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New York, 4:26 PM
Sat Dec 5
40 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of jasonelias jasonelias
    01:19 PM

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    I've got to say I've noticed that musicians are often the worst music reviewers ever. It's nothing but pat phrases, lack of insight and often a startling lack of an idea of what makes music, work.
     Reply
    jasonelias was starred jasonelias was unstarred
    Image of Trai_Dep Trai_Dep
    12:38 PM

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    Err, we ARE talking about the editorial page of the freaken' Wall Street Journal, correct? As a launchpad to suggest that bringing in people not on the masthead is a bad idea?
    I think your initial premise needs more work, Ravi.
     Reply
    Trai_Dep was starred Trai_Dep was unstarred
    Image of Lysergic Asset Lysergic Asset
    12/04/09

    In reply to Ashley Dupre Cannot Stop Talking to Tabloids About Prostitution
    My mother used to say that "marriage is basically legalized prostitution" and that if she hadn't had kids, she never would have bothered getting married.

    I think Ashley is right.
     Reply
    Lysergic Asset was starred Lysergic Asset was unstarred
    Image of adiam7 adiam7
    12/04/09

    In reply to Ashley Dupre Cannot Stop Talking to Tabloids About Prostitution
    She is right.
     Reply
    adiam7 was starred adiam7 was unstarred
    Image of heywhat heywhat
    12/04/09

    In reply to Ashley Dupre Cannot Stop Talking to Tabloids About Prostitution
    Oh, Ashley. I'm sure you are regretting selling the poon to random strangers but it's too late. What you should have done is found some athlete or sugar-daddy to sucker. P.S. opening your mouth to the tabloids for $500,000 beats screwing pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged johns any day of the week.
     Reply
    heywhat was starred heywhat was unstarred
    Image of Smitros Smitros
    12/04/09

    In reply to When Local Reporter Pops the Trunk, Hit the Deck
    Will Dallas Morning New reporters now be told not to advertorialize in their stories?
     Reply
    Smitros was starred Smitros was unstarred
    Image of The Real JR The Real JR
    12/04/09

    In reply to When Local Reporter Pops the Trunk, Hit the Deck
    EXCELLENT BEATNUTS REFERENCE.
     Reply
    The Real JR was starred The Real JR was unstarred
    Image of Hamilton Nolan Hamilton Nolan
    12/04/09

    @The Real JR: Thank you. You're listening to the world famous.
     Reply
    Hamilton Nolan was starred Hamilton Nolan was unstarred
    Image of OMG! Ponies! OMG! Ponies!
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    I have to say, James Franco's writing was self-important claptrap.

    After the first paragraph, I found myself asking, "Mr Franco, why should I care about your 'art'?"

    I am still waiting for an answer.
     Reply
    OMG! Ponies! was starred OMG! Ponies! was unstarred
    Image of IamnotStarJones IamnotStarJones
    12/04/09

    In reply to Ashley Dupre Cannot Stop Talking to Tabloids About Prostitution
    She has too much free time on her hands. Shouldn't one of her rich mogul friends (sideyeing Russell Simmons) have given her a job by now?
     Reply
    IamnotStarJones was starred IamnotStarJones was unstarred
    Image of daveyjonesisdead daveyjonesisdead
    12/04/09

    In reply to Page Six Hires Stephanie Smith
    Just in time for the discrimination suit....
     Reply
    daveyjonesisdead was starred daveyjonesisdead was unstarred
    Image of Tremonius Tremonius
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    "But wait. The women. Look at the women. All is not well. I'm thinking about the women. This is Iran."

    This is Toro, crawling across the ring to retrieve his mouthpiece in The Harder They Fall. When you're stunned, you go back to basics, like simple declarative sentences. And, like Toro, a celebrity is convinced he's Champ simply because everybody lays down for him.
     Reply
    Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred
    Image of snugbug snugbug
    12/04/09

    @Tremonius: Penn would do much better as a TV reporter. Or at least please my broadcast prof in J-school, whose eternal refrain was: "Short. Declarative. Sentences." As someone who's addicted to compound adjectives and adverbs, I don't get it, but I suppose sounding like a telegram has its advantages.
     Reply
    Edited by snugbug at 12/04/09 12:47 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred
    Image of Tremonius Tremonius
    12/04/09

    @snugbug: Mark Twain says he learned from an editor you write something, then go back and take out all the adjectives. But I read later about ol' Sal and Dean cruising DC during the inaugural for Harry S Truman and at the end of all the vast armaments lined up murderous and threatening there was one ordinary small boat "looking pitiful and foolish in the snowy grass."

    I always loved that ever since. It's great humor and done simply, and you have to use adjectives to make it work. I try and remember that.

    "Ah, yass, Harry Truman, man from Missouri, as I am; that must be his own boat." - On the Road
     Reply
    Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred
    Image of snugbug snugbug
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    Actually, Bono's worst op-ed piece to date was an interminable "ode to Berlin" that he penned for the NYT for the 2oth anniversary "of the wall's falling" this past October.

