Have you ever noticed how social networks don’t do a very good job of representing how our personal networks actually function? Sure, places like Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn have their utility, but their flatness is a problem. Think about your Facebook, for instance. If it’s like mine, you have friends there who run the gamut from “real life best
Read moreLast night my wife and I rented the Buster Keaton classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. She’d never seen anything by Keaton, but has heard me (and fellow Scrogue Jim Booth) talk about his particular genius. One of the most remarkable talents America has ever produced, Keaton was an insanely gifted physical comedian who was able to communicate tremendous nuance even within
Read moreSaturday morning cartoons aren’t what they used to be, are they? And I don’t mean that in your typical I-walked-six-miles-to-school-every-day fashion, either. Once upon a time toons made some very different assumptions about their audience. I mean, how many Saturday morning shows these days play on opera? Let’s begin this morning’s entertainment with a smattering of high culture, as Bugs
Read moreThe Clinton camp, Emily’s List and seemingly all of Left Blogistan are up in arms about an offhand comment MSNBC’s David Shuster made in discussing Chelsea Clinton’s role in her mother’s campaign. The furor led, this afternoon, to Shuster’s suspension by the network. Here’s the clip in question:
Read moreToday is Imbolc, the midpoint of Winter. That’s Groundhog Day to you secular/non-pagan types (and yeah, P-Phil peeped his shadow, so throw another blanket on the bed). It’s also my birthday, and my good friend Dr. Mike Pecaut has offered up a fine present – lots of concert footage from one of my all-time favorite bands, the unparalleled Queen! I
Read moreThe left blogogentsia is all blowed up this afternoon over the story Martin wrote about earlier today. Since that post, more info has come to light that makes Sandeep Kaushik, the campaign spokesman in question, look considerably less guilty and that makes the cub reporter in training look like somebody who walked into the room knowing what story he was
Read moreThe results of the latest S&R poll are in. Readers were asked “Which major press entity do you regard as the most credible source of news?” 1. Other/None of the above (70) 2. BBC (64) 3. PBS (39) 4. CNN (15) 5. New York Times (11) 6. Washington Post (6) NBC/MSNBC (6) Wall Street Journal (6) 9. FOX News (4)
Read moreIt was a pretty good year in music. A handful of artists produced absolutely fabulous CDs and a lot more managed releases ranging from “worth the money” to “are you sure that shouldn’t be rated a little higher”? Here’s the format. Instead of the tedious task of actually ranking CDs – a torture I used to inflict on myself every
Read moreFinding and buying music used to be a lot simpler process. You could sample new stuff by turning on this thing called a “radio,” and when you heard something you liked you could go purchase it at this other thing called a “record store.” It wasn’t a perfect system, of course. Sometimes the great song on the radio was the
Read moreI’ve written in the past about the problem of bad science reporting in the US. The short version: very few American reporters have enough grounding in statistics and the sciences to accurately parse the claims of quantitative research, and as a result they often misrepresent what studies actually say. This is an indictment of, among other things, university journalism school
Read morePolitical correctness elevates sensitivity over truth. – Bill Maher You Americans can be so silly sometimes. Take the latest flare-up of political correctness in your sports world. Kelly Tilghman, the Golf Channel anchor who during Friday’s broadcast from the Mercedes-Benz Championship said while discussing Tiger Woods’ dominance that young players on the PGA Tour should “lynch him in a back
Read moreIn a NY Times op-ed today, prominent social analyst Gloria Steinem weighs in on America’s persistent gender and politics problem: Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and,
Read moreOne of the great things about the Internets is that there’s a whole world of stuff out there you don’t know about, never imagined, that’s just insanely amazing. And periodically somebody will send you a link, as fellow Scrogue Mike Sheehan did this past week, saying “hey, check this out.” And it will be so feckin’ amazing it will just
Read moreWell, it sure looked that way. In case you missed it because you were partying the night away, Australian Robbie Maddison jumped a motorcycle over a football field last night to set a new distance record. The attempt came 40 years to the day after Evel Knievel’s famous (and ill-fated) attempt to jump the fountains at Caesar’s Palace. Since he
Read moreWelcome to the fifth and final installment of the Scholars & Rogues year-end wrap-up. Today we tackle the dirty, but oddly riveting world of politics. We’ll take a couple shots at the even dirtier world of media that makes it all possible. Let’s start at the top, shall we? George Walker Bush: I’ve been telling my Republican friends for five
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