Author: tom

Danger: The Internet is a mind-sucking swamp

Yesterday I noticed this moderately funny Tom Tomorrow cartoon mocking bloggers who support the war in Iraq who face no threat more daunting than an attack of carpal tunnel syndrome. His point (gratingly obvious): If you’re so goddam brave, why…

Worst headline foul-ups

Array of them revealed at Testy Copy Editors. Even the mighty Blanp has some doozies. I also liked this comment. I find that it’s usually the most productive, strap-the-newspaper-on-their-back copy editors who make these shockingly embarrassing mistakes. That’s because they’re…

I got your 2 percent right here buddy

Rhetorica points to a guy’s suggestion that 2 percent of the front page be set aside for stuff that builds civil society & such. Let’s do the math: A full-size newspaper page is 21.5 inches tall; six columns is 129…

Earth to Al Gore

Things were hardly rosy in when newspapers ruled the media roost. Somehow those two world wars culminating in atom bombs come to mind.

Fine, then

Jon Fine has been covering the Rosie trial for Advertising Age. He’s also dating the boss of his interviewer at Media Bistro. Because, you know, that’s how things work in the New York mediaverse. Here’s Fine on the realities of…

Hipster guys take note

Matt over at Low Culture says Swingers and Elf are essentially the same movie.

Whitey in the Boondocks

Poison Kitchen points to Michael Moore’s loving tribute to “The Boondocks,” which, I have to admit, is about the only bitingly funny cartoon on most funny pages these days. Moore uses the piece to pound home his favorite political points…

Hey Mister ‘I Never Vote’

Jay Rosen says it’s time to get a clue. Rosen gangs up on Len Downie, the Washington Post editor who keeps making these iffy claims that news is news and there’s no politics in the reporting of the mighty Post.…

Scoop o’ the day

Derek Willis links to a Mobile Register story about fiscal recklessness in the Alabama Legislature. Over two years, the payments have ranged from supplements of a few hundred dollars per paycheck to one-time bonuses of several thousand dollars, the records…