Yesterday word got out that Time Out New York was banned from the GOP convention for this cover image.
But surely the concern was only over the excretory nature of the picture, not the political content. Maybe not. Today I heard a rumor that The New York Times Style Magazine was barred from the Garden because one of the models in it is wearing a John Kerry button.
What's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, developing...
...but what is wrong with people?
Today in the Boston Globe, which is a real newspaper that some people actually pay to read, TV columnist Renée Graham worries that "as "The Daily Show" grows in popularity and significance, the program will lose its wily edge."
Based on what? Graham cites only Jon Stewart's mildness with John Kerry when he appeared as a guest, but Stewart has always been excessively polite to important people (and even some actors) who appear on the show. It has never had any impact on how pointed the jokes about these folks are when they're not on the couch, and there's zero evidence that it's starting too.
[More... ]Attention journalists: Your personal lifestyle choices do not necessarily Mean Something About The Way We Live Now.
People say bloggers are self-indulgent, but at least when we write about doing their laundry we don't try to attach any broader cultural significance to it.
"In that stirring moment as Rudy Giuliani spoke of leadership, strength, and the raw wounds of Sept. 11, it was perhaps inevitable that some people would find themselves thinking, Didn't this guy once shack up with two queens and their pet Shih Tzu?"
That was supposed to be the opener of my New York magazine column today, but when I turned it in last night, the editor flipped out. Turns out they'd already scheduled a Q & A with one of the abovementioned queens, and thought my essay would conflict. I quickly offered to write a new opener, and when told there wasn't time argued that we could simply drop the first joke and the column would still work, but in the end, they opted to simply spike the piece altogether.
I dunno. There was talk of running it tomorrow instead of a new one, but it'll be stale by then. In any case, you can read it here by clicking "More".
[More... ]According to a new Zogby poll, half of all New Yorkers believe that "some leaders in the U.S. government knew in advance that attacks were planned on or around September 11, 2001, and that they consciously failed to take action."
Jeepers. I know some people think that way, but so many? My guess is that poll respondents simply didn't interpret the question the way the folks who commissioned it did. While it was clearly meant to guage opinions about a deliberate conspiracy -- Al Qaida plans to fly planes into the World Trade Center; let's let it happen so we can reap the benefits -- it's certainly possible to hear it less radically -- Al Qaida plans to attack the US sooner or later but we have other things to worry about so let's not do anything. That fits a broad definition of consciously failed to take action and is vastly more defensible.
But to the extent there are many more people than you probably thought who do believe in the more extreme interpretation of the question, a good deal of the blame for that lies with the Bush administration. Obviously everyone is ultimately responsible for their own beliefs, but secrecy and deception breeds rumor and suspicion. Bush more than earned his wacko opposition.
[More... ]Honestly, delegates, this is New York on its best behavior. Before your arrival, the Daily News ran a front-page editorial beseeching us to “play nice,” and we are. I know: Protesters taking over the streets, chanting, “No more lies from Dick and Georgie / We deplore their wartime orgy.” It seems so rude, especially when you were led to expect flowers and candy. (Oh, wait—wrong invasion.) But as you peer from inside the barricades, remember that it could have been worse.
Read the rest of my first New York magazine convention column.
George Pataki and Mike Bloomberg faced some tough questions from Fox News Channel's Rita Cosby this weekend in preparation for the GOP convention. A few samples:
"You're going to be introducing the president on Thursday night. Are you getting excited about that?"
"This is just the start of just what going to be a fun week for all of you."
"Have fun at the party. We're jealous. We wish we were there. "
"I'm jealous. I wish I was there at the party. It looks like it's fun."
"And real quickly, what are you looking forward to most this week on a positive note?"
It is a sign of how committed The New York Times is to a Kerry victory that it's coverage of yesterday's anti-Bush protest was so glowing, with very little of the condescending dismissiveness the paper usually ladles out for mass demonstrations.
But the paper's most important contribution to the cause came a week ago when it reported that the GOP was hoping for violence and chaos almost as eagerly as the most fringe protesters, knowing how well those images would play for them.
The meme spread like wildfire through lefty circles and became conventional wisdom, so to speak, in time to shut down extremist impulses that might inadvertently throw the election to Bush.
And in fact chaos in the streets is probably the only way that Bush can come out of the convention ahead. Neither he nor Cheney is capable of giving a speech that will rally the country, so the GOP was counting on Kerry supporters to make their candidate look unacceptable to the mainstream. Fortunately, it looks like that won't happen. And just as fortunately, it happened without having to refrain from peaceful dissent altogether.
Looks like I got back to the blog just in time to catch a major development in the Swift Boat Veter-- oh, who am I kidding? It's about Huckapoo! As if it wasn't enough that MetaFilter and Dumbrella have caught Huckapneumonia, today The New York Frickin' Times has a major feature on the band. My work here is done.
(Well, I probably ought to catch their first real concert, huh?)
The Times article is rich enough to satisfy just about anyone's Huckapoo jones, even mine. It's got backstories and quotes, ironies and aspirations, and the proper way to spell "Brittney." The only elided part is this:
Seven months ago, Huckapoo was but a concept in the mind of Brian Lukow, a producer who in the late 1990's helped create Dream Street, a boy band that was destined to be the next 'N Sync.
Dream Street's first record sold more than 750,000 copies, but the band broke up in 2002 after the boys' parents filed a lawsuit against Mr. Lukow and another producer. They accused them of creating an atmosphere harmful to minors, a claim that a judge ultimately found suspect.
An atmosphere harmful to minors? You betcha. Specifically, pornography. And even more specifically, an "adult sophisticated magazine" with the title -- wait for it -- "Just Come of Age."
Did somebody say best band ever?
Update: So best!
From: "Brian Lukow" xxxxx@eProps.com
To: dradosh@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 19:58:59 -0400pretty funny stuff.
just curious..
which are the songs that are "much worse"Brian J. Lukow
President
Entertainment Properties, LLC
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