    It's formatted as a 2,000-word film script that flashes backward and forward, and during which Bono refers to himself in the third person as "THE SINGER" (sic, all caps) with the ironic subtlety of a jackhammer tearing up the pavement.

    Cobbled together from deeply metaphoric constructions such as "The black has devoured the blue," and "The bandmates found it darkly funny to imagine the papers back home carrying a photo of them protesting Mikhail Gorbachev’s great drawing back of the Iron Curtain," the message emerges:

    Yeah, the fall of the Berlin was kinda cool and symbolic and whatever, but the fact that U2 was there to witness it blow-by-blow is what really propelled it into history books.

    This shit was way over the top even for someone with Bono's messianic complex. One has to laugh..
     Reply
    Edited by snugbug at 12/04/09 12:14 PM snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred
    Image of epiclady epiclady
    12/04/09

    @snugbug: CHRIST. Gave the Berlin Wall article a try, and I just can't...there are no...it's totally...all I can come up with is "unreadable" and "unbelievable." Bono said it all, I guess.
     Reply
    snugbug promoted this comment epiclady was starred epiclady was unstarred
    Image of snugbug snugbug
    12/04/09

    @epiclady: Your loss, lady. You missed the part when Bono interrupted German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a G-8 summit to school her in how to do her job, plus his hard-earned, Weltschmerz-y conclusion: "I think honesty is the hardest thing for a performer"..
     Reply
    snugbug was starred snugbug was unstarred
    Image of TheologicalSong TheologicalSong
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    that's all well and good, but how does "aging midget who wears sunglasses indoors" buttress your point, exactly, Ravi? an example of responsible, incisive journalism, apparently. if you must insist on cheap shots, a modicum of elegance might be useful.
     Reply
    TheologicalSong was starred TheologicalSong was unstarred
    Image of Tremonius Tremonius
    12/04/09

    @TheologicalSong: Okay, how about "Cyd Charisse in boxers"?
     Reply
    Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred
    Image of TheologicalSong TheologicalSong
    12/04/09

    @Tremonius: now yer talkin', Tre!
     Reply
    TheologicalSong was starred TheologicalSong was unstarred
    Image of Tremonius Tremonius
    12/04/09

    @TheologicalSong: Yes, but remember, now, Mike Royko or one of them grizzled newshounds of yore relayed the first advice he ever received from an even older and more grizzled editor: "Write about nuns and midgets. A story about nuns and midgets tells itself."
     Reply
    Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred
    Image of TheologicalSong TheologicalSong
    12/04/09

    @Tremonius: sounds about right.
     Reply
    TheologicalSong was starred TheologicalSong was unstarred
    Image of Tweezergal Tweezergal
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    But even worse than your-average-run-in-the-mill celebrity "authors" are business-people, anchors, and politicians who hire academics, reporters, or independent intellectuals to ghostwrite their articles: I can think of a few esteemed bigwigs who've "published" pieces in the rarified New York Review of Books-- only they haven't really written them. And do you think Tom Brokaw penned any of "his" books?
     Reply
    Edited by Tweezergal at 12/04/09 11:41 AM Tweezergal was starred Tweezergal was unstarred
    Image of Ravi Somaiya Ravi Somaiya
    12/04/09

    @Tweezergal: email me their names!
     Reply
    Ravi Somaiya was starred Ravi Somaiya was unstarred
    Image of AzureTexan AzureTexan
    12/04/09

    In reply to Why Celebrity Op-Eds Suck
    "I'm confused. Suzanne Somers is famous, and SHE'S a good writer."

    — Kim Kardashian, in Sunday's London Times
     Reply
    AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred
    Image of Tremonius Tremonius
    12/04/09

    @AzureTexan: I love it.

    Dr Dean Edell considers Oprah's program one of the most lethal threats to health and life in America today, and one of her prize guests is this particular blow-up doll. There are plenty of other fruit loop frauds, and Oprah will present them, right after this ...
     Reply
    Tremonius was starred Tremonius was unstarred
    Image of AzureTexan AzureTexan
    12/04/09

    @Tremonius: Tremonius, it sounds like you might be interested in the new desert utopia I'm starting, Awesomeville, which'll be devoid of empty celebrity and semi-legitimate fame . . . although, I grant you, I'll be quite the famous celebugenius for having started it.
     Reply
    AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred
    Image of Kakapo Kakapo
    12/04/09

    @AzureTexan: You must seek out "Touch Me in Whimsy: The Poems of Suzanne Somers." And, no, I am not making that title up.
     Reply
    Kakapo was starred Kakapo was unstarred
    Image of AzureTexan AzureTexan
    12/04/09

    @Kakapo: I'll definitely seek it out, because I'm curious how many poems can begin, "Come and knock on our door. . . "
     Reply
    AzureTexan was starred AzureTexan was unstarred
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