probably not a good sign when you are waiting for Seymour Krelborn to appear and for the antagonist to break out in song to "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space," right? Such was the mindset when I was reading Scott Smith's "The Ruins."

I would call myself a fan of Smith's first novel, "A Simple Plan" (which shares some similarities with Cormac McCarthy's "No Country for Old Men") but to say I was underwhelmed with "The Ruins" is solid understatement. Although the novel starts off well, once the doomed end up on a hill they cannot escape -- on page 77, less than one-fifth of the way through -- it quickly runs out of steam. It's on the pile of books I am ready to trade back to the Strand.

Now I see that a movie adaptation is coming out in April. Ho hum, beware the plants.

Seriously...

2008-01-18T22:29:00.000-05:00

...despite the fact that the blog has apparently moved to a quarterly format (like Lapham's!), I should just move to Tumblr platform. Apparently, all the cool kids are doing it.

2007-10-21T12:18:00.000-04:00

Taken October 12, 2007. One of my favorite photos, for sure.

5 of 11 "SNL" Castmembers Love Arcade Fire

2007-02-25T12:56:00.000-05:00

Reporting from 30 Rockerfeller Center: Want to to know why Arcade Fire ran off the stage during the closing credits of "Saturday Night Live" last night?

Because, in something that is apparently rarely done at Studio 8H, they played a mini-concert for the audience. Making up the front row of the 3-song set was Seth Meyers, Amy Poehler, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader and Andy Samberg, all looking absolutely transfixed by this band. The Fire has some high-powered fans, for sure, and converted a good chunk of the audience last night as well.

It's odd that my highlight of the show happened off-camera-- at the end of their three-song set, they played "Wake Up", off the stage and in the audience. Amazing. The cameras were rolling, I'm hoping this appears somewhere.

Also a funny tidbit: Five seconds before the show went back live for Arcade Fire's second song, Rainn Wilson looked at lead singer Win Butler and, in a very deadpan voice, asked what happened to his guitar (he had smashed it during their first song). Ha.

I'm Breaking Up With You, Time Magazine

2007-02-04T15:13:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry, Time Magazine: it's not me, it's you.

Please don't make this harder than it already is. We've have been through a lot together, but I think it's time we went our separate ways. I'm guessing that I started reading you in my early teens; you were the first serious newsmagazine I ever read (sorry, Highlights). I believe I've read almost every issue since then. You flattered me in December (cf. the cover at right), but I can't return your feelings. I'm walking away the next time I get a note begging me to renew.

Why? Mostly, it's because I just can't keep up with you.

You moved your publication date to Fridays, which presents a problem-- I can't spend my entire weekend reading magazines. On the same day you arrive, I also get my guilty pleasure, Entertainment Weekly, as well as a trio of your competitors, BusinessWeek, The Economist and The Week. Then, on Sunday, the New York Times Magazine drops. I can only read so much and not be a hermit.

Also, you've changed a great deal-- which is not a bad thing, we all change. But I just don't think we're a fit. Since managing editor Rick Stengel came aboard, the cover stories have become intriguing -- but ultimately boring -- and the copydesk needs to take its red pen out more to green the long-winded screeds that permeate the magazine. Worst of all, I can't stand the conservative slate of columnists, like Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer and Joe Klein. How about some balance, like the insertion of some progressive columnists?

I'm sorry. I know this hurts, but I just can't do this any more. I hold out hope that one day we can reconnect.

Worth Seeking Out: Robert Chalmers

2007-02-03T18:56:00.000-05:00

The offbeat Bristish author Robert Chalmers is a little off the beaten path, but worth seeking out. Think Nick Hornby with an edge, and a dash of the absurd.

In his 2002 debut novel "Who's Who in Hell", the Brit spun a tale of an obituarist putting together a compendium of the world's worst. It's an angsty novel, as the main character struggles to find his niche and grow up. In his latest, which actually came out in 2004 but I only read now, he writes another tale of one finding himself. "Fortune's Bastard" is actually a little hard to synposize, so here's the description from the book's dust jacket:

"One morning Edward Miller, tabloid newspaper editor and reactionary alpha male, spontaneously seduces his temp in an office storeroom. The news doesn't take long to reach his cold, beautiful wife-- and it just happens to be their anniversary. By morning, his marriage is over, his career in shambles, and his house is on fire. Clearly, it's time to leave town. After a brief stint in Spain as an English teacher, Miller flees again when his cover is blown, winding up in a Florida town populated by carnies and circus freaks and ruled with an iron fist by the Half Man, a criminal and sadist with no legs. Unexpectedly, despite even a one-eyed albino hit man who seems to overhear every compromising conversation between Miller and the Half Man's wife the Lizard Woman, Miller gradually realizes this may be where he belongs."

Weird, right? Hidden between the rolling narrative are some nice little moments. Here's one: Miller, drunk, being told that the car he finds himself in is not a cab, but driven by a regular joe that stopped at a red light and found someone getting in the back seat.

If you can, definitely seek out Chalmers and pray for more novels by the talented writer to come.

Be Back in a Bit.

2007-01-24T23:10:00.000-05:00

Work is taking precedence right now, I'll post more in February.

"Joey, Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?"

2007-01-07T14:54:00.000-05:00

"Airplane!" is a rare film. One that if I were to find it playing on some television channel, I would literally stop what I was doing and curl up on the couch to watch. The outside world stops and productivity be damned. Between the sight gags and the written words, the film is genius. Honestly, I've watched it far too many times to count at this point, and will continue to do so.

So, I'm always looking for the "Airplane" moments in life-- where you can riff off of one of the classic lines from the film. A real opportunity, not the ubitiquous "Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines". Finally, one presented itself this past week.

From an IM exchange with a female friend:
Friend: He hasn't even been able to say those three little words.
Me: What words?
Friend: I love you.
Me: I love you too, but what are the three little words?

I quietly chuckled to myself the rest of the day.

A 'No Vacancy' Bookshelf Sign

2006-12-30T18:53:00.000-05:00

As you can probably tell from my recent spate of posts, I already have far too many books in my small, cramped apartment. It hasn't gotten to the point yet that I've put twenty books in a pillow cover and begun sleeping on them, but I do have 30 books waiting to be read. As I speak, they're balancing precariously on top of my armoire and I'm typing softly in order to not disturb them from their Jenga-like state.

Part of this amassed collection no doubt comes via buying into the mentality of an ex several years ago, be it fortunately or not. She would go to Strand every so often, buy two cartons of books to haul home and justify this act by reasoning that she is "giving them a home". In her mind, used books were like a cute puppy at a pound.

So I have conflicted emotions when a New York City bookstore closes. The latest is Murder Ink, an Upper West Side bookstore that focuses on mystery/noir (and my particular favorite genre). It closes its doors for good tomorrow after being around for 34 years. I've trekked up to its location every 3 months or so to browse and buy, and it's well-known to genre fans; honestly, I'm really hurt to see it go.

So one of the two emotions is sadness, in losing a favorite. But here's the other part: Vulture that I can be, I made sure to visit it in its final days to add books to my 'to-be-read' pile. To a bibliophile like myself, there's a certain giddiness, derived from some primal urge, in buying a bunch of books at one time.

But the mood at Murder Ink was not anything you'd expect it to be today-- it wasn't scavengers fighting over a choice item like what one might see at 5 a.m. the day after Thanksgiving or the haggling one finds at a yard sale. This was far different from the final night at CBGB's, another institution that closed this year. It was quiet and respectful, with many murmurs of "I'm so sorry about the closing" as people left the store. They asked about how the owner was doing and what the gals who manned the counters would be doing next. It was almost funerial and somber in tone. Given the clientele, I'm not sure why I'm so surprised-- it probably was the recent Christmas shopping frenzy.

But, on a somber occasion like this when you're talking about a mom and pop store, it was good to see the treated with the respect it deserved. The customers were truly giving the items from Murder Ink a home.

E-Media Tidbits, Take Note

2006-12-29T03:26:00.000-05:00

This is a great concrete example of print media harnessing the power of the blogosphere: The New York Daily News needed to fill two pages for its Holiday Beauty Gift Guide on December 17. They turned to Beauty Addict blogger Kristen Kelly, born and bred in New York City. This is the result. Everybody wins here.

While I'm guessing this was a one-off (Orla Healy is still on staff as their beauty editor), this is a perfect case study of a newspaper leveraging its readership base's specialized knowledge for content. Kristen gets added visibility and (hopefully) a nice freelance check. Will there be more of this in the future over at the Daily News, perhaps?

(Disclosure: Kristen is a friend and I'm incredibly excited for her on this.)

"I am a Tortured Writer."

2006-12-20T02:15:00.000-05:00

This, above, is a handwritten note I've put up in my office, to remind myself of my limitations.

I am a slow writer, one who pores over sentences again and again, continually parsing words and switching everything around until the deadline is long past due. I recently mentioned this to a friend who works at a newswire -- where you have less than an hour to turn around breaking news -- that I could never do what she does. And I have no idea how the kids at Gawker Media crank out 12 posts a day. I'd rather work at a monthly. Or something quarterly. Something long-lead.

It's not the pressure, but I have a constant urge to fiddle with the written word. And you should see what happens -- or, more accurately what doesn't happen -- when writer's block hits. For those interested in more about this area, he sure to pick up the fascinating "The Midnight Disease: The Drive to Write, Writer's Block, and the Creative Brain", by Alice Weaver Flaherty.

I was reminded of this again while reading the forthcoming book "Made to Stick", by Chip and Dan Heath (review TK). Early on, they quote Ed Cray, an erstwhile journalist who is now a communications professor at USC. There, he relates that "[t]he longer you work on a story, the more you find yourself losing direction. No detail is too small. You just don't know what your story is anymore."

Too true-- it's something I need to work on, and part of why I started this blog, to help with the writing process. I've spent far too long writing and rewriting this post already.

"Character is a Psychosis. Integrity is a Complex."

2006-12-16T18:44:00.000-05:00

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-- Jonathan Swift, 1706

One of my favorite books has always been the Pulitzer Prize-winning "A Confederacy of Dunces", John Kennedy Toole's foray into the mind of Ignatius J. Reilly, an intelligent and portly man-child in 1960's New Orleans. So I was heartened to see Peter Hyman raise the seasonal question of whether the book would ever become a film over at Slate yesterday.

Four years ago, when I was writing at a film site, I actually had the chance to read the then-current draft of the screenplay. My main hypothesis was that it was destined to fall into the category of "good book, terrible film". In some sense, I still feel that way, honestly. But I'd give an arm and a leg to still see it made.

I still think the opening to the script was grand. As I wrote at FilmJerk at the time: "The start to Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer's treatment of the film is sure to cause [the viewer to gape, grin, laugh out loud, and shake his head in wonderment, in the words of Walker Percy]. "What in the world does the title of this ludicrous movie mean?," cries Ignatius off-screen as he, and we, see the credits of "Dunces" unspooling at a children's matinee. Continuing the very "Mystery Science Theater 3000" moment, Ignatius then calls the director a hack extraordinaire, blows a raspberry at those involved with the writing and, when the producer credits are unveiled, yells out, "That's not a good sign; the more producers, the more feeble-minded the production!" It's a great start to the screenplay, one which aptly sets up what is to come and will invariably draw the audience in."

Given what has since happened to the city of New Orleans 15 months ago, this would be a fabulous time to re-start the journey from page to screen-- to make it a tribute, in part, to a fallen city. It's going to be a hard sell to audiences, I'm sure, but the potential is there for this to be a majestic -- albeit goofy -- film.

I continue to hold out hope it makes it to the screen, someday.

(Disclosure: Peter and I both worked at the same PR agency eight years ago)

Really, You're Delightful

2006-12-15T19:00:00.000-05:00

I have fallen into the verbal rut of saying people are delightful. Half of the time I mean it; the other half, notsomuch.

