Recently in Media Category
On the heels of a Hollywood Reporter story about NBC cutting back on their prime time hours or possibly even cutting entire days of original programming come an entry for the "are you fucking kidding me?" department, NBC is, according to the New York Times, give Jay Leno the 10pm slot, Monday through Friday for "a show similar to the one he has done on NBC's "Tonight Show" show since 1993."
Really? Seriously? Leno for an hour from 10-11pm, then Conan from 11:35pm-12:35am and Jimmy Fallon from 12:35-1:35am? Do the folks at NBC really think the way to adjust to changing viewing habits and the challenge posed by increased offerings on cable TV is to give us more Jay Leno?
Let me give you a little news, Mr. Zucker. He's. Not. Funny. Never has been. There's an entire generation of people who don't like Jay. We don't think he's funny. And he's even less funny when he's on against Without a Trace, Leverage and the CSI franchise. Or even that dead guy with the afro who paints pictures of trees.
Who knows, maybe this is one big plot byy NBC to make sure folks over 50 go to sleep even earlier. All I'm saying is, your first week of guests better be: Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, cute animals, Kevin Spacey, Beyoncé, Kanye, big animals, Will Smith, Brad Pitt again, Matt Damon, more cute animals, the Rolling Stones, a Smith's reunion, a steel cage match between Valimir Putin and a tiger, more cute animals, giant lizards, Jimmy Hoffa's killer and maybe a boxing match between Danny Bonaduce and Geraldo Rivera.
Good luck, guys.....
On December 1st, 2008 Guess where I'll be? I'll give you a hint:
No, don't be silly. Not at a Bowie show. (I wish. The man's been virtually hidden for 5 years!) But instead at New York's Museum of Modern Art for the Thurston Moore-hosted program of Bowie videos as part of MoMA's Looking At Music exhibition. While I am excited to check out the exhibition and the other artists involved (Devo, The Beatles and John Cage among them) it's really Bowie that has me chuffed. The videos were co-organized by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Barbara London, Associate Curator, Department of Media, MoMA.
The complete list of the program after the jump, along with some videos I'd have programmed, if I were the curator....
Earlier today, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell asked a guest on her newscast about losing how the campaigns could lose 48 hours on "lipstick." Are you kidding me? How dare she ask that question! Who does she think is responsible? For all Sarah Palin's whinging and moaning about how "liberal" the press is and how "biased" MSNBC is (Ok, it is and I love it) stories like "lipstick on a pig" are created completely by the media. What I mean to say is, in answer to your question, Andrea: It's the fucking press, you ninny!
If the press had ignored it as a funny, "last 5 minutes of the newscast" kind of an item, the story wouldn't have had nearly the legs it had, but instead it was the LEAD story! Are you kidding? With McCain, Obama, Palin and Biden, not to mention their dozens of surrogates) out there stumping, holding town hall meetings and generally going about the very serious business of trying to educate the general voting public about who might be best suited to lead the country going forward, MSNBC, CNN. etc. still lead with the damn pig comment.
John McCain was set to be interviewed by CNN's Larry King but then yesterday, CNN's Campbell Brown asked very reasonable questions of McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds and Bounds was, erm....unprepared. So McCain canceled his interview. According to the New York Times and CNN, this interview was the reason McCain canceled.
UPDATE: Turns out, there was smoke, but the fire, for what it was worth, was elsewhere and none of the rumors below were true. Except Bristol is pregnant. Now. Not before. No babygate here, folks. Move along, not much to see!
The Internet is abuzz with the rumor that Sarah Palin is not the mother of Trig, her supposed 5th child, but is in fact the boy's grandmother, leaving oldest daughter Bristol, 17, as the mom.
This Google blog search has a lot of posts about it, many linking to the Daily Kos (link dead) story and this one from Sparticus Lives.
Read through the stories and make up your own minds and have a gander at this picture. Does Sarah look 7+ months pregnant? According to the Kos piece, the Internet is being scrubbed of potentially "incriminating" photos.
Hmmmm......
UPDATE: The story is now on dlisted.
NEW UPDATE: The mainstream news is now reporting on the rumors. Still no proof, though!
NEW UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan weighs in.
