[Click image to enlarge] RELATED: To cap its 20th anniversary, Fox will air a documentary special on “The Simpsons” produced and directed by Morgan Spurlock. Titled “The Simpsons 20th Anniversary Special in 3-D on Ice,” the outing will air Jan. 14. According to the announcement, Spurlock “will examine the cultural phenomenon of ‘The Simpsons’ in his distinctive and innovative style. The special will document how the world sees ‘The Simpsons’ and how the Simpson family has seen the world for two decades.” Huh. “When they first called me about this, I thought it was a prank and I hung up,” […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With Your Host A.P. Ticker
AP Ticker’s [Scrapple News] Hiking in Iran
LET IT BLURT: Lester Bangs Speaks
ROCK SNOB ENCYCLOPEDIA: Back in the day, Lester Bangs, Richard Meltzer and Nick Tosches formed a terrible triumvirate of rowdy, hard-living rock scribblers — angel-headed hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of rock — feared and loathed by the music industry’s power elite. They didn’t just write about rock ‘n’ roll; he lived it, drank it, smoked it, felt it up, snorted it down and puked it up all over the page the morning after. BOING BOING: So what an incredible thrill it was to come across a 90-minute interview with Lester […]
THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIV: Down The Shore
WARNING: Audio NSFW MONICA YANT KINNEY: Did Andy Warhol have Jersey Shore in mind when he predicted that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes”? That was around 1968, before cable provided a forum for the classless masses to share their special gifts. It’s easy to argue that these playas are acting. In her Jersey Shore introduction, cast member Angelina even compared herself to reality royalty, bragging that “I’m the Kim Kardashian of Staten Island.” And yet every drunk Guidette scarfing Cool Ranch Doritos after an evening of videotaped humiliation was once someone’s little girl. In ranchers […]
NPR FOR THE DEF: Q&A With Nick Spitzer, Professor Of American Boogie & Host Of NPR’s American Routes
[Illustration by ALEX FINE] BY JONATHAN VALANIA Nick Spitzer is a folkorist, ethnographer, professor of American Studies at Tulane University and host of the altogether wonderful American Routes — which can be heard locally on WHYY from 2-4 PM on Saturdays and 4-6 PM on Sundays — a heady Creole gumbo of blues, folk, soul, rock and Cajun stylings. Each week Nick scours the highways and the byways, the juke joints and roadhouses, the coffeehouses and corner bars, of these United States to map the crazy quilt patchwork of regional flavors, customs and musics to, in effect, create an audio […]
NEWSPAPER DEATHWATCH: E&P Ceases Publication
LOS ANGELES TIMES: For journalists, finding out that Editor & Publisher magazine is being shut down is a bit like discovering that a friend who’s a professional daredevil was killed in an accident onstage. It’s risky enough to be in the journalism business these days, and E&P doubled down on that bet: It was a magazine about newspapers. Now, its reporters and editors (for the print and online editions) will experience firsthand the disruption they’ve been chronicling for more than a decade. It appears that they received three weeks’ notice. E&P has been around since 1901, but it apparently grew […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]
BLAND LOYALTY: Air Tiger Goes Dark
LOS ANGELES TIMES: As Tiger Woods uses silence to deal with the uproar over his alleged infidelities, his sponsors apparently are following suit, quietly not running his ads until the worst is over. Rick Burton, one-time brand manager for Miller beer and former chief marketing officer for the U.S. Olympic Committee, doesn’t think this means Tiger is no longer a bulletproof brand. “If a sponsor cuts him loose, that makes it look like the relationship was tenuous to begin with,” Burton said Wednesday. “I don’t think Accenture, Nike or Gillette want to do that. Sometimes what they’ll do is take […]
SCRAPPLE TV NEWS: With Your Host, A.P. Ticker
[Video: AP Ticker’s SCRAPPLE NEWS 12.9.2009]
TOUGH NUT TO CRACK: Harshbarger Report Clears ACORN Of Illegality In ‘Pimp & Hooker’ Gotcha Videos
SEIU: Today, former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger released his report on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform (ACORN) following an independent and aggressive review of the organization. Mr. Harshbarger deserves thanks for not only having the ability to see past the sensationalized headlines, but for recognizing and reporting on the steps that ACORN had already taken to address management weaknesses it had identified earlier. It is striking that despite the news coverage, Mr. Harshbarger found no pattern of illegal conduct by the staff of ACORN targeted in the ‘sting’ operation, even in cases that looked clear cut from […]
THAT’S COMCASTIC: Cable Giant Buys NBC Universal
[Photo by Vincent J. Brown] NEW YORK TIMES: After nearly nine months of negotiations, Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, finally reached an agreement on Thursday to acquire NBC Universal from the General Electric Company. The deal valued NBC Universal at about $30 billion. The agreement will create a joint venture, with Comcast owning 51 percent and G.E. owning 49 percent. Comcast will contribute to the joint venture its stable of cable channels, which includes Versus, the Golf Channel and E Entertainment, worth about $7.25 billion, and will pay G.E. about $6.5 billion in cash, for a total of $13.75 […]
MATT TAIBBI: Obama’s Big Sellout
ROLLING STONE: In “Obama’s Big Sellout,” Matt Taibbi argues that President Obama has packed his economic team with Wall Street insiders intent on turning the bailout into an all-out giveaway. Rather than keeping his progressive campaign advisers on board, Taibbi says Obama gave key economic positions in the White House to the very people who caused the economic crisis in the first place. Taibbi also points to the ties Obama’s appointees have to one main in particular: Bob Rubin, the former Goldman Sachs co-chairman who served as Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. Click above for Taibbi’s video breakdown of his […]
PAPERBOY: Slow-Jamming The Alt-Weeklies
BY DAVE ALLEN Like time, news waits for no man. Keeping up with the funny papers has always been an all-day job, even in the pre-Internets era. These days, however, it’s a two-man job. That’s right, these days you need someone to do your reading for you, or risk falling hopelessly behind and, as a result, increasing your chances of dying lonely and somewhat bitter. That’s why every week PAPERBOY does your alt-weekly reading for you. We pore over those time-consuming cover stories and give you the takeaway, suss out the cover art, warn you off the ink-wasters and steer […]