If you're reading this and I've called you delightful in the recent past, nothing to worry about-- you're in the former category, obviously.

Not Leavin' on a Jet Plane

2006-12-08T19:31:00.000-05:00

Uncle, uncle. Unlike some others I know, I am not cut out to be a road warrior; I've long battled a fear of flying. Hell, the joke is that I can't even handle being on an airplane unless there is a promise of palm trees and tropical drinks on the other end.

But, in the past two weeks, I've been forced to make two one-day trips to somewhat-distant cities via plane. Nothing beats getting up at an ungodly hour to take the first possible flight out, and return back to NYC less than eight hours later. At the end of each trip, I was barely coherent and locked in a fetal position in the cab ride home.

You want to see a wonderful sight, really?: Watch me during take-off and you'll see that my knuckles turn an odd shade of white as I grip the armrests for dear life. I'm sure that wild-eyed look of panic I display only adds to that wonderful scene.

Whittling the Weekend Away

2006-12-03T01:45:00.000-05:00

I am hoping this weekend will pass quickly-- but I'm not in a rush for a new work week to begin or anything like that, nah. At approximately midnight Sunday, the fourth-season finale for "The Wire" will spring onto the scene. And I will be watching, rapturously. And, most likely, more than once. I can't wait to see what transpires, the build-up has been amazing.

This is not the first time I've written about this HBO seies, nor will it likely to be the last. But there is a certain sadness in knowing, in little less than 24 hours time, I'll have to wait more than a year to see the next season. And, the more I see what series creator David Simon intends to do with the fifth season -- check out this interview in Slate that ran Friday -- I'm counting the days.

(And how sad is it that I've been holing myself up in my apartment all weekend, sorta, watching a mini-marathon of the first season?)

Time to Make Today's Papers

2006-12-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

Last April, I highlighted the first thing I read each morning-- Today's Papers, from Slate. It's a crisp, straight summary of what the major U.S. newspapers (The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal) feature on their front pages each day. To say it's invaluable is a major understatement.

Back in August, Eric Umansky -- then the editor -- announced he was leaving and that Slate would be having a "bake-off" between three writers for the feature's editorship. To absolutely no fanfare, Daniel Politi began November 1 as the new editor. A writer living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his first effort writing TP came in November 2004 and, before officially taking on the role, had written 70 editions of the feature.

If you haven't already, sign up for the free daily e-mail-- and be sure tell Daniel he's doing a fine job, which he is. It's yeoman's work, as this 2003 Mediabistro feature on Umansky illustrates.

If I might make a suggestion for Slate? I'd love to see the site develop a sister newsletter to this one, examining the business pages of the U.S. papers as well-- I'd sign up for that.

The Great Coffee War of 2006

2006-11-27T07:26:00.000-05:00

Talk about being overcaffeinated: Soon, four different coffee shops will battle it out on East Ninth Street and Second Avenue in New York City. This coffee connoisseur's paradise finds each within 200 square feet of each other.

Prior to today, it was a two-way battle between the chain, Starbucks, and the indie underdog, Mudspot. Today sees the opening of the second Max Brenner outlet in New York, housed in the spot that Starbucks was a year ago and now directionally opposite the retail giant on the south side of the street. And -- according to the sign I read last night -- Veselka is now expanding its operations several doors down, opening its own coffee shop directly opposite the Mudspot.

Talk about craziness, as well as market oversaturation. We'll see who is standing within a year, but my hope is that the plucky and enterprising Mudspot, which I have a lot of love for, continues to thrive.

"Ghost" in the Machine

2006-11-26T22:23:00.000-05:00

As I had mentioned earlier, I have been reading "The Ghost Map", Steven Johnson's look into the 1854 London cholera epidemic. Now that I've finished it, I can say it's a fine book, notwithstanding the extended passages involving fecal matter and Johnson's habit of wandering in places.

A medical mystery chronicling an eight-day outbreak that touched almost every family in the Broad Street area, Johnson uses this event both as a focal point for discussing the evolution of cities and how this event helped to change how we combat large-scale epidemics. One begat the other-- the infrastructure of London helped the cholera breed in 1854. The end chapters, which looks at the future could hold in disease management, are even more eerie and chilling.

As Johnson himself writes in his blog, "So many of the issues that define the modern world today -- the runaway growth of megacities, environmental crises, fears of apocalyptic epidemics, digital mapping, the need for clean water, urban terror, the rise of amateur expertise -- are there, in embryo, in the Broad Street outbreak." Talk about a giant premise, one that he ultimately tackles well.

To me, though, the most eye-opening part of his book comes towards the end when he discusses what could happen in the future. Noting that by 2015, the largest cities are expected to be Tokyo, Mumbai, Dhaka, Sao Paulo and Dehli -- astonishingly, each with populations of more than 20 million -- he writes, "the megacities of the twenty-first century will have to learn all over again the lessons that London muddled through in the nineteenth." We are left with the impression that cholera could strike a major city again, and be even more deadly. Also intriguing is his idea that global warming and the energy crunch "will have disruptive effects on existing cities in the coming decades".

Those expecting only the blow-by-blow of what happened in 1854 will ultimately be disappointed. It's more than that. It's also not the normal Johnson polemic-- it's a large departure from his earlier works, and an improvement. I would love to see him tackle this vein, the historical thriller, again.

Read Like Me

2006-11-23T08:02:00.000-05:00

For those who have been asking about what I read online, I've made my Bloglines feed public. You can find it here. It's very unorganized, but tell me if I'm missing something I should be reading.

Already Over: Sunday Brunch

2006-11-20T07:28:00.000-05:00

I've now giving up on weekend brunch.

Forgive me, but I've never really understood the purpose of this New York city staple.

You wake up, still a bit groggy from the previous night's excursions, and struggle to make it to that weekend's brunch destination. This even though it's the early afternoon. You arrive and hope that everyone else will make it, so that your reservation isn't ganked -- my apologies, 'gank' is my new favorite word -- by another. You make small talk and your mildew-embedded mind tries to catch up with the conversation. Everyone looks like they're struggling to get through this endeavor.

The check comes and you gawk at how much you've paid for so little; you're still malnourished. And, after awkward goodbyes, you go home to be non-productive. Really, more than anything, you crave a nap.

I hope that whomever came up with the idea of brunch was dragged into the public square, and drawn and quartered in full view of all the other townsfolk. Seriously, I hate the idea that much. From now on, I'm going to leisurely grab a coffee and a newspaper-- at my own pace.

"Fool Me-- You Can't Get Fooled Again"

2006-11-19T15:10:00.000-05:00

It's not often I give a writer a second try.

I've given up on more authors than I care to admit, after being let down by one of their efforts. The popular-with-my-generation Chuck Palahniuk is an example of this, oddly enough-- nothing to do with prose or subject matter, his works just weren't something I was interested enough in to invest the money and time in a second try. "Fight Club" was 'eh' to me and I stopped "Invisible Monsters" after 10 pages. I fear I was spoiled by "Fight Club", the film.

Don Dellilo is another example that comes to mind here, to name another writer. And, in the musical realm, I fear this might be true with Bloc Party's upcoming sophomore effort, based upon the advance reviews of its next album based on what I'm hearing and reading.

But Steven Johnson is one author who I have given a second pass. Although I disliked his earlier effort -- "Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter", the title of which encapsulates the book's focus quite well -- I am finding his newest, "The Ghost Map", to be a real page-turner. More likely than not, it has to do with the change from theory to non-fiction.

More on this book soon. But it just struck me, as I looked at my bookshelf, how many author's full canons I have there, and few singular efforts.

You Know You're Going to Have a Tough Monday Workday When...

2006-11-14T06:46:00.000-05:00

...you realize some joker has switched the regular coffee and the decaf in the kitchen. Ack.

Early Obituary: Bamn!

2006-11-13T07:23:00.000-05:00

On St. Mark's Place in the East Village, a new take on the self-serve fast-food joint has been getting a great deal of media attention not only in New York, but nationally. Calling itself Bamn!, this new 'eatery' bills itself as a 25-hour automat. Basically, you can plop in $2 in quarters, push a white button and out pops a teriyaki burger.

For a while, it became a good place to grab a quick meal on the go; it's certainly unique in this day and age.

It was a concept that quickly lost flavor, though, in my mind. Same selection day in and day out. Same class of tourist-y people gawking at the concept. And despite the whole "25 hours a day" hook, it remains suspiciously unopen when I walk to the subway each morning. I'd like to think Bamn! will be around for the long run, but the owners need to change the fare up a bit.

But, each time I pass it, it's feeling more and more like a novelty act, something that will soon disappear from the East Village landscape.

[Photo by Tina Fineberg of the Associated Press]

Tired of Lifestyle Porn

2006-11-06T06:23:00.000-05:00

Thrillist. Daily Candy. Urban Daddy. Very Short List. And now, from the New York Times, comes Urbanite. I'm signed up for each of these e-newsletters (often dubbed 'lifestyle porn'), and I'm feeling a little fatigued from all of it.

So many choices to be found within, so little time. Is it just me, or is this category -- while catering to different niches, for the most part -- becoming oversubscribed?

Of these, I'm most partial to the erudite Very Short List, which started its run in early September. While some might find it boring (Gawker did), it's become the one I look to each morning. As News.com describes it, the e-newsletter "carries recommendations of unheralded cultural and entertainment products, including books, CDs and DVDs." Now in beta, it offers contributions from Kurt Andersen and is hard to find for those seeking it out-- a bracketed search of its name doesn't even come up its site among the first 10 pages of results on Google. Here's to hoping this one catches on further.

Funky Beer Memories

2006-11-01T20:57:00.000-05:00

Halloween. What does one do when their refrigerator dies and there are two cases of beer within that were on their way to becoming funky? Obviously, it's time to take off the wig, put away the candy and invite the friends over. That's how my Halloween night started and why I'm now cleaning up my apartment.

While I'm more than a little peeved at the thought of eating out for the near future, this brings back some fond meories of when I was a senior in high school. My good friends and I had gone to a Bridgeport, Conn. liquor store and bought a ton of beer, which was then transferred to the trunk of my car-- a Peugot, which we referred to as the clown car because of the amount of people we could fit in there. Every other day for about a month, we put fresh ice in there; my car became known as a party on wheels. Definitely good times, even with what soon became skanky beer, until my father made me open up the trunk and I got in a load of trouble.

Ah, good memories.

Next-Generation Gawker

2006-10-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Emily Gould, the new co-editor of Gawker.

To many, this hire of the site's formerly anonymous "Unsolicited" author is an intriguing choice. New York Magazine's Daily Intelligencer blog -- led by Jesse Oxfeld, no stranger to the Gawker masthead -- said "[w]e know virtually nothing about Miss Gould, except that she runs a blog called Emily Magazine". Later, he amended his post to link to two pieces she had written for the magazine.

Others quickly followed up, with this Galleycat post cataloguing some of her more recent articles and work in the publishing field. There, this line caught my eye-- "when reached for comment, Gould would only confirm that she wrote "Unsolicited," stressing that she was "under strict orders not to say anything more.""

Hmmm. And Gawker has been mum on the hire itself as well, allowing others to break the news. Anyone willing to bet that there is a feature article in the works that will unveil the new Gawker team in place, which is why they're staying mum? (Wouldn't be a stretch, really.) David Carr at The New York Times, care to comment? New York Magazine? Hello, New York Observer? Jon Friedman of MarketWatch, stay put in your corner.

Going with my gut here on this, though. As I said in my last post on Gawker here, Gawker has gone from 3 years combined experience of its editors in June to, now, two relative newbies (Gould and Alex Balk, who joined in July)-- this would be a good time to reintroduce the site to the marketplace.

Anyway, congrats to Gawker on what looks like a sterling addition.