NEW UPDATE (8/31, 9:36pm): Sue D. at digitaljournal.com weighs in, disputes rumors. The picture she links to is exactly the same as one in the Daily Kos and Sparticus Lives posts, but the text includes a "taken on" date. NOTE: Both versions of the photo are on the Anchorage Daily News website.
NEW UPDATE (8/31/08, 11:18pm): ArcXIX at Daily Kos is at it again with this update.
NEW UPDATE (9/1/08, 1:52am): The Red Pen @ Daily Kos (thanks to a link from Andrew Sullivan) seems to, for now, put this rumor to bed. That said, the same "it's photoshopped" claim can apply to any photo.
Watch this and then tell me you still think women aren't as tough as men. Go ahead, I dare you. You'd be crying like a baby!
According to CNN, the reporter from Georgia State TV, says the bullet was fired from the Russian-controlled area.
NBC News' Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert died of an apparent heart attack this afternoon after collapsing at work in Washington DC. This is for sure a great loss, as Russert was a straightforward and well-respected journalist and the longest-serving host of NBC's Meet the Press, itself the longest-running US television program in history, having been on the air since November 6th, 1947.
Russert was a consummate newsman (and attorney) and his voice will be greatly missed during this most critical of election years. NBC anchors Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams are telling some great stories about Russert on MSNBC right now.
One of the great ones came from Williams who mentioned that facade of the Newseum in Washington D.C. is inscribed with the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Whose idea was that? Tim Russert.
In this time of a flaccid White House press corps and dwindling ethics and excellence in news, Tim Russert will be sorely missed.
Links about the story at Mahalo.
Seriously? They went there? Fuckin' A, Bubba!
I love the little "uh oh" look he gives at the end. Heh heh heh!
In response to my good friend AJ's reaction to some of the criticism leveled at the Sex and the City movie, I left some of the following as a comment on his blog, but as they do in Congress, I would like to revise and extend my remarks, to wit:
I understood Karina's tongue-in-cheekness when I read her post and I'd like to point out that in my post I was actually angry about what I perceive as the film's anti-woman aspects (well, I can't say the film exactly because I haven't seen it, but I do know the show). You even quoted my point for me, AJ. I think the franchise is anti-woman and offers if not a completely unrealistic portrayal of "life in the big city," than an unbelievably shallow one.
I completely disagree with Kim Voynar's POV (mentioned in AJ's post) but that's fine. Plenty of people have strong, differing opinions on issues, films, books, etc but to dismiss the male film critics who are criticizing the film in toto because we wouldn't understand a movie that's not about us? Talk about a hypocritical generalization.
When she writes: "SatC has never been about fashion or a credit card lifestyle if you look beneath its surface. It's about a group of smart, independent women who, successful as they are, still struggle with figuring out love and relationships and how to have and maintain a relationship with a man without losing who you are as an intelligent woman with a career and life of your own."
Ah, if it were only so.
This is one of Mr. Olbermann's occasional "special comments" from his week-nightly program Countdown with Keith Olbermann and you need to watch it. It aired yesterday and it's brilliant. It's truth spoken to power (albeit indirectly) like it is rarely seen on television in the United States (or anywhere else, for that matter) and it is genius. It's a bit long (12 minutes) but completely worth it. If you're even a little bit like I am, it will have you clapping, laughing, scowling and whooping at the ceiling. It's the news commentator's version of a beautiful jazz riff. It's goes, man! You just wish you were in the corner of a dark and smokey Greenwich Village bar, yelling "Go man, GO!" at the top of your lungs.
Yes, it's that good.
And while you're at it, if you like this, send an email to letters@msnbc.com and tell them that even if the barbarian hordes of the FCC, the GOP or Cheney himself descend on 30 Rock, the truth must be told and Keith must remain on the air.
So BMW of Canada recently ran a rather innovative ad campaign on the cover of Vice magazine, using a technique that displays a glow-in-the-dark ad when for the BMW 1 series when the lights go out. This is pretty cool, actually. According to mediaincanada.com, Vice had to print the covers at a plant, ship them to somewhere else to add the ad and UV coat them, then ship them back to the original plant for binding to the rest of the issue. Wow. One very interesting aside...do you think BMW knew that the cover model on this issue of Vice was porn uber-star Sasha Grey? 
