Posts tagged as Disasters
Rich People Actually Don't Understand Business Either
Remember how a former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs became governor of New Jersey and then became CEO of a derivatives brokerage that then had a $191.6 million quarterly loss (its fourth quarter of loss!) and was probably going to file for bankruptcy and was suspending from doing business by the Fed? Makes you think.
How the Media Treated Mexico's Mass Murder
Last week, 50-some people were murdered in the torching of a building in Mexico, in Monterrey. (People were trapped in the casino after gunmen stormed the building; they were ordered out but many panicked and ran to the second floor.) Here's a look at the amount of front-page web real estate given to the event by English-speaking news organizations, as expressed in the formula of pixel-per-victim. (What the analysis doesn't take into account is the depth or complexity of coverage, and also the amount of play, as measured in time, of that coverage.) For instance, the Times gave up 0.27% of its digital "front page," though it should be noted that even that small amount of real estate has lots of value in itself and also that's multiplied if it was up for several hours, as opposed to several minutes. The tools by which we measure news "attention" online are very much still in development. (via)
The Great New York City Children's Day Fireworks Scandal
Why, you may have asked, do we keep telling you that there will be fireworks to see each weekend, and then, when you venture down to the river or up to the rooftop, you find no fireworks at all? READ MORE
The End of Lou Reed: HP's "Everybody On" Ad
HP's new "Everybody On" campaign is just about the least cool thing I've ever seen. And I was an Eagle Scout! And I'm a birder! And I was on the debate team! And I went to debate camp! READ MORE
2010 and 2011: To What Were We Paying Attention?
I was just asking someone: what was that thing that happened, that then everyone stopped covering/talking about/reading about Haiti? Here's a chart of what we've been giving our eyeballs to over these last 15 months.
Bomb the Ace Hotel! Every Geek and Blogger Now A Microcelebrity!
Do you know what is apparently happening in New York City right now? "Forget Socialites. Social Mediaites are at the new people to pine after. And the new dream? Let's just say it has a lot less to do with moving from the midwest to Manhattan for a chance to schlep uptown in stiletto's [sic] to fetch coffee for a Conde Nast editor. The new 'it' job is clearly a chance to manage Dennis Crowley/Lockhart Steele/Kevin Kearney and co.'s facebook fan pages." Okay, for starters, updating these people's "Facebook fan pages" is not actually a job, so it can't even be an "it" job? For seconders, and I really do say this with some love for the people involved, but really, has any micro-bubble in history had its head forcibly shoved so far inside its bubble's own asshole? (And yes, I am totally including the housing bubble in that.) The good news! If bloggers and web designers become microcelebrities, with fun gossip blogs following them around, will they all end up addicted to meth and racism like real celebrities? Because that would be terrific entertainment for the coming decade. But anyway, you should know, young aspirant, who apparently wants to update people's Facebook pages for a living: "There are four people that you should meet and get to know if you are hoping to break out into this new media club in NYC." Four! You should meet them! They are named! The new dream! This new media club!
What If Tumblr Is Gone FOREVER???
Tumblr has been down a long time. Hipsters should meet at Starbucks and pass around Moleskine diaries until it's back up.
pourmecoffee
pourmecoffee
THE GREAT TUMBLR PANIC OF LATE 2010 IS STILL ONGOING. Tumblr DOWN For 13 Hours And Counting! Victim Of Its Own Success: Tumblr Redefines The Concept Of “Back Shortly"! The frightened headlines even finally crept onto CNN: "It bills itself as 'the easiest way to blog.' But the hip website Tumblr crashed on Sunday night and hasn't been online since." The people with Tumblrs are so angry. "We're almost through," Tweeted the techs of Tumblr three hours ago. That is THREE HOURS without pictures of volcanos and cats and Bea Aurthur and people beefing without any context whatsoever about that dude they totally almost had sex with this weekend and who is the most ableist! But hold tight. It'll be back? Maybe? The official line is that they're all dumping a whole lot of Tumblr back in from some backup servery thingie because their big servery thingie had some sort of emo weepy existential breakdown? But what if the server is too sad to ever, like, share its feelings with the other server that wants to help it? Who will reblog its cry for help then? :(
Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Wins! Is Biggest Ever!
Yay! We made the biggest (unintentional!) oil spill in human history! (Bonus: the second-largest oil spill ever was also in the Gulf of Mexico.) What do we win? Is it a new planet? Called Pandora? With flying ladies and dragons and magical sources of energy? Even better news: according to the NOAA forecasts, as you can see in their most recent forecast, all the oil is gone! Hooray. Oh... all the surface oil. Hmm. Also: "The annual summertime dead zone caused by low oxygen levels in water along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline this year is twice as big as last year's." It's the size of Massachusetts. So I would suggest, since the Gulf of Mexico was already a giant bomb-infested filth-hole, that we just kill the whole thing with fire. Though I guess it's anoxic where it isn't flammable, so that won't work. Nuclear bomb?
Understudies! "Carrie": The Worst Musical Ever
There are many flops in the annals of Broadway history, but none-not even "Anna Karenina"-are as notorious as "Carrie," the 1988 musical adapted from the Stephen King novel and Brian De Palma film. The musical was co-produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, responsible for more high-brow and conceptual productions that were not intended to be coupled with cheesy pop-rock scores for American audiences who expected to understand what the hell is going on. Initially, critics even claimed that the subject matter was too dark for a musical, which is hardly the case; serious musicals like "West Side Story," "Sweeney Todd," "Evita," and-in the previous Broadway season-"The Phantom of the Opera" were all immensely successful on Broadway. "Carrie" failed primarily because it was a giant mess of a show; the very simple and timeless Cinderella storyline (with bonus menses and mass murder subplots) is perfect for a stage adaptation, but the play was muddled with high-concept staging and campy production qualities dressed-up as grand drama. READ MORE