UPDATE: Looks like I'm fantastically wrong as there is nary a peep from the major papers within the last month.

Someone Dances Horribly, I Cover My Eyes

2006-10-28T11:03:00.000-04:00

I have no idea when this picture was taken (Megu?), but I love it-- funny as hell. That's Matt Caldecutt dancing in the background.

Ah, Bachelor Party Memories

2006-10-27T20:22:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year again. I seem to have been on a spate of bachelor parties recently, so I thought I'd share one memory that came awhile back. Names and locations have been omitted for the sake of everyone involved.

A group of 8 are at [popular NYU college bar], where a dance party has broken out. The place is, understandably, full of underage NYU types. Figuring that the bachelor would soon be a popular man, the best man informed the DJ that there was a soon-to-be-ex-bachelor in residence. The underage types blinked, look at the guy and resumed dancing, shifting away from the guy as if he had announced he was fungus-laden.

We ducked out five minutes later.

The Show Doesn't Need to Go On

2006-10-23T07:43:00.000-04:00

Encore: "An extra or repeated performance; usually given in response to audience demand."

A long while back, the concert encore was an extraordinary experience, done only on rare occasions. Now, sadly, it has crossed the chassis to be overdone. It has now become expected, de rigueur. Clap your hands, say yeah and chant the band's name-- they're more than likely going to be coming out again anyway. But how many times has a band truly warranted an encore, really?

While I'm all for getting more bang for your concert buck, the encore needs to become more special, returning to the status it once was. I've probably been to about 100 concerts in my lifetime -- the majority in smaller venues, not the arenas -- and can think of maybe one-tenth of those artists that truly deserved another round. The rest just played on some more, as I look at my watch and sigh.

Maybe I've been reading too much Idolator recently, but can we stop encouraging this for the lesser performances?

My "Daily Show" Nitpick

2006-10-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

Is it just me or has "The Daily Show" laid an egg with its new "Seat of Heat" feature? The segment -- which reminds me of original host Craig Kilborn's "5 Questions" -- comes directly after the guest interview, where Jon Stewart posits an absurdist question to the guest. It doesn't make the guest squirm or really add anything, but more often than not falls flat.

Seriously, guys, you can do far better than this-- please add more Stewart/Colbert rapport or push the time to the front end of the show, please.

Pelecanos Brings the "Drama"

2006-10-15T23:23:00.000-04:00

Talk about a novel staying with you.

Although I finished George Pelecanos' "Drama City" a few months back, I have found myself drawn back to the novel again and again-- it's truly his best work to date. It looks like the author's work on "The Wire" has carried over to his first stand-alone novel, as the sensibilities and the slow-boil pacing are very similar to the show; also, certain characters here evoke memories of some of the key players in the series' two recent seasons.

An urban portrait of redemption, it follows Lorenzo Brown, back on the streets after a prison term and trying to live a sober, straight life as "dog police". But after a number of senseless killings, he is drawn back into the fold of his former life, in order to try to do the right thing. It has shades of Richard Price's "Clockers", albeit capturing a narrower view of urban life.

Really, try it out. It's a rough, magnificent work by a more mature Pelecanos and I hope his next works continue along this track.

Related thought: Am I the only one who buys certain authors in a certain format? All of my James Ellroy novels are hardcover, all of my Pelecanos are softcover...and a certain Robert Wilson book taunts me from my bookshelf every morning, as it is the only non-trade paperback of all of his books I have. Damn you, "A Small Death in Lisbon".

Jessica Coen's Freaky Fridays

2006-10-12T19:44:00.000-04:00

Talk about a coincidental, weird occurence: The Friday before Jessica Coen was added to the Gawker team and masthead fell on the 13th. She started that next Monday (August 16, 2004).

And her last day at Gawker -- tomorrow -- also falls on a Friday the 13th. I take it that she doesn't suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia.

All the best to JCo, the longest-running Gawker editor ever and a genuinely funny person. I find it extremely sad that in little more than 3 months' time, Gawker has lost the two editors who had three-years-plus experience between them.

Here's to Alex Balk, the new co-editor and Chris Mohney bringing the funny as much as JCo and JKO did.

Insert Ferris Bueller Quote Here

2006-10-09T06:35:00.000-04:00

For the first time in a long while, I found myself enjoying a day where I didn't have a single commitment on the calendar. After the hustle and bustle of the past few weeks, I haven't been happier to just do my "Seinfeld"-ian thing, which was absolutely nothing.

I woke up late, showered, answered a few e-mails, got my morning coffee and brunch at the Mudspot, and then debated going to an early afternoon showing of "The Departed". (An aside: The order of showering and the answering of e-mails might actually have been reversed, but I don't want to give you the mental image of me typing an e-mail in my boxers. Ha, happy Monday!)

But -- after deciding to save the flick for another day -- I was able to indulge in one of the simplest joys, to spend an afternoon perusing the Strand Bookstore, a voluminous used bookstore just below Union Square (16 miles of books!). Usually, I do a "quick hit" when I'm in there, looking at the newest releases, the bestsellers on the front table and, my personal favorite, the mystery cart. For those who are frequent visitors to the Strand and mystery fanatics, they probably know about it-- it's located towards the back on the main floor, a single cart loaded with paperback mysteries, teeming with authors like Chandler, Hammett, Leonard, Lehane and the like. For a mystery lover like myself, it's a must-visit.

But today I did more than hit up those three quick areas. I perused the store from top to bottom. And in doing so, I picked up a book I haven't put down since I started typing this-- Luis Alberto Urrea's "The Devil's Highway". A true tale, it tells the story of 26 Mexican men who scrambled across the border in 2001 and into a harsh and deadly area of the Arizona desert; only 12 made it across. It's a heartbreaking and amazing work.

And finding a treasure like this is what a nothing day is all about.

Picking Up the Pieces

2006-10-06T21:19:00.000-04:00

I live and die by my "to-do" lists; I feel a certain smug satisfaction when I tick off something there. Sad, right?

I used to be an organizational mess, but now, today, I am a man who makes lists in order to tread water in a cubicle culture. Thank God for my OCD finally setting in later in life.

I wish I could make the metaphor that a project even making it onto the list is akin to being admitted to a popular club with the velvet ropes and whatnot, but that would belie my professional stature.

This week, I was confronted this week with something that made me feel uneasy and a little sick to my stomach-- I misplaced my list. My carefully, well-thought-out list of objectives and goals was nowhere to be found. Crap. A small panic attack set in. I felt off. After being dejected and unslewing a string of curse words, I tried to put together the magical list anew. I could tell certain projects were missing, something was off.

I'm glad when I found it a day later...the uneasiness was soon gone.

"Boys and Girls in America Have Such a Sad Time Together"

2006-10-02T23:33:00.000-04:00

The Hold Steady at Irving Plaza, October 1. While I may have some minor quibbles with lead singer Craig Finn's distracting, frenetic mannerisms on stage, they put on a damn good show. Seriously...they were great and wonderful, although I'm pretty sure I broke a toe somehow.

And this is how to get an audience in your corner from the start, by saying the following: "We suggest you call out of work tomorrow, because we're heading to Hi-Fi afterwards and drinking 'til we can't stand. Come join us." Genius, guys.

(Photo by Steve Rogovin)

Maybe I'll Read George Pelecanos Instead

2006-09-27T23:45:00.000-04:00

Can someone explain to me why exactly I feel the need to get into an Elmore Leonard kick just as the fall season descends upon us, each and every year?

Coffee Makes Me Strong!

2006-09-19T07:08:00.000-04:00

After my seventh cup of coffee yesterday, I realized that I might -- just might -- have a coffee problem. Maybe.

It's Not Beer Goggles, I'm Just Near-Sighted

2006-09-10T11:12:00.000-04:00

While I was in North Carolina -- see post below, and I should probably add that my time there was for a bachelor party -- I did one of the dumbest things I've done in a long while.

No, nothing naughty. No pictures floating around that I'm embarassed about (I think). I wasn't arrested or anything like that. Simply, I lost my glasses. In and of itself, not the worst thing that could have happened-- but I'm still kicking myself in how it came to pass, the stupidity of it all.

The five of us there decided to rent a boat for the last afternoon were there, and brought a cooler full of beer. We made our way to a popular little area, anchoring off a small little island. (By the way, we found out that beer cans float. Pow!) So, there I was on the boat and my old roommate -- who now lives in Dallas with his new wife -- called for another beer. Per custom, I launched a beer in his general direction, ending up five feet to the right. He filled up the empty beercan with water, for weight, and rocketed it back, albeit a dozen feet to the the right of the boat. Not thinking, I dove in after it. As I was doing so, I realized I still had my glasses on. Damnit. I thrashed around to see if I could find them, but no luck. Such a dumb move.

Flash forward to a little while later, when a gal from a boat neighboring ours if I thought she was cute. I said thought she was, but I was having a problem seeing objects more than a dozen feet away. Suave.

So, I spent the rest of my time there, and the flight back, squinting heavily. Stupid beer thrown to the right.

Scratch My Back For Me?

2006-09-09T16:49:00.000-04:00

I glance around the workplace, discover that nobody is watching me at that moment. I rub my back against the cubicle's endcap for a good 15 seconds. Ah, sweet relief...

For the past week, I've been dealing with a bad case of sunburn, which I acquired down in North Carolina during the Labor Day break. Ah, sunburn, my old friend-- you're what caused me to be known as "Lobster Boy" numerous times while growing up. Good to have you back and, now, glad that you're gone. At least for the moment.

"The Wire" Is Almost Here

2006-09-08T06:16:00.000-04:00

I don't think I'll be going out on Sunday nights again for a while.

"The Wire" officially begins its fourth season Sunday, and every review I've seen has been absolutely glowing, with a large number calling it the best show on television. From the New York Times, to Variety, to Entertainment Weekly, to USA Today, to the New York Post...nice. I am even more enthusiastic about the new season than I was in July.

Knowing that critical reviews can help bring about another season of the drama, J. Max Robbins of Broadcasting & Cable puts it best: "The Wire, perhaps the only police drama that truly deserves to be called “gritty,” begins its fourth season on HBO...Let me be the first to begin the campaign for a fifth. A nuanced portrait of urban Baltimore, with its internecine battles among cops, politicos and drug dealers, The Wire demands a far greater level of commitment and attention from its audience than your standard escapist police procedural."

ABC, I will not forgive you one bit if your silliness with the "Path to 9/11" neocon fan-fic chokes off all the talk about the wonderfulness of this series. Seriously.

For links to even more glowing reviews, check out Jim King's site for "The Wire" here.

53 Books???

2006-09-06T08:48:00.000-04:00

Maureen Dowd: "Bush tells journalists he has been reading prodigiously, 53 books so far this year."

At this rate, he'll read approximately 80 books this year. How is it that the most powerful man in the world, the President of the United States, is able to read at such a prodigous rate? Doesn't he have "hard work" that needs to be done, things that take precedence?

Charlie Huston is a Sadomasochist

2006-09-02T00:02:00.000-04:00

In a period of 365 days, Charlie Huston will have published three books-- crazy. Who does that these days?

With his next hitting in less than a month, I realized I needed to get caught up with the pulp noir writer's work. I'd read "Caught Stealing" a few months back (see here), and just finished "Six Bad Things," the second in the series. His next, the final part of the trilogy and entitled "A Dangerous Man", comes out September 19.

While I seem to be suffering from book ADD lately, this taut effort -- which begins in Mexico and then crosses back over the border -- proves he is no fluke. Hank Thomspon, now a wanted man on the lam, with a string of murders to his name (the majority of which he did commit), fears for his family after several factors come into play. And it helps spin the series into a whole new direction for the third book. Well done, Huston, in pulling this pivot off rather believably.

