And, On the Far Side of the Newspaper Recession, the WSJ Hedcutters @12:21 PM
"A busy day consists of two 'live' hedcuts, drawings that are due to run in the next day's paper….. Each intricate portrait can take up to five hours to complete, with countless little dots. But in an emergency, artists can produce one in as little as two hours, with more lines and fewer specks….
'Because we are essentially tracing the photograph, a lot of people think it's not a big deal,' says [Hai] Knafo. 'But it is.'
'We have our little tricks,' says Noli Novak, who has been with the Journal since 1987. 'A portrait with less dots will take less time.'
'People at the Journal don't even know there's a whole department doing this,' says Novak."
—Never before have I read a piece about working commercial artists that, instead of making me either envious or awed, makes me instead suspect of their entire line of work! And yet here we are. 6
I was going to watch this David Letterman clip because it had an Elinor Burkett joke but I only made it to Letterman saying "Anybody been in a cab in New York City? Well congratulations, you've cheated death!" and I was done. Late night talk show monologues! What is the deal with them! @11:05 AM 2
Hot Papal Prostitution Ring Insanity @4:00 PM
"You'll get up to 2,000 euros … Do not touch his balls. You need the money. Put on some music, take out the [inaudible], swallow the Viagra, and adelante!" Annnd that is how the pimps work in the Vatican. Unless this wiretap transcript was somehow misconstrued? MAYBE, like with Rod Blagojevich, and who knew any of us would still be able to spell that name without Googling it, that was a perfectly innocent conversation between the fella who allegedly handled the choir boys at St. Peter's and the former head of the Holy See's Public Works Department, which, I'm sorry, I have to go WORK ON MY SCREENPLAY ABOUT THIS IMMEDIATELY. 10
GLAAD's Media Awards: The Saddest Showing Yet @12:11 PM
GLAAD, an organization that began with the best of intentions and is now, in my opinion, the gay world's biggest fundraising non-profit disaster—with donation income of more than $12 million in 2008, and, for some reason, on-hand assets of more than $11 million at the end of that year, and with staff of at least 46, none of whom, in my experience, are remotely able to return phone calls in a timely fashion to a reporter on deadline—announced its Media Awards this week. Actually the most amazing thing about their announcement about the state of media is that it includes three media contacts: one in-house and also two out-sourced PR people at pricey PR shop BWR, one in LA and one in New York. Why can't a media organization handle the media? Anyway: and their nominees are…. READ MORE 13
Yes, They Stole The Auschwitz Sign @9:24 AM
A Jew: They stole the Auschwitz sign??
Me: Yup.
A Jew: Oh girl.
Me: For real.
A Jew: This feels like a Bloomberg plot to me.
Me: Wait. MIKE Bloomberg? You mean, like, he wanted to install it over New York City?
A Jew: Exactly!
Me: Um. Too soon. 17
The Further Tyranny of the Christmas Wish List @4:06 PM
W "design blogger" Aaron Betsky—who is actually the head of the Cincinnati Art Museum—puts forward his Christmas wish list. I mean: this is a thing I would want as well? Except, for that price, can't I buy one of the lesser islands of Turks and Caicos? 13
Money Actually Can Buy You The Sense To Enjoy Your Good Investment Taste @3:40 PM
Goldman Sachs commissioned a Julie Mehretu and a Franz Ackermann for the new HQ, and apparently everyone is baffled by them. "It's loud and cartoonish, and as they walk in, employees can't help scowling at it," wrote Clusterstock of the Ackermann. And: "Nobody thinks this one is any good either," writes Clusterstock of the Mehretu, claiming they "wasted" money on it. You guys! Well, one, I dispute this idea that "everyone" at GS hates these, because finance people love blue chip status and these deliver. Obviously. Hardcore. Two, you might want to check on some recent sales of Mehretu and their, oh, massive insane valuation upticks before you claim that money "wasted"! Let's see: solid purchases that will age well and are a much safer place to put your money than the market? Oh yes, hello. 32
'Time': Overlooking the Cat Photo Market Again @12:50 PM
How many people do you think were at the store or newsstand or whatever and were like, A GALLERY OF RESCUED FIGHTING DOGS? HERE IS MY $4.95! (In your answers, please graph that alongside the number of people who were excited because, like, JOE KLEIN SAID SOMETHING?) 5
Congressman Insincerely Apologizes to Flowers @2:20 PM
Jeff Flake [R, Arizona] went for a week to a deserted island because he was feeling like a "pansy" in modern society, what with the plumbing and cars and real life all around him. "Congressman Flake didn't realize that that word can have a negative connotation. He simply meant 'wimpy.' He apologizes if anyone took offense to it." —Jeff Flake's spokesperson. 18
Headline of the Day @11:20 AM
The University Echo, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga: "Coulter's campus visit brings controversy, interest." 0
Michael Kinsley Finally Catches Up To Renata Adler @9:25 AM
Michael Kinsley, Time-firee and bombed LA Times editorial page editor and current Washington Post opinionator, turns his eye to the ridiculousness that is the New York Times correction page. "Who can take facts seriously after reading the daily 'Corrections' column in the New York Times? Although the purpose of this column is to demonstrate the Times's rectitude about taking facts seriously, the facts it corrects are generally so bizarre or trivial and its tone so schoolmarmish that the effect is to make the whole pursuit of factual accuracy seem ridiculous." And where have we read all this before, except much better? READ MORE 10
Editor Quote Machines: Aaron Hicklin v. Dan Peres @2:55 PM
Here is a Guy Trebay Times Style article about how all the young dudes are a little bit fat. He has two experts, both editors of magazines, who explain the phenomenon to us. One does a really good job? The other is ridiculous.
· Aaron Hicklin, of Out: "I sort of think the six-pack abs obsession got so prissy it stopped being masculine."
· Dan Peres, of Details: "If we had a slob in the White House, all the hipsters would turn into some walking Chippendales calendar." 19
'Avatar' Pre-Buzz Goes Wildly Over the Top with Sam Worthington 'Esquire' Cover @10:05 AM
We're only something like four months prior to the opening of James Cameron's Avatar, which is apparently the most important movie of our generation (what if it sucks though!?), and already the pre-buzz has put bricklayer-hot Australian actor Sam Worthington on the cover of Esquire. (Perhaps you remember Worthington from such movies as that last Terminator mess, and, um… that episode of Jag? Or, uh, doing Macbeth in Melbourne?) The magazine describes him, very weirdly, on the cover, as "The Greatest Actor of Our Time?" Because you know, when someone finally says that about you, do you really want it to be ending with a question mark? Is this just some weird cover-line uptalk? Is Esquire just girls? Also in the two photos of him in the magazine, Sam Worthington is wearing "cotton jeans by Dolce & Gabbana" and "cotton jeans by Levi's." Um, in case you did not know, here is the deal with jeans: they are made out of cotton. 11
Ruth Madoff To Walk? @4:43 PM
Um, that's weird! The Feds gave Ruth Madoff her passport back, "which apparently indicates that Lady MacMadoff will definitely not be charged with any role in the scam." Maybe she is innocent! Or promised immunity! Or maybe the world has gone mad. 4
