Tag: journalism

As they have dared, so shall I dare.

[…]

This is the plain truth, Mr. President, and it is terrifying. It will leave an indelible stain on your presidency. I realize that you have no power over this case, that you are limited by the Constitution and your entourage. You have, nonetheless, your duty as a man, which you will recognize and fulfill. As for myself, I have not despaired in the least, of the triumph of right. I repeat with the most vehement conviction: truth is on the march, and nothing will stop it. Today is only the beginning, for it is only today that the positions have become clear: on one side, those who are guilty, who do not want the light to shine forth, on the other, those who seek justice and who will give their lives to attain it. I said it before and I repeat it now: when truth is buried underground, it grows and it builds up so much force that the day it explodes it blasts everything with it. We shall see whether we have been setting ourselves up for the most resounding of disasters, yet to come.

[…]

The Year in Review: Lists

Dear The Bloggers:

I understand the desire to emulate print media. It can be fun to write in the style of a columnist, assume the authority of an Op-Ed writer, and issue judgments about taste or politics in the voice of a successful journalist.

I also understand that you see journalistic types producing year-end lists, and that seems worthy of emulation too. Your model music reviewer or humor columnist or political analyst cranks out a Top 10 or 100 for the year, or the Cheers ‘n’ Jeers of the Yeer, or something like that. You want to be part of it, and as a self-identified journalist you feel it’s an obligation to carry through what you’d call a “meme”.

Don’t.

There is a reason for the “End of year list” phenomenon in journalism. The ink-stained wretches who are living out your dream want to spend a week with their families around now, and all but a skeleton crew of hard core news types do. The feature writers and columnists and reviewers all turn in their stupid lists around Dec. 20 and go off to open presents, drink, and reconsider their career choices. The lists suck, and they know it. It’s the lowest form of journalism. The only reason they exist is to give these poor bastards a breather for one week a year. Then it’s back to turning in the column and banging out the news for another 51 weeks.

So this year, feel lucky that you’re unpaid, and stop aping the survival behavior of exhausted journos. Your lists aren’t any better, and you have far less reason to dump them on us.

this says so much

Julian said tonight that he listened to a lot of books on tape while on rock ‘n’ roll music tour with The Pope. He liked it all except Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat which he correctly noted to be lame bullshit.

The best part? Friedman reads the book himself, and when he gets to India and is talking to the locals he reads their speech in his version of an Indian person’s accented English.

What. An. Asshole.

I can hardly wait until he gets to China.

DING DONG THE

Southern Californians who love popular music and occasionally find themselves reading about it will be doing the Snoopy dance for days on hearing that Robert Hilburn is finally retiring. I’ve hated that sack of shit for 25 years now. He had the worst attitude towards music, was so predictable that parody was pointless, thought he was important because he was a rock critic, and spent a career Not Getting It but Getting Paid For It.

His classic pattern was to ignore local acts who desperately needed the boost he could give them, because they weren’t at his level. And then, after they’d finally clawed their way up enough to get a good record out and some buzz from people who actually cared, Bob would arrive to bless them and announce that they were a fresh new face and Important, interview them at length, and officially apply his Seal of Rock Quality.

He compared anything good to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and later to U2. He treated music the way a bad high school teacher treats literature: only significant for its social and moral implications. He lived in a racist world where white college kids made social commentary and brown people and foreigners made happy dance music about which he could make social commentary. He took all the budget at the Times for his salary and travel costs, leaving the actual editing to overworked part-timers who were his superiors in every way.

Robert Hilburn was a fucking hack.

We’re gonna tramp the dirt down, Bob.

One paper nation

The New Times chain just ate the Village Voice, LA Weeekly, OC Weekly, and a few other papers. Seventeen cities, one company.

I used to work for the L.A. Reader, around the time that the Weekly was crushing us. That was the same time the Herald-Examiner died and the Times owned the city’s “big” newspaper market completely. Later the Reader was sold a couple times, and then the New Times people ate the Reader, the Weekly’s only competition, and then shut down their L.A. paper in collusion with the Weekly, leading to an antitrust action that ended in consent decree. Now they’ve come back and bought the whole thing up.

A moment of silence for the American alternative weekly, folks. The Clear Channel death star has arrived. ALL HAIL THE NEW FLESH!

Today’s copy editing lol: The National Ledger masthead

Because I hate freedom, bitter asswipe etc., I bring you this gem from the National Ledger’s masthead:


Chris Adamo has edited and wrote for “The Wyoming Christian”, the state newsletter for Christian Coalition of Wyoming.

Well I suspect he has done wrote, but anymore we won’t be using him as editor.

The rest of the masthead is a gallery of rogues, idiots, and the genuinely evil that includes Michelle “bring back Manzanar” Malkin and Paul Weyrich.

Also this guy:

who describes himself thus:

JB Williams is a business man, a husband, a father, and a writer. A no nonsense commentator on American politics, American history, and American philosophy. A hard hitting columnist, attacking the socialist cancer plaguing America today. He has a pragmatic “common Joe” approach to even the toughest issues facing our nation. He has a degree in BS from the school of hard knocks, and a uniquely entertaining way of helping even the most liberal among us, to discover the obvious. He is published nationwide and in many countries around the globe, and is currently working on a book.

There sits JB, cellphone cradled on his shoulder, laboriously tapping out sentence fragments and malformed clauses. Type on, JB! Type on!

The Purple Monkey Dishwasher is writing the San Bernardino Sun

This bar is charming for its with locals some in most in their 40s or 50s.

While patrons sip beer pool, live bands drop and Saturday nights to cover songs. One noteworthy Eliah, sings out when stage.

At the far San Bernardino lies the Inland premier concert known as Roadhouse, Crossroads.

indoor bar, several pool tables expansive with another huge lighted can fit 1,200 Angel’s mostly cover and classic rock Friday through Sunday p.m. Each Wednesday mic hosted by Diatribe, Tuesdays and Thursdays to karaoke crowds.

http://www2.sbsun.com/livinghere/nightlife/ci_2733027

Edit: This entire thing was created by an angry broken robot out of some marketing material. It’s the most amazing piece of “journalism” I’ve seen in a while: http://www2.sbsun.com/livinghere/

We are all The Onion now.