While I said before he was comprable to a Shane Black effort, I'm going to amend that to saying he is also very Elmore Leonard-like, in how he is able to craft intriguing, zany characters and has a gift for dialogue. This book is also a little less gritty than his first, but not by much.

Definitely a good read. And, Huston, take a vacation-- c'mon now, you're making too many writers look like slackers.

2006-08-31T07:16:00.000-04:00

My horoscope in the New York Post today: "You have made plenty of sacrifices for other people-- now do something for yourself for a change. Devote your complete attention to whatever it is you are passionate about and don't let anyone distract you for any reason. You are not being selfish: you have a right to satisfy your needs and desires too."

You know what, the nutty Post is right. For once.

This reminds me of the old adage that even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. Or that if you put an infinite number of monkeys in front of an infinite number of typerwriters, eventually they will produce the works of Shakespeare. And a number of other metaphors...

Another Vice to Bear

2006-08-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

I have a terrible confession to make: I am utterly addicted to CBS' "Rock Star: Supernova".

How sad is that? After vowing that I would not watch the show, an "American Idol" for the rock crowd, I was pulled in a number of weeks ago and have not missed an episode since. Really, I don't need another vice right now, I have too many as it is. And here's a more shocking revelation: Thanks to the show's website, I sometimes listen to the performances from the previous show while I work, playing in the background.

My pick was Ryan Star, who was surprisingly eliminated tonight. His haunting take of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" two weeks back gave me chills, as did his take on the more rock-oriented songs. Check out his MySpace page to see what I'm talking about, he is truly an artist to watch -- a title Billboard has already bestowed upon him -- and has a hypnotic showmanship and charisma.

My God, the previous two paragraphs read like it came from a teenager's blog, ack.

Not that it matters for the remaining contestants. According to one source, Supernova has already chosen a lead singer for their band: Lukas Ross (like the first season's winner, he's also a Canadian). Sigh, and he's the only one of the remaining five that I cannot stand.

I'm now sickened with this post and going to read some Dante. Can we forget I ever posted this, please?

Playing Against Type

2006-08-29T07:02:00.000-04:00

In the current issue of The Week, editor-in-chief William Falk reflects upon the past five years, what has happened since the magazine's inception in mid-2001. Curiously, he ends with this: "May the next five years be less interesting."

Huh. When is the last time you've heard of an editor for a newsweekly wish for less interesting news?

True, Mean Friends

2006-08-21T20:09:00.000-04:00

The lede from an Associated Press story last week: "Single male (red hair, long arms, interests include hanging in trees and grooming) seeks female for long-distance relationship and possibility of meeting up in future to help save species."

Uh, I'd like to thank the half-dozen people who sent this my way, saying they liked my Craigslist ad. Bastards. They should know I do not have long arms.

(And don't even get me started on "red-on-red crime", a term some others use of the idea of redheads dating each other.)

An Aging Music-Lover's Lament

2006-08-20T17:10:00.001-04:00

"You're going to be a writer at Rolling Stone some day, I know it."

That was what a high school friend declared to me more than a dozen years ago. Alas, it was not to be, despite spending an ungodly amount of time in my formative high school years at an indie music store.

It was there -- at a now-defunct store called Secret Sounds in Bridgeport, CT -- that I found bands like Stereolab and Radiohead, as well as was introduced to the entire catalogues of David Bowie, The Clash, the Talking Heads, Operation Ivy and The Police. It was there that I found this wonderful magazine called CMJ New Music Monthly that came with a disc of the newest music, something I would parse and treasure. In college, I spent far too much time at the college radio station, poring over the newest discs that arrived, in consideration for airplay.

I used to have an ear for what would be big on the rock scene, I used to know what would one day cross into the mainstream to become cool.

But sometime since I exited the college radio station -- for graduation, the light of day and life as a working stiff, collectively and/or perhaps not in that order -- I've lost my touch and my bearings. Now I 'discover' bands like the Shins and Snow Patrol only because of Zach Braff's tastemaking skills, toasting them long after they have become cool with the hipsters. Even in this age of Stereogum and Pitchfork, I am hopelessly behind the curve.

I guess I'm still a little bit ahead of the curve, somewhat. I still remember telling a friend a short while ago that I had tickets to go see Snow Patrol when they hit New York next month, and he related seeing them play the Peach Pit on "Beverly Hills, 90210" once. I didn't even take a stab at what band he was mis-remembering them for. I'm not an aging hipster yet, I guess.

Chris Anderson, In His Own Words

2006-08-19T13:28:00.000-04:00

Here's Chris Anderson, author of "The Long Tail," on page 116 of the book: "The Long Tail is indeed full of crap."

Such an easy line to be taken out of context, really. But here is he talking about -- with so much detrius out there -- how one would struggle with finding subjective quality without filters or aggregators. Why didn't Lee Gomes use this line in one of his two takedowns of the business book?

[Myself, liked Anderson's effort.]

Me, With Funny Goatee

2006-08-17T22:57:00.000-04:00

Gah, my eyes look puffy. Hell, my entire face looks puffy. In any case, this is the new look with the goatee, far better than the 'artist's rendering' provided below.

That's Ali Gannon, writer extrodinare of Rum and Popcorn fame, on the left and many thanks to Spinachdip for the picture.

The Drawbacks of Not Sucking Up

2006-08-06T11:44:00.000-04:00

"The Clash."

This is what my then-new boss uttered about a year ago, to the question of what his favorite band was. Surveying him was a group out during a two-day team-building session.

Ack. That's my favorite band as well. Good taste. (C'mon, "London Calling"? Best disc ever.) But do I say the same, looking like a putz and a suck-up to both him and the rest of my team?

The group expectantly looked at me, awaiting my reply, after one said Springsteen and another the Beatles. I rack my brain.

"Ummmm….David Bowie. Definitely Bowie." Can I sound a little more like Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man", please?

Strange stares all around, I might as well have said I was (a spider) from Mars. Sigh.

And that was how I came to be singing "Ziggy Stardust" -- badly -- two months later in a karaoke bar, at another team outing. And why, in a moment of desperation, I chose the moniker "ZiggyStardust" over at Gawker.

Funny how the dominoes fall sometimes after one moment of hesitation...

Politician Puts Family Before Good Press-- Hold the Phone

2006-08-05T19:52:00.000-04:00

The one-time driver of the "Straight Talk Express", Arizona senator John McCain, lost me as a sometimes-admirer when he started aggressively pandering to the right-wing Republican base earlier this year.

Still, there's a fascinating article in this week's Time Magazine, focusing on the revelation that McCain's son has joined the Marines. It's a laudatory story and an eye-opener into the McCain family history (I had no clue McCain's own father commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific during the Vietnam War).

But this sentence caught my eye: "In mid-June, [McCain] asked TIME not to run this story, and relented only when it appeared that other organizations might break the news."

Hit me with a frying pan-- could a politician be putting family before his own self-interests?

McCain certainly could have capitalized on this for his own gain with a well-placed phone call to a friendly media contact. That he was able to get Time to hold off one doing this story is an interesting turn. You see, my guess here is that McCain knew -- to the cynical politics observer -- that he could have easily looked like a political opportunist, had he gone right out of the gate with this. But, in taking this tack, he ultimately gained here and is able to stem any cries of opportunism.

Here's what I envisioned happened: McCain gets a call from an enterprising Time journalist, who has found out this information independently, asking for comment. McCain asked the magazine to hold it, saying he was not ready to comment at that time-- and promised that he would call the journalist if he got a call from another media outlet. When others started contacting McCain for comment here, he went back to the outlet that was first on the scene. What could easily have originally been a front-of-book feature turned into a glowing two-page spread. A great media play by McCain, if what I think happened is true and the smartest thing he has done in a long while.

Michael Steele could learn a thing or two from this fellow.

James Ellroy's Dark Place

2006-08-01T07:04:00.000-04:00

"I was starting to lose it. Here's a trip, there's a stumble, beware of a fall."

I am a giant big fan of the "Demon Dog", author James Ellroy. The author behind "L.A. Confidential" and others, he is a unique voice in literature today-- he gives voice to the recent past, particularly the lore of Los Angeles. Drawing a fictional world of characters from the cloth of reality -- such as the JFK assasination in "American Tabloid" -- he's a magnificent writer. There's no doubt that Ellroy is a tortured and disturbed soul, but his taut, syncopatic prose and his evocative images easily transport you to the time he's writing of.

To help commemorate the forthcoming film version of "The Black Dahlia" in September, he wrote a an article in Los Angeles Times' West Magazine on his love/hate affair with Los Angeles. Be sure to check it out.

Here's my favorite passage from the piece, wherein he describes L.A.: "W.H. Auden called L.A. "The Great Wrong Place." I'll ascribe intent. Auden saw L.A. as a lodestone for opportunists and psychically maimed misfits. I sense this because I fall into both categories. Auden couched L.A. in a film-noir construction. Losers migrated here to start over and become someone else. L.A. was a magnet for lives in desperate duress. The sheer indifference of the place consumed the migrants and drove them mad. They succumbed to madness in a sexy locale. The place itself provided solace and recompense. They had the comfort of other arriviste losers. They entered the L.A. spiritus mundi. They handed out their head shots. They joined that unique L.A. casting call."

The Transitional Year

2006-07-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

I think a great deal about my first year here in New York City. Probably more than I should, really.

A little more than 7 years ago, I had moved to NYC almost the day after I graduated from college, and started work at a tech PR agency the following Monday. I lived right on the cusp of the Upper East Side and rarely went out, in order to make rent each month-- I found out that one could truly live on $1 PBRs from the corner grocery and happy hours that offered platters of food. Despite my having been here many times before, the city was new, exciting and daunting to this new inhabitant-- so I spent weekends walking to new parts of the island to explore. And I read far too much in my apartment as well, filling more than one bookcase. While I was called a 'hermit' by friends, I still had fun, in a way.

You see, while I was making just above minimum wage at the agency, my friends were at investment banks and consulting firms earning triple that and had expense accounts. I could barely afford to go with them to the then-open Village Idiot, much less to the swanky clubs. Whatever, really-- that's the realities of the economics here in NYC.

The reason I bring this up is that a friend is now considering whether to move to NYC. She is taking a similar track to my own course here, and I'm readying her of what that first year will be like, when more than half of her pay goes to making rent. I'm sure she'll be less of a hermit than I, but she will still be strained by the paycheck. It'll be interesting to see how she does.

And I also am at a point where I'm wondering if I am too cozy and comfortable with where I am now as well.

Shades of Inside.com: Portfolio

2006-07-28T19:10:00.000-04:00

Every week, it seems that the forthcoming Portfolio Magazine – the new business magazine from Conde Nast – recruits another blue-chip business journalist. The masthead, which already boasts some of the best of the best from the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Wired Magazine, Time and a host of others, is shaping up to be a behemoth, talent-wise. If this were a fantasy baseball team, they’ve had a real good draft in cherry-picking great players— and they're not done yet.

But it finally hit me what the pre-launch hoopla reminded me of: The launch of (the now-defunct) Inside.com back in May 2000. It came when I somehow landed on an old Online Journalism Review article that started with this: “In May 2000, the debut of Inside.com attracted the sort of media attention generally reserved for Hollywood blockbusters.” Sound familiar?

Just look at the names and talent that littered the masthead there at the beginning of its 18-month run, and where they are now. At the New York Times, they’ve scooped up David Carr, Lorne Manly and Peter Edmontson. Sara Nelson is now editor-in-chief of Publisher’s Weekly, Craig Marks is editor-in-chief of Blender and Kim Masters is ubiquitous on NPR. Hell, even CNBC's “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer was on the masthead originally. And should I even mention freelancer extraordinaire Greg Lindsay?

