Gawker: substance

Sarah Palin's Got Talent!

Moe — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:14:58 EDT

As everyone in America knows, there is so much more to beauty pageants than prancing around in high heels, nude control top pantyhose and a specially engineered swimsuit! They are college scholarship programs, for Chrissakes, otherwise why would noted college enthusiast Sarah Palin have even bothered? So you knew there was more to the Republican vice presidential nominee's 1983 Miss Alaska appearance than that thought-provoking swimsuit competition we saw last week. Yes America, it is time for the talent competition! Watch Sarah perform a lovely James Galway song on her ~~recorder~~ flute and enjoy her Renaissance womanhood.

Side note: kudos to whatever Alaska viral video expert is being so savvy and National Enquirer-esque about dribbling these out for maximum "impact."

Sarah Palin in Non-Photoshopped Swimsuit!

Pareene — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 15:24:08 EDT

Ha ha what could possibly distract people from how terrible Sarah Palin was on CBS? How about a clip of Sarah Palin looking so... poised in a sexy swimsuit! Someone in Alaska claims this is a legit video of the Alaska governor in her Sarah Heath, Beauty Pageant Contestant days. Grainy old VHS digitized and uploaded to YouTube means this could very well be Dick Cheney in a swimsuit but, you know, it does look a bit like her. GAME CHANGER. Debate this, Old Boys Club! [Via Radar]

Network News Anchor Baffled By Lack of Substance in Newspaper

Pareene — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:50:02 EDT

NBC nightly news anchor Brian Williams blogged yesterday about how he's totally unsurprised that the Sunday New York Times is suffering rapidly dwindling circulation. 'Cause BriWi picked up one of these Sunday papers the other day and was totally unimpressed. "I must admit that on Sundays it becomes a tough paper to figure out. While this week's paper featured an op-ed piece by Elizabeth Edwards bemoaning the lack of serious, in-depth coverage of the political race, it's tough to figure out exactly what readers the paper is speaking to, or seeking." Then he sorta writes a Gawker post about it!

Consider this: the Sunday Styles section lead story on April 13th was "Scavengers on the Urban Savannah" (people buy things at flea markets!), and promoted on Page One was "A Sex Chair Becomes A Battlefield." Alrighty then.

He goes on like that for four more (amusing!) paragraphs, mocking all the fluff of the Sunday Times. That'll show them to run an Elizabeth Edwards op-ed! (In a section Brian presumably didn't read the rest of, as it's left out of his sarcastic assessment.)

Ok. Two problems. First, this is from the same Brian Williams post: "I'll say it again: Peggy is doing the work of her career and must be considered an early favorite for next cycle's Pulitzer for commentary." He is talking about Peggy Noonan. About this Peggy Noonan piece, specifically. The one that is all about how America shouldn't get hassled at airports, where "America" is "the middle-aged woman." A middle-aged white woman, named Peggy Noonan.

The second problem is that no one involved in the production of a nightly network evening newscast should be getting on anyone's case about mindless fluff overtaking "real news." Or, as Brian puts it: "A mea culpa and a thank you to the sharp-eyed Newsviners who wrote us (along with others) to tell us we had used file tape of penguins in a piece on the North Pole! There are no penguins on the North Pole."

What Times Is It? [DailyNightly]