On Monday evening The Hollywood Reporter (THR) blew off an industry standard embargo and ran the South by Southwest Film Festival & Conference lineup story a day early. According to SXSW fest producer Matt Dentler, the release was embargoed until Tuesday afternoon. I don't want to get into a big snit about this, but it's kinda fucked up. Embargoes are, for lack of a better word, understandings among the trades. They work both ways and when one publication ignores them, they all get hurt.
Not only is ignoring embargoes dishonest but given the various friendships and relationships that abound in this industry (between film festival directors, trade publications, distribution companies, etc.) it's also risky. It's a slippery slope and with the advent of the Internet and instant news, "traditional" Hollywood trades Variety and THR no longer have the stranglehold on news and info they once had. Sure, they can still strong arm certain people or companies into giving them exclusives, but their influence is waning.
I don't mean to claim that Variety and THR are not still valid sources of intelligent news reporting, festival coverage and reviews, that would be absurd. They are still the dual 800 lb. gorillas in the room. That said, I do think that the days of the entire film industry, studios and indies alike, having to kowtow to the "big two" are over. Sure, we can all get along if we all agree to abide by standard rules but if a "free for all" attitude prevails, there's no longer any guarantee that Variety and THR still have the strangle hold over the news as they have in days past. For any one "trade" paper to break these mutually agreed upon rules is harmful to the whole.
That said, check out these stories on SXSW's exceptional lineup. I will be writing more about the films (and music) at this essential fest in the days and weeks to come.
So the majority of the year end awards have come and gone and since I haven't been keeping a running tally (I really should have been) I'm gonna give big ups to Movie City News for their obscenely comprehensive awards section. The thing is, the damn site's so comprehensive (The top 10 from the UC Gauntlet's Ryan Pike....300 at #6 and Transformers at #10? Really dude?) that anyone could pick and choose from the info and shape it to illustrate almost anything....except that 300 is the sixth best film of the year.
While it's clear that no single critics group can predict the Oscars (assuming they are the ne plus ultra of awards "season") some front runners are emerging in the race to fill out the nomination fields. The last to present their awards, the Oscars are still the "big show" and despite attempts by the Independent Spirit Awards and Golden Globes to chip away at their luster, one is always drawn back to what Roger Avary said when accepting his Spirit Award for co-writing Pulp Fiction (and I may be paraphrasing, here...I was pretty drunk at the time): "This is really nice.... it won't fit up my butt as well as an Oscar, though." I can't think of a cruder way to put it, but yes, winning an Oscar is largely considered to be better, in every way, than winning a Spirit Award or Golden Globe.
As for the Globes, in nominating 12 films between their two best picture categories, they've proven themselves to be even more of a farce than in years past. Why not 14? Couldn't they find 7 musical/comedy films that "rated?" Speaking of the Musical/Comedy category, how is La Vie en Rose a musical? If every film that had music in it was considered a musical... And then there's the oddity of Persepolis. So the acclaimed Sony Pictures Classics release was good enough to be nominated for best foreign-language film, but not as best animated feature? So Bee Movie is a better film? (NOTE: I read somewhere that films can only be nominated for one "Best" category at the Globes, but can't confirm this, because the Globs don't seem to post their voting rules on their site). And whither The Counterfeiters? In my not-so-humble opinion, this film is clearly one of the best five foreign language films of the year, but it's getting no love from critics groups and very little press attention, possibly because Sony Classics isn't releasing it until next year. Will this affect its chances at the Academy Awards? I hope not, because it's an exceptional piece of work.
An article on the front page of today's print edition of the New York Times entitled: "Rebel Unity Is Scarce at the Darfur Talks in Libya" has the following photograph accompanied by the caption: "A Darfur rebel took in the buffet lunch at his hotel in Sirte, Libya. Many rebel leaders did not show up for talks called in an effort to end the bloody conflict in Sudan."
Photo by Jehad Nga for The New York Times, © The New York Times
Hmmmm, didn't show up, you say? Well, were they told that there'd be cake? I find cake is often an incentive to gather warring factions all in one room.
I also find that a picture of starving, brutalized people is a far more effective means of getting the message of genocide out than a picture of a rebel in a tracksuit eating more than most people in his country get in a year.
Photo from Wondering of a Wanderer
Just a thought.
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