Of course, the argument could easily be made that the majority of success – or the ascension higher on a masthead – came afterwards. But a great deal of the names here have already had success, of course, and are/were well-known in journalism circles. But, for those rock stars currently on the yet-to-be-created masthead, this is ultimately a good line for their resume.

I don’t believe Portfolio will share the same fate by any means, by the way— they’re too well-funded for that and they’re going to get a good entrypoint based on the American City Business Journals subscriber lists. Hell, I'm looking forward to reading the magazine once it hits.

But the early headlines make it extremely hard to live up to.

The Cranky Shower Controls Your Destiny

2006-07-27T07:46:00.000-04:00

*taps shower knob/shoulder* Hi shower. How are you today? I just woke up, but in my dreams I dreamed about you being nice to me. I dreamed of cleansing my soul under your pure waters.

I know this has made Gawker, but this post on the 'tempermental shower' by "The Assimilated Negro" (his moniker, not mine) is so dead on. I have the same battle every day, minus the racial taunting.

(And, apropos of nothing, why is it that whenever I bring my laundry to the wash and fold, it always comes back missing at least one sock?)

Life in Toby-land

2006-07-22T09:14:00.000-04:00

Toby Young has terrible instincts. Scratch that, make that utterly terrible instincts. But his shortcomings make for a fun, albeit rather pedestrian, follow-up to his "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People".

While not as good or sharp as his first memoir, "The Sound of No Hands Clapping" takes a further look at life in Toby-land. In this world, the reader winces a great deal at the protagonist's ordeals. Moving beyond the world of "People" and Vanity Fair, it focuses on the next chapter of his life, where he is wooed by a Hollywood mogul, tries his hand in the world of theater and the birth of his firstborn.

While a great more fractured than his first effort -- I would have liked to see more about his experiences in Hollywood, or at least focus on one of these three endeavors -- it's a good, harmless read and a typical sophomore effort from a writer. It's not too disappointing, but bound to be forgotten after the publicity tour runs its course.

Unless you're a big fan of wincing.

Yes, Tis True...

2006-07-19T17:45:00.000-04:00

...I've grown a goatee, the first time I've done so here in New York. I'm still not sure if I like it, but reaction has been lukewarm to "you look like a bad-ass" so far.

Here is an 'artist's rendering' of my new look, which a friend sent to me in jest:

I swear, it looks better than this.

Jack Bauer Drives an Acura?

2006-07-15T18:29:00.000-04:00

How cool is this "24"-inspired license plate, despite it being on an Acura?

If I had a car -- and thus a license plate -- I'd be envious. But, overriding this thought, is the remembrance that the new season doesn't begin until January. Sigh.

(Seen this afternoon, parked at Prince and Mercer streets)

She Writes So Pretty Sometimes...

2006-07-14T06:59:00.000-04:00

The closing paragraph from an Australian friend's e-mail: "Please be advised that there is to be no playing with balloons in this park. May you enjoy your stay."

Bloody brilliant.

2006-07-09T21:19:00.000-04:00

Forget what the always-silly Emmys have put forward as worthy of nominations and awards in the past: "The Wire", on HBO, is simply the best drama on television nowadays, and its fourth season, beginning in September, cannot come quick enough. Created by David Simon, the genius behind "Homicide: Life on the Street", the series follows a group of police -- what has since become the Major Case Squad -- tracking a single case over an entire season. It's a dense, complex drama that has lured the likes of some of today's best mystery writers to its ranks, like George Pelecanos, Richard Price and Dennis Lehane. And, as you can probably expect at this point given the above, I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Intriguingly, this season will focus on the Baltimore school system as a backdrop to a major case-- and now HBO has finally posted the teaser to the new season-- enjoy. A lot to be gleaned from this, including that Jim True-Frost is back this season, most likely as a teacher, and that the race for mayor will be a focus of the new season.

Updated note on June 13th: The Baltimore Sun, where Simon once wrote, has a good overview of the season here.

Not Parsing Jesse Oxfeld

2006-07-07T07:36:00.000-04:00

It sucks when bad things happen to good people. It really does.

But that's what happened this past week with the unfortunate news that Jesse Oxfeld's contract was not renewed at Gawker.com. When I started writing this, it was a lame attempt to parse Oxfeld's goodbye post, interspersing what may have been his real thoughts behind the words he wrote there-- it was too easy to read between the (imaginary) lines. My attempt was filled with him revealing how he thought he would outlast Bonnie Fuller's reign at AMI, that he has directed the Gawker interns to pee in Denton's tea on numerous occasions (just like a Nastie allegedly once did to Anna Wintour's soup), and how Andrew Krucoff was chortling at the reversal of fortune, one year later.

Here's a sample line, in reply to Oxfeld's comment that he'll miss having excuses to get drunk with the entire Gawker Media team: "Although I liked each of you, I’ll never hang out with you again. Mazel tov, boys and girls. Next time I see you, I'll flip you a quarter, to make up for Denton's payscale."

See? Not particularly funny. But I figured that would just piss off people, so I'll abstain from doing that. But while it's too early to review the new Gawker regime -- it's only been two days since Alex Balk and Chris Mohney arrived, on a sleepy week where they have their work cut out for them -- I'll admit I already miss Oxfeld's wry, subtle humor and great media scoopage. Here's to him landing well, of which I'm sure he will, and to reading more of his scribblings.

Been "Caught Stealing", Once When I Was Five...

2006-07-03T18:53:00.000-04:00

Any writer that can utilize the Astor Place Cube to knock out a man is OK by me.

In less than 24 hours, I ripped through Charlie Huston's "Caught Stealing," a pulpy little novel recommended by a friend of mine. It's a damn good read. This -- his 2003 debut novel -- has a very distinctive feel to it, and is extremely hard to put down.

Largely taking place in the East Village, Hank Thompson is an ex-college baseball star who has hit hard times and is now bartending in the Lower East Side to make ends meet. He's bamboozled into taking in his neighbor's cat-- which leads to a bunch of caricature-heavy ne'er-do-wells after him. Something his neighbor possessed, and which Hank now has, is something very dear to them; Hank is consequently on the run.

The only thing I can think to compare it to is something Shane Black might write if he were a little more gritty, a little more Pelacanos-y. Or, alternatively, a Jason Starr novel, if that novelist were actually any good.

I'm trying right now to get my hands on its follow-up, "Six Bad Things", which came out last year. Huston's debut is definitely recommended-- seek it out and also, while you're at it, check out his website, pulpnoir.com.

Life After Whigs

2006-07-02T18:05:00.000-04:00

Let me add to the chorus: Denis Leary needs to make more music picks. On "The Daily Show" a few weeks back, he went out of his way to recommend the Twilight Singers' disc "Powder Burns".

Although I'm a little behind the hipster curve here, I've since picked it up. The album is fantastic, and I'm kicking myself for not getting keen on this band -- led by ex-Afghan Whigs singer Greg Dulli -- sooner. Check it out, in particular the stand-out track "My Time (Has Come)".

The Movie Studios Need to Grow Up

2006-06-25T12:08:00.000-04:00

About 4 years ago, when I was writing for FilmJerk.com, I wanted to get comment from one of the big movie studios on a part that was cast for a then-upcoming major motion picture. It was an exclusive, no else had it at that point-- it was based on a couple of sources and I was pretty certain I had the goods. Go me.

I got a number for one of the main press contacts there, and called for confirmation. After telling the PR person -- or, rather, her assistant -- what I was after, he asked where I was a writer. I told him that I was from an Internet site than had a substantial readership of a quarter-million per month, or whatever it was during that time; in response, the PR person sniffed and said he had not heard of it, and that they rarely responded to Internet writers.

The film wasn't anything that did particularly well at the box office, but it was a summer film (not a tentpole, but still) that ultimately didn't perform as well as expected. It should have been a big deal, this was one of the lead roles. I never understood the reasoning, but I was mildly pissed -- after running it -- when my exclusive picked up a day later by one of the trades, without attribution to the site. As a reactive measure, the studio gave the "news" to them, it seems; the trade writer, who I quickly wrote to, said he had "been given" the news by the studio.

I was reminded again of this again last weekend, upon reading this article by Anne Thompson in the Hollywood Reporter, in which the trade magazine's deputy film editor writes about the diminishing power of the critic, which one could argue somewhat coincides with the decline of box office returns. While the article is a little disjointed -- I feel she tries to tackle too many different areas at once, she needed at least twice the wordcount for what she was aiming to tackle -- she talks about one area the studios need to improve: their relations with Internet writers.

In passing, she focuses on a "rising cyber-star", FilmFreakCentral.net's Walter Chaw, "who writes with a refreshing candor that you would never find in the print world."

As she writes there: "But newspapers might be throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Aiming at a youthful readership is a fool's errand. Any parent of a teenager knows where young people go for information about anything: the Internet. Which is where Kehr and many less established critics are now expounding on movies...But in a "The House Next Door" blog interview, Colorado native Chaw admits that he struggles to gain entry to screenings, even though he claims his site has three times the "circulation" of both Denver dailies combined. "I don't know if I'd be as moral," he says, "if I were banking Roger Ebert's or even a living wage."

In this age of the Internet being the medium where people get the bulk of their news, you would think that publicists from the major studio would be all over this-- that the above mindset still exists, four years later, is baffling to me. The major studios should want to publicize their movie as far and wide as possible, by inviting some of the 'influencers' to advance screenings. I'm sure the high-traffic film sites -- like Ain't It Cool News and ComingSoon -- of the world are taken care of, but the studios need to change this mindset. But what about the online film writers and some of the influential bloggers who have sway to get people into theaters?

And I mean beyond the film writers, those who have the pageviews and the enviable readership. Here's an example of this from September 2005: Universal Pictures, in its bid to distribute Joss Whedon's "Serernity" offered advance screening passes to readers of Josh Marshall's influential political TalkingPointsMemo site. The site offers really good demographics in terms of the influentials reading it, but there is little linkage between it and the film, other than political geeks (and I count myself among them) possibly liking a sci-fi movie. In essence, this was a huge win for Universal-- it was able to grow awareness of the film among the site's more than 600,000 average monthly visitors -- and something to be emulated. It's a unique, creative play by the studio and hopefully something we'll see more of.

The movie studios need to do their research and look beyond the current model used to publicize their films. If they want to draw more people into theaters, this might be one way to do it.

Struck by Lightning, Very Very Frightening

2006-06-23T06:59:00.000-04:00

This is the weird dream I had last night.

I'm on the street where I grew up, when a lightning storm strikes. It hits a power line, which comes down and thrashes on the street like a vicious snake. I dodge and dodge and dodge...until the next bolt of lightning hits me straight on. Fade to black.

Creepy. Commented a friend of mine into dream analysis: "It seems you're damned if you do, damned if you don't." Wonderful.

"NHL Agrees to Put Pepsi on Ice"

2006-06-21T22:31:00.000-04:00

This was a headline from in the New York Post yesterday (June 20). Although it's a cute little headline, my first instinct was that the NHL no longer had an agreement with the beverage company to provide their drinks at hockey games next year.

But, nah, it's the more literal meaning. From Paul Tharp's story: "For about $4 million a year...Pepsi is getting exclusive rights to promote Gatorade, Lays chips, Pepsi and its water Aquafina at the 30 teams in the U.S."

Maybe it's my cynical worldview that put the negative spin on this-- certainly, two meanings can be glazed from the above headline. But the writer could have done a bunch better with the phrasing.

Screenwriter Slags "Deuce Bigelow" Sequel, World Nods in Agreement

2006-06-18T15:01:00.000-04:00

It's rare when when you see a screenwriter slagging his own work. It's not completely unheard of, but rarer than a non-Scientologist Tom Cruise fan these days.

In the current "Letters" page for Maxim Magazine, David Garrett writes the following: "[You] once again dis "Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo". Every issue mentions what a piece of crap you think the movie is. As cowriter of the film, I would like to say: I agree completely!"

Included with the missive is a picture of Garrett with the movie's "star", Rob Scheinder, in the background. I did a quick check of IMDB and it looks like the letter is indeed real. What's hilarious is that this fellow's credits also include "Living with Fran" (the failed Fran Drescher TV "comedy" on The WB), "Corky Romano", "Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher" (Scott Baio directed an episode!) and "The Jeff Foxworthy Show". With a resume like that, he still makes fun of the "Deuce Bigelow"-- ouch.

No, if only Uwe Boll would start saying the same about his directing ability, or lack thereof...

Not All There, Apparently

2006-06-15T18:14:00.000-04:00

Why is there soap on my towel?

I seem to be doing this a lot recently-- I've been forgetting to rinse the shampoo from my hair in the shower, which consequently ends up on the towel. Dur.

(By the way, if the above mental image frightens you, please think of the part of myself being played by Brad Pitt. Thank you.)

An Early RIP for "Deadwood"

2006-06-04T22:17:00.000-04:00

Lame, HBO, tres lame.

Tonight, via Variety, the pay channel announced that "Deadwood" would end its run as a regular series with the one beginning next week and that it would conclude with two 2-hour specials to wrap up the series as a whole. The article gets down to the nitty-gritty of why this happened (short answer: money), but I fear for the channel's future because Swearengen must be pissed.

How odd is it that HBO will allow "The Wire" to have a longer run than "Deadwood". I don't mean to disparage "The Wire", which is probably my favorite current series, but "Deadwood" is still one I watch religiously. It's a wonderful series, with a wonderful cast and a wonderful view into a time we see very little of these days. And now it's in its final leg, tragic.

"Six Feet Under", "Sex and the City" and "Oz"-- all are gone. "Sopranos" has only 8 episodes left. "The Wire" has never been a success with audiences, "Big Love" is untested as its own entity, and a second season of "Rome" is TBA, last I hear. All they really have is "Entourage", really.

HBO better come up with another hit series, quick.

God Bless Eric Boehlert and "Lapdogs"

2006-05-30T07:10:00.000-04:00

I have always enjoyed Eric Boehlert's media criticism, first at Salon.com and, later, the Huffington Post. So I was eager to get a copy of Eric Boehlert's "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over Bush", which came out earlier this month.

A masterful work, Boehlert's book focuses on how the Washington press corps, and journalism as a whole, have let down the public in their civic duty. Looking at the media narratives and memes that permeated the last five years, including the Swift Boat lies, the attack on public broadcasting and the Downing Street Memo -- among other areas -- Boehlert has pulled together an amazingly cogent argument here that he is able to back up with statistics and after-the-fact analysis. It kept me entranced throughout.

While I hate to admit it -- and Boehlert's book bears this out, in part -- the Republican 'noise machine' is amazingly effective; a good offense by conservatives on the media has put the press on constant defense. One thought constantly reverberated through my head while reading Boehlert's work: Could you imagine the effects if this President were actually competent and every move wasn't a mis-step, the power that would be in play with this machinery? The press would be chiseling a spot for Bush themselves on Mount Rushmore.

For myself (and apparently others), the stand-out chapter focuses on the coverage found in ABC's "The Note", an influential news summary that the authors describe as "what you need to know about politics at that critical moment in the news cycle." I haven't looked at that site myself all that much and Boehlert does a great job in deconstructing its coverage and its Republican lens of focus.

My only quibble is that, and it's a major one, is that a great deal of the book should not be news to those who have read some of the progressive news sites out there already (like Media Matters for America and the Daily Howler, who he credits in the introduction) or the aggregator media sites like Romenesko that often linked to Boehlert's media criticism (as well as his peer group on both sides of the political fence). This is a great starter book for those interested in politics and the intricacies of the Washington press; my great-uncle, who borrowed my copy and hasn't even really read on this area before, was amazed at the book. But I was hoping for more from Boehlert, something that hadn't yet been covered, something new that would blow my mind-- rather than a collection of disparate strings.

But I digress, as thes quibble are only because I have been a fan of his work for so long. And it's good to get his 1,000-foot view on subjects that he wrote at in his column earlier, just after they happened. This is a powerful compendium of media mis-steps the last 5 years-- here's to book #2 from Boehlert.

Story of the Month

2006-05-25T06:51:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of the best cover articles I've read lately: "Mind Games", from the latest edition of the Columbia Journalism Review. There, Daniel Schulman dissects the Bush administration’s very aggressive 'information strategy' in Iraq and the risks it poses for the credibility of both the military and the press. The article also asks the important question of whether the U.S. win the 'information'/propoganda war in Iraq, as it’s being waged.

Although it prints out to 20+ pages, this is an important and great read-- be sure to do so.

Dateline: Bahamas; Re-igniting the Fire

2006-05-15T20:15:00.000-04:00

Last year, I was reading at the fairly steady clip of about a book a week (as I wrote about here). I was pretty proud of myself, although such a feat also had the implications of my having to sell some of the lesser favorites on my bookshelf.

But then January came, when my progress slowed considerably. In fact, I was down to about a book a month so far this year; my reading had become sluggish and sporadic. Not good. It’s like all these bloggers suddenly throwing in the towel, all blogged out, or someone who starts finding a steady stream of excuses to not go to the gym. That was how I felt. And I was still buying books, so I had an extremely large pile (ie. ‘back inventory’) begging to be read.

But I’m back now. I’m not sure if it was the selections I had on my night stand, the lengths or subject matter of those I was tackling or just being too utterly tired from work to take on something more. Maybe all, or maybe something else altogether.

This past week, I was in the Bahamas (I have something akin to a tan!). There, I devoured Nelson DeMille’s “Night Fall” – among 2 other books – and it suddenly felt good to be back in the game. This was a novel I’d been eyeing on my nightstand for a while now, licking my chops in anticipation of. I’ve read each of his 11 other novels and this is probably his finest to date, although the ending comes very suddenly—which is the point. If you haven’t tried any of his works, I would definitely recommend picking up one of the books in his canon.

But I’m still trying to find the right words on DeMille’s book. Let me see if I can tackle that in my next post (or not-- I'm itching to talk about Eric Boehlert's "Lapdogs").

BBIAB

2006-05-05T19:06:00.000-04:00

Traveling here and there and everywhere, be back in a bit.

A funny little nugget from my trip to Chicago this past week:
The lady I’m sharing a cab with, from the airport: “I think that’s Comiskey Park!”
Me, dryly: “I believe that’s a parking lot.”

And it turned out I was right.

"West Wing" Deserves to Live

2006-04-29T14:01:00.000-04:00

Since its premiere in 1999, I've enjoyed "The West Wing" and am extremely saddened that the show is now coming to an end. I believe the show has been re-energized this year and could easily last another 'term' in office, with Jimmy Smits' president-elect Matthew Santos the focus of the show and a new team/ensemble in place. But that's just a pipe dream of mine, we're too far beyond that point now.

And I'm even more stumped on this move, in light of yesterday's announcement that three subpar dramas were being renewed by NBC, the same network that airs "West Wing". "Medium", "Las Vegas" and "Crossing Jordan" are apparently the future of NBC. No wonder they're mired in last place among the "Big 3" broadcast networks.

Looking at NBC's potential dramas for the fall (which are actually not half-bad) and understanding they essentially lose a night of programming on Sundays with NFL programming, I don't understand why they can't come up with an hour of programming. Damn you, NBC-- I want to see how Santos fares. And, given the current chaos that is your threadbare schedule, you have chosen crap over quality.

What If Nothing Changes in the 2006 Midterm Elections?

2006-04-28T19:22:00.000-04:00

Interesting thought from Slate's John Dickerson:

"If Republicans manage to hold on to their majorities, it will be because they have perfected the ability to use gerrymandering, pork-barreling, and other toll-keeping powers to maintain themselves in office, much like the Democrats they turned out of office in 1994. Retaining control by a narrow margin will do nothing to solve the struggle at the heart of the party between moderates and social conservatives, neoconservatives, and realists, and between fiscal conservatives and big spenders or fanatical tax cutters. In some sense, if the GOP wins ugly and keeps control, they'll be worse off, retaining undivided responsibility, without much actual ability to do anything, heading into the 2008 election. Even the nomination of Hillary Clinton may not unite the factions. Antipathy toward her husband didn't keep Republicans from a debilitating primary struggle in 1996."

As much as I hate to agree with him, this is an extremely good point I haven't seen elsewhere, or even thought of.

Salamanders Still Rock!

2006-04-26T06:53:00.000-04:00

While growing up in Connecticut's quasi-woodlands, I was fascinated with salamanders. They're little amphibians -- see photo at right, think a cute snake with legs -- that liked to hide under rocks and stones. They were absolutely abundant, if you knew where to look.

With my neighborhood friends, we'd go searching for them and put them in a cut-off soda bottless (complete with lid on top and tiny breathing holes), keeping them in my garage and sometimes in the house, if I could get away with that. I still remember when they escaped that one time...

Anyway, yes, I/we were geeks.

I was reminded of all this Easter weekend, when the task put before me was to move about 200 logs and then stack them. I found about a dozen of them, or at least one 12 times. This time, though, there was no homebuilding for the 'manders. But it did bring me back to some great memories of my childhood.

Fun Fact: Those devoted to studying the biology of amphibians and reptiles are called 'herpetologists'. I still get a chuckle over that and pretty much the only reason I posted this-- the above is all filler just for me to laugh some more.

Wanted: A Communicator to Non-Communicate

2006-04-23T23:42:00.000-04:00

Josh Marshall asked an interesting question last week, one which I myself was asking: "Does it strike anyone else as odd that the White House tossed [press secretary Scott] McClellan out the window without having a replacement ready to announce?"

For the most part, this administration -- as soon as it announced that a major figure is leaving -- has had a successor waiting to take the stage. So, I find it extremely interesting that the position that serves to communicate most with the American public is the one they're now perhaps scrambling to replace.

But I can see why many might be hesitant to take on this role.

Many in the PR profesion -- of which I am a part -- see the White House press secretary role as a dream job, one we would ultimately love to have (even though we may not have the right skillset for the job). Oh, how we all wish to be behind that podium, to be a real-life version of C.J. Cregg of "The West Wing." This is one of the pre-eminent jobs, if not the most, in the PR industry, and you can pretty much write your own ticket once your tenure ends.

But would any of us take the open role of spokesperson, as currently envisioned? My sense would be that most PR pros would pass on the opportunity if this were something listed on Monster.com with a 'Company Confidential' tag, because it is counter to what the majority of us do. Can you envision that listing? I'm sure it would have some verbiage about not being in the loop and robotically giving out rote non-answers to hungry members of the press.

Why would I say this? Jay Rosen has nailed it perfectly in his most recent entry over at PressThink in how this White House communications office operates:

McClellan was a cog in a machine for making the executive power more opaque, and the presidency itself less dialogic. (Fewer questions, no answers unless under subpoena.)...Bush and his staff did something new, I would even say visionary when they decided to “manage” the news by shutting down those portions of the presidency where the President can be asked the difficult but necessary questions he loathes so much. Scott McClellan, I believe, was sent into the briefing room to shut off that tap even while he stood there and took the beatings.

The intended result: a presidency that is less questioned in the eyes of the world. That’s not news management; it’s a new balance of power between them and us.

Who would want this headache of a job? Not to get all Steve Rubel on you, but the current role is diametrically opposed to what a strategic communicator does (even including the crisis communications area, although it is closest to the current White House model). As Rosen writes earlier in the same article, "McClellan’s specialty was non-communication; what’s remarkable about him as a choice for press secretary is that he had no special talent for explaining Bush’s policies to the world. In fact, he usually made things less clear by talking about them. We have to assume that this is the way the President wanted it."

Some might relish this type of a challenge, to somehow non-communicate as they communicate; some people also like repeatedly hitting themselves in the head with a rock as well. Of course, there have been comments suggesting that the White House is looking for someone with "good contacts in the Washington news media and a deep understanding of how they work". That fits likely candidate Tony Snow of Fox News well, but unless they scrap the current press model altogether, this makes this even more of an untenable situation.

Less Is Better at USA Today

2006-04-22T17:08:00.000-04:00

As I have alluded, I am one of an apparently dying breed-- I am a big newspaper reader. It's not uncommon for me to be seen carrying mutiple sections around during the weekend, trying to finish off newspapers from the past week.

So, I'm finally catching up on my sports sections. The New York Times is a quick read every day (unless there is a feature that catches my interest -- which is rare, sadly -- or a Richard Sandomir byline), but the one I'm always saving for later is USA Today.

And I really like how they've reorganized their baseball coverage, which has taken a tack similar to what the Times did in condensing their stock listings. In the past, coverage was always two and a half pages (not counting anything on the front sports page), but now it's down to a tidy two pages. Whether this was a cost-cutting move or something more, I'm not sure why this development has gone unnoticed at the nation's #1-circulation newspaper.

The focus before was always on the game recaps and they've done away with that. Instead, the new focus in on one "Game of the Day" for each league (each takes up a page) and then 50-words-or-less recaps of the other games. The box scores remain, as well as the team updates and there is an "Inside the NL/AL" feature that takes up about a sixth of the page.

I like this smart approach. It looks like the paper has finally realized that readers don't care as much about a story on last night's game, as readers want the essentials and closer looks at the sport as a whole and its personalities and quirks; they're "pushing" their readers to go to their site instead, which has the ubitiquous Associated Press recaps. It's not so much an innovation as streamlining everything down to the essentials and using the full power of the page.

Other newspapers should take note of this.

(Added note: Some might say USA Today has done too well-- they omitted the Colorado Rockies from their special section that looked at each team's chances this season three weeks back, but I digress.)

"I'm In Love...With That Song"

2006-04-20T21:19:00.000-04:00

One of the joys of getting an iPod recently has been sifting through my CD collection and revisiting albums I haven't heard in a long while.

Such is the case with the works of the Replacements and, in particular, their perfect song "Alex Chilton" from their 1987 allbum Pleased to Meet Me. Remember it? It's such an innocuous song that is an ode to another great band, while -- at the same time -- it's a little pop gem that's perfectly infectous to rock along to in this summer-like weather. There's nothing astounding about Paul Westerberg's lyrics here (although it yielded the above post title), but the song doesn't need to have a profound message. The track is just so breezy.

And that's just one of their many tracks I'm loading up onto my new appendage.

It also looks like it's a great time to rediscover the band. E! Online reports that Westerberg and two other original members of the band have recorded two new tracks for a new compilation due this summer.

Long live the Mats!

No Longer Blind

2006-04-18T06:24:00.000-04:00

Since I sung José Saramago's praises last November, I should probably point out that his newest -- "Seeing" -- is now available. It's a sequel to "Blindness" and it's been garnering some great reviews. This is an author that needs to be read a great deal more, I can't recommend him highly enough; I am utterly convinced that in 100 years, he'll be held up as a wonderful writer in a time of paucity of great works.

I'll be plowing through it in the week ahead.

Another Song to Not Sing in Cabs

2006-04-15T10:07:00.000-04:00

"Sir, I would recommend you not sing that song in this cab, or any cab, for that matter."

This was some friendly advice from a cabbie last Thursday. It seems that at the beginning of this month, a London man was detained as he tried to board a plane. According to Spin Magazine, he "sparked the concern of the cab driver who took him to the airport when he sang along to the Clash classic, "London Calling," which includes the lyrics "Now war is declared-- and battle come down."" They thought he might be a terrorist.

The song my own cabbie was asking I refrain from humming along to? Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe," which I was listening to on my iPod (yeah, I finally caved in and got one).

A sample of the lyrics: "Yes, I did, I shot her. You know I caught her messin' 'round, messin' 'round town. Yes, I did, I shot her. You know I caught my old lady messin' 'round the town. And I gave her the gun, I shot her."

I can see his point.

NBC's "Joey" Actually Has a Fan!

2006-04-14T19:03:00.000-04:00

My apologies, but this is truly how I feel: If you think Jay Leno is a particularly funny comedian or that NBC's "Joey" is a hoot, we probably won't see eye to eye on a number of things besides comedy stylings.

So, I can't stop laughing over this: The latest Entertainment Weekly has a letter from one Sean Patterson of Los Angeles, defending "Joey". The letter reads:

"Your story about "Joey" possibly facing cancellation due to bad ratings has nothing to do with cast, direction, or writers. It has to do with networks moving shows around or taking them off the air for weeks at a time, thinking viewers have nothing better to do that search for the shows we love. Note to TV execs: Put it on, leave it on, and if you move it, let us know. If you have no faith in your shows, why should we?"

I'm really sorta hoping this is a member of the show's crew or an NBC executive trying to spin away on a show that is -- from every angle -- a failure to what their expectations were. (By the by, I've attempted to watch "Joey" and found it horrendous.)

EW got it right in its story-- particuarly that the writing was lazy. And that impacted the ratings, particularly those that expected "Friends"-level humor. Simply, the ratings necessitated the move from Thursday to Tuesdays and a second hiatus-- in its last airing on March 7 it drew only 4 million viewers. The only bad move NBC has made -- at least this season -- was bringing it back for a second season, that's how bad their schedule is (and it also has to do with penalties the network would have to pay had it not reached a second season). NBC realized it had a dog on its hands that was destroying the Thursday schedule and took action. Why put any advertising dollars behind a floundering show, when it could be spent to prop other series that are doing far better in the ratings or new shows trying to establish themselves? This "Joey" ship has sailed and, with castmembers bailing to do other shows this fall, this will not be coming back this fall.

NBC has a giant problem in its hands right now with its fall schedule ("The West Wing" and "Will & Grace" are two highly-regarded and -rated series that are not coming back), even though the network is regaining football. That they're even considering airing two different shows focusing on the backstage shenanigans on a late night comedy show tells us they're struggling.

But "Joey" was an easy call to make, in terms of that getting the shaft. Just like "Arrested Development" (I can't believe I'm writing this), fans of "Joey" should be happy it survived this long.

Where "Cream Puff" Is In No Way a Derogatory Term

2006-04-10T06:46:00.000-04:00

Apologize for going all Gothamist on you, but it seems I have a new addiction.

Beard Papa's, a Japanese bakery that describes itself as a "cream puff specialty store," has now established a base here in the East Village.

Their signature product is best described as a pop-over filled with vanilla cream custard, which is absolutely delicious. I noticed the store for only the first time yesterday. Ordered one of their vanilla cream puffs and my mouth is still watering as I conspire for another in the days ahead...

Every Time I Watch a Baseball Game on YES Network...

2006-04-09T01:07:00.000-04:00

…I feel like I've lost a good number of IQ points.

As I wrote back in January, I no longer am a fan of the New York Yankees, but still find myself watching the Yankees' full-coverage channel only because of my fantasy baseball team. Two pitchers on my roster, Rich Harden and Ervin Santana, have both pitched against the team in the opening days of the season; consequently, I can't stop wincing with the comments made by the insufferable announcer Michael Kay.

Consider this gem from tonight, when the Yakees were losing, with Randy Johnson pitching in the bottom of the seventh inning: "[The Angel's] haven't had much success [with Johnson], only succeeding in getting 3 runs!" Of course, that the Yankees only had one run at that point in time was seemingly inconsequential. And that when the final out came -- the Yankees lost, so I guess the Angels' were ultimately successful with their 3 runs -- Kay announced that their current 1-4 record matched their start during 1998, when they won a World Series. And these were only a smattering of the inane utterances that came out of his mouth tonight.

Talk about someone having a sunny outlook on life, where everything is a positive. So it goes when you realize that the Yankees also run this channel, that this is the sports version of propoganda. This is like watching Fox News Channel, absolutely infuriating.

And I'm really happy none of my pitchers on my roster are facing the Yankees again anytime soon.

The Counting Crows Changed My Life

2006-04-08T22:25:00.000-04:00

Adam Duritz and the Counting Crows changed my life back in 1993.

It's a sad revelation, I know, but I'm not ashamed to come clean on this 13 years later. Listening to "August and Everything After" was the first time I ever was blown away by an album and it changed my entire perspective on music as a medium.

For all the crap that gets thrown frontman Adam Duritz's way nowadays (he's gotten a little fat in the middle, to put it nicely, while still sporting the dreadlocks-- making him almost a caricature), he certainly has a knack for songwriting and meoldy. Listening to the disc earlier this week, while it's raining outside and I've got a couple candles going, I still am struck by how powerful this disc is.

And it led to my musical awakening and exposure to -- at a later age than most -- the Clash, the Police, Jimi Hendrix, Velvet Underground, the Kinks and some other bands I still am enraptured by today.

So, for that I say: Thank you, Counting Crows and Adam Duritz.

The Bright Idea: A Comedy Central Morning Show?

2006-04-06T07:26:00.000-04:00

Each night, I fall asleep with the television on.

I know, I know, it's a nasty habit that I should really try to break.

Sometimes I fall asleep chuckling to "That '70's Show" re-runs (for some reason, I find the show funny, particularly Topher Grace's delivery), but most of the time I enter dreamland while watching Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" or "The Colbert Report," which I've come around on since my earlier posting. This falling-asleep-while-watching is not a reflection of either show's quality, just that I'm dead tired by the 11 p.m. hour. I'm getting old.

And sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I am shocked at what Comedy Central usually has in the early morning-- infomercials. Looking at the schedule, this seems to be the norm between 4 and 8 a.m. One would think a large number of Comedy Central's core demographic would be up at this hour and be receptive to watching a comedy film 'classic' like "Half-Baked" or "Soul Man". The channel's economics of a steady diet of infomercials gives me pause.

But I'm most confounded about the lack of programming in the 6 to 8 a.m. slot, when the channel's competitors are filled with vacuous morning shows. Would an extension of their faux news brand to morning TV work here, and would people watch? I would believe yes-- a smart, uncompromising show filled with seemingly bobblehead anchors and smart satire would appeal to me, and I'm sure to many others. Especially in the wake of Katie Couric finally announcing she would be leaving "Today" yesterday, this would certainly have the potential to shake up morning TV and make the channel's competitors quiver over the loss of the core 18-34 demographic.

Apparently, these are the things that keep awake at night, after looking at the TV.

So, how about it, Comedy Central?

Michael Wolff Needs to Write More

2006-04-04T19:57:00.000-04:00

When I first moved to New York in 1999, one of my first pleasures was to discover Michael Wolff's column, "This Media Life," in New York Magazine. Since his failed attempt to buy the magazine two years ago -- and his subsequent jump to Vanity Fair as a contributing editor -- I am stuck savoring his barbed and incisive articles like a fine glass of Bushmills. They seem to come with less and less regularity, like this one appearing in the April issue, a takedown of President Bush's press secretary Scott McClellan.

Consider this, when talking of his prescribed lack of verbal acumen:

"In McClellan's case, almost all of his sentences are dead on arrival. Even the pre-written sentences (most every briefing begins with a statement about the president's schedule or the plausibly positive developments at hand—we've turned the corner in Iraq, etc.) are so bald and flat-footed that they become a kind of insult—he doesn't disguise the bull...

Every day, he's pulped, pummeled, spit upon for speaking White House untruths—or for not speaking them well enough.

It is so bad, and so constantly public—every misspoken word, every stutter, every repetition, repeated mercilessly across the information universe—that he can only hope that it's gotten bad enough for him to get a sympathy vote."

And, as this article hit newsstands, McClellan already seems to be on his way out.

While I understand his reticence in taking up blogging (sort of), I really wish there were more of his musings on the media; his impact is muted and restricted with his being at a monthly. With Sydney Schanberg no longer at the Village Voice, we need more pointed media criticism.

C'mon, Michael-- we want more from you, damnit. And we don't mean wordcount-wise...

Gawker Will Next Perform a Live Celeb Lobotomy

2006-04-02T19:23:00.000-04:00

"All publicity is good publicity, as long as they spell your name right."

While most wince when they hear this phrase, it looks like the old adage is certainly true when applied to Gawker. In mid-March, the site launched an expanded version of its popular Gawker Stalker feature into a mini-site with further resources behind it (two interns!).

As publisher Nick Denton explained upon its launch: "[I]n a perversion of mashup wonder, it's a live map, in which the latest escapades of Paris Hilton and other stars are tracked in near real time." The launch earned the enterprise harsh words from celeb publicists about privacy invasion and such (as well as countless articles), with George Clooney even urging friends to "flood their Web site with bogus sightings" in order to make it go away. [I think Gawker Stalker's a nifty concept, myself.]

The result? The highest-trafficked month for Gawker ever. Ha. Take a look at the graph of their traffic stats over the past month.

That's almost 50% growth in one month, amazing. How do the evil minds behind Gawker Media top this?

The First Read O' the Morning

2006-04-01T10:13:00.000-05:00

While most of my media consumption comes through a RSS aggregator, I read 5 to 7 newspapers a day, sadly enough. So much so that by the time I get into my desk at work, I have newsprint caked on my hands.

But the habitual first read of the day is Slate's "Today's Papers", something I could not do without. This feature, written mainly by Eric Umansky, is the first thing I read each morning when I stagger from my bed to my laptop.

It summarizes the front pages of the major papers and links directly to the stories. Since a number of friends have not heard of this cool little newsletter, I urge you to check it out if you haven't already.

I would so love Slate to start a sister newsletter, something that looks at the business sections of the major dailies-- I would love to see that, and would even pay for it.

Sunny Nobility, Me?

2006-03-28T19:45:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a friend said I was filled with "sunny nobility".

Given that this is the same phrase that Chris Matthews uttered about President Bush on MSNBC's Hardball last October, this gave me pause. What did he mean exactly and why did it make me feel a little ill?

(Note: The fact that I went home sick from work later that afternoon had nothing to do with this. Stupid flu bug going around.)

Is This The Year Of The Heist?

2006-03-25T18:42:00.000-05:00

How things change in a week's time. An interesting little trend seems to have emerged, as bank robbery/heist films seem have suddenly begun to loom large in the entertainment world.

To wit:

"Inside Man," a Spike Lee film about a bank robbery that is more than it seems, netted $9.3 million at the box office last night to become the most popular film. This more than doubled the take of the #2 box office draw, "Stay Alive".

Despite drawing only about 9 million viewers last Wednesday, NBC's "Heist" is off to a good start. As Marc Berman, who writes "The Programming Insider" for Mediaweek, points out, it retained 93 of the audience from "Law & Order" and actually showed "growth of 15 percent among adults 18-49" from its lead-in.

Next Tuesday sees the debut of FX's "Thief," starring Andre Braugher ("Homicide: Life on the Street"). As the Associated Press reports, the former Det. Frank Pembleton will play "a coolly methodical pro who masterminds high-risk, high-yield heists across the country." Of all these projects, I'm most looking forward to this the most, as Braugher is one of the best actors of his generation and this has been getting a great deal of advance positive acclaim.

Damn, it's good to be a gangsta right about now.

Any other examples I might be missing here or other projects coming soon that fall into this trend?

Drinking Monkey-Flavored Kool-Aid

2006-03-24T23:52:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I'm still drinking the Arctic Monkeys-flavored Kool-Aid. Feel free to mock me for my obsession with the band...but I'm lucky enough to be able to see them play at Webster Hall tomorrow night. Pow!

There's a wonderful moment in the second track, "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor," from their debut album. About 2:23 into the song, there is what I'll call a 'rollercoaster moment'. Check it out for yourself, I love the passion they show and how they nail the last moments of the song. Rockin'.

Here's to hoping they are as good live tomorrow night...

The Loneliness of a Long-Distance Runner

2006-03-16T22:21:00.000-05:00

I guess this means I can stop getting up at 5:30 a.m. and running, eh?

Via HealthDay:

"Many runners contend that jogging alone offers the opportunity to enjoy nature or appreciate an urban landscape, while giving the brain and the body a beneficial workout.

But new research with rats suggests that running solo might not offer the perceived benefits and, in fact, may actually be bad for runners when combined with social isolation.

The scientists behind the study report that mice forced to live and run by themselves have less brain cell growth than those that get to run with other rats."

Apparently, the rats who ran in groups did a better job of generating new neurons than those that ran in isolation. Um, anyone up for a run next week?

"The Sopranos" Gets a Pass

2006-03-13T21:50:00.000-05:00

All everyone seems to be talking about today is the season premiere of "The Sopranos".

Yet, when Uncle Junior shot Tony in the final minutes of last night's episode, the scene didn't shock as many viewers as intended. Why? Because, after months of locking down the sets and keeping the world at large spoiler-free through various means (one imagines omertas being uttered), HBO screwed up by posting a full description of what happens in the episode a day before the episode aired.

I would not want to be a member of the website team for HBO today.

But the funny thing is that no one's talking about that, at least within the media. Via Google News, I find no newspapers mentioning this little tidbit (although the television critics -- who were able to view the episode in advance -- could have verified the details were correct). And the only two postings I can find via Technorati are posts on Nikki Finke's "Deadline Hollywood Daily" and Defamer. It's being talked about on the shows' various fansites and large TV communities like TelevisionWithoutPity. I'm sure I'm overlooking some stories, but, really, the silence is deafening.

Interesting.

Added note: Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times posted stories on their websites scant hours before tonight's episode of "24" aired on the East Coast, revealing that Carlos Bernard's Tony Almeida would meet his maker tonight. Ouch, way to ruin another big surprise.

Fun With IM, Part 1

2006-03-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a snippet of an IM conversation with a Baltimore-based female friend, who is moving to New York City this weekend...

CHF Digital: How much did you sell the cat for, btw?
Friend: CHRIS!
Friend: that's so wrong
Friend: I love both of my little girls
CHF Digital: Better than your original plan, which involved a burlap sack and a river.
CHF Digital: (I hope your cat is not reading this, btw.)
Friend: OW. [At this point, the cat had clawed her.]
CHF Digital: He/she knows.
Friend: She. She, Chris. See the note above about my little girls
CHF Digital: I thought that might be a eumphamism (sic).
Friend: Oh. Ick.

And people say I'm difficult to communicate with. Who knew?

You Go, Bubble Lounge

2006-03-10T08:34:00.000-05:00

Like Spider-Man, those with Gawker Comments posting abilities must realize that with great power comes great responsibility. And also reminds me that I can sometimes act like a jackass.

On Tuesday, Gawker posted about how four TriBeCa bars are in danger of losing their liquor licenses because a local yuppie couple is trying to leverage a law with the State Liquor Authority that the bars are within 200 feet of a mosque. While the mosque could care less, Janna Townsend (one of the pair) is quoted as saying in the New York Sun that she wants "this to be about quality of life in a neighborhood that is mixed use. There are businesses here and residents here. There needs to be a balance of uses. Those of us that need to sleep here should be able to sleep here."

Pretty lame. I commented in response to the post that "can we just sacrifice the Bubble Lounge to the yuppies to appease them? It's not like it's a good bar anyways..."

And then I got an e-mail from one of the owners:

From: XXX@aol.com
To: cfaile@gmail.com
Date: Mar 7, 2006 6:55 PM
Subject: Bubble Lounge-To be, or not to be?

Hi Chris!

My name is Eric Benn, I'm one of the
two owners of The Bubble Lounge NY and SF. I just wanted to say that I'm sorry
you feel that way about the Bubble Lounge and hope we didn't offended or
disappoint you if and when you visited us.

Either way, we would
certainly sacrifice the Bubble Lounge, which is only 192 feet from the mosque's
door (8'1" too close), if it could guarantee that all other four establishments
would remain in business. And the problem isn't even the mosque, it's our
post-prohibition paranoid laws and the unconstitutional violation of the
separation of church and state.

Imagine the battle ahead!

All
the best,

Eric Benn
Co-Owner
The Bubble Lounge

The above warms the cockles of my dark black heart. This isn't about the bars (and the livelihoods of the people who earn a living there), this is about a lame couple trying to re-arrange the neighborhood to their own whims. Here's to hoping the Bubble Lounge -- and its brethren -- weather this one out.

Happiness is...

2006-03-07T08:06:00.000-05:00

...finding out that one of your favorite shows (in this case, "Rescue Me") will be filming on your block later today.

(Maybe Susan Sarandon, who just signed on for threee episodes, will be on-scene as well? Is that asking too much?)

I will try to get pictures...

3/10 UPDATE: Saw them filming last night, Denis Leary and Dean Winters were both spotted.

Mahjong? I Hardly Know Her!

2006-03-06T06:25:00.000-05:00

For all those I've hooked on Su Doku, I'm proud to link you to another maddening little timewaster: Mahjong, courtesy of the Gorillaz official site.

It's essentially a match game, with Wikipedia explaining it thusly: "The 144 tiles are arranged in a special four-layer grid with their faces upwards. A tile that can be moved left or right without disturbing other tiles is said to be exposed. Exposed pairs of identical tiles (Flower tiles in the same group being considered identical) are removed from the grid one at a time, gradually exposing the lower layers to play. The aim of the game is to clear the grid by pairing up all the tiles. The game is finished when either the grid is empty, or there are no exposed pairs remaining." Interestingly, the name of the Chinese-originated game translates to "hemp general".

This is how sad my addiction to the game is: I played the game for more than 2 hours yesterday, time I really did not have to goof around. This is probably why I didn't return your call, beautiful.

Enjoy and don't hate me too much.

The One Time I Enjoy Basketball Each Year

2006-03-05T17:39:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe, but it's almost that time of year again: March Madness is little more than a week away. I'm giddy as a schoolgirl (try to get that visual of me dressed up as such -- with pigtails and knee-high socks! -- out of your head, ha).

While my alma mater is not going to be making the trip this year -- not that I am all that disappointed, as they would have invariably been bounced out in the first round -- I look forward to seeing the team I grew up watching, the UConn Huskies, romp their way through the bracket.

I still remember 1999, a year when UConn won the tourney. I was sailing with the family down in the British Virgin Islands and I'm pacing the bow of the boat, trying to listen to one of the games on this little small-band radio I had brought down for that sole purpose. The reception was terrible and scratchy, but if I focused, I could hear every fouth word.

And I still remember jumping up in down when UConn won their match-up in the semifinals. I was actually rocking the boat with my joy.

Ah, good times...

"He Told Roxanne to Put on Her Red Light"

2006-03-04T17:26:00.000-05:00

In my apparent old age, I've come to the conclusion that any band that can reference a song written before the members of said band were born is okay in my book; five years ago, I might have pegged such a thing as perhaps being a little trite. Maybe I just love the simplicity of the lyric above by the Arctic Monkeys, which is a nod to a certain 1978 song from The Police.

But I disgress...I have fallen absolutely in love with the Monkey's debut CD, "Whatever People Say I Am Thats What I Am Not". When I first heard the tracks online a few months ago, I was cool to the band. Now, in owning the album, I can't get enough of the damn thing. It's very hook-y and addictive...but it takes a couple spins.

Extra bonus: If you haven't heard the band yet, check them out performing three tracks from the album on the BBC's "Later! with Jools Holland":

Talk about having a band having poise beyond their years, as the members of the band are -- wait for it -- only around 20 years old. Definitely recommended.