Fake Steve Jobs calls bullshit on newspapers

very good analysis of the way topline blogs and newspapers differ in their approaches to stories, and why, just perhaps, newspapers won’t be missed when they’re gone.

i concur. this happens every time a managing director says, ‘let’s do this story, but try to remember the business side of things’. in other words – yes, cover the issue, but remember these guys advertise with us.

and the sad fact is, most newspaper journos – even the experienced ones who remember the good old days – are so scared of being out of work within a year that they just nod their heads and go ‘yeah okay’.

Um, New York Times? If you guys are still wondering why people are dropping their subscriptions and getting their news from blogs instead of you — this is why.

And to all those people who go around wringing their hands and saying what are we going to do when the “real newspapers” all die and we have to get our news from Gawker and HuffPo and TechCrunch? Friends, I think we’re going to be just fine.

Part of it is the form of the media itself. If you’re a reporter at the Times, you get one story, and a fixed number of inches, and you’re smothered by layers of editors. At TechCrunch it’s one guy who can get his teeth into something and there’s no limit on how many articles he can do.

What really cracks me up is how often I still hear people say that bloggers are mere “aggregators” and the “real journalism” gets done at places like the Times.

Because time after time, blogs are simply beating the shit out of the newspapers. They’re the ones who still dare to go for the throat, while their counterparts at big newspapers just keep reaching for the shrimp cocktail.

As for the newspapers: Faced with their own demise, fearful of losing even more advertising, newspapers have made the huge mistake of becoming ever more timid, more cautious, more in bed with the companies they cover.

*sigh* … seriously, newspapers were fucked the moment the big corporations began buying them up. yes, the interwebs has sped the process up to the velocity that makes it visible to all, but it’s been happening for decades. ever since murdoch, black, turner, fairfax et al decided it was a good idea to own more than one or two media outlets.

ugh.

read the entire post from the most excellent Mr Fake Jobs here.

planning a road trip

a certain someone’s birthday is coming up and i’m planning a road trip as a treat.

friday december 18, driving to sydney. two nights at the capitol square hotel on campbell street, haymarket. tickets to Wicked, a full day in the Emerald City on the Saturday, drive back on the sunday.

driving because, damn it, i like to look at things. and because i actually am not all that fond of squeezing myself into a tin tube, even if it is just for an hour.

should be fun. it’ll clean up the couple of days off in lieu i’m owed. of course i did have to swap it for christmas, but at the moment we’re not actually sure how much we’re going to need to be manning the webdesk on christmas, so we shall see.

road trip!

film: ‘this is it’

Y’know, if i were a cynic i’d say no way on this planet Michael Jackson is dead. if i were a tabloid journalist i’d say, not only is he not dead, but being the terrified, drug-riddled, tortured soul that he was (allegedly), could be he saw making a film out of rehearsal footage for his This Is It final concert series after staging his own death as a perfect way out of his miserable lifestyle.

or, then again, you could see This Is It for what exactly what it claims to be – a compilation of rehearsal footage and backstage interviews.

regardless of what you think of its origin/motivation … it is a compelling piece of film.

opening with interviews with dancers who just survived the audition to be the principal dancers in the show, it’s a hell of a heart-string puller. these are kids who idolise jackson, and have dreamed all their lives of being onstage with him. it’s hard to forget that just as they were working so hard to do just that, he died … allegedly.

and some surprising things become very clear, very quickly.

if michael jackson was the freaked out, drug-riddled, wasted, anxious, scared-to-perform nutball he’s always seemed to be out in public – then there was UTTERLY no sign of any of that in this footage.

totally at ease. unbelievably fit and energetic. intense, perfectionist without ever losing his manners or his ability to get his message across kindly and succinctly. he laughs, seems totally relaxed about the process and about what they are aiming at.

and oh my god, the dancing. jackson was in absolute control of every tiny move and nuance, at all times. hard to believe he would just hand over that control to some doctor with a needle full of drugs.

this is a concert film, with a difference. it’s brilliantly put together by director and jackson co-collaborator kenny ortega. and if you’re not grinning from note one through to the end, you’re no music lover. or dance lover. or spectacle lover.

what can’t be seen from rehearsal footage is added with some spiffy special effects so that we can see what the finished product might have looked like.

very, very good. would i have bothered if jackson hadn’t died? no, probably not. and that would have been my loss.

hey, britney spears is in the country, pissing people off with her $200 a seat, lip-synching farce-tacular. maybe she should go watch This Is It. learn what real entertainment is all about.

we came, we saw, we kicked its ass

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rude pundit on gay marriage

There’s only one way this goes: finally, a Supreme Court case is gonna have to decide the issue. This bullshit piecemeal approach is wrong-headed and degrading. Gay citizens in the United States are begging straight citizens to be kind enough to grant them the same rights. Put “female” or “black” in there, and we wouldn’t even be having a discussion.

amen brother.

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fuck you, anti-gay marriage people

i’m pig-sick of this debate. not because i’m tired of the cause, but because i’m tired of the stubborn blind ignorance of the ones who say that (a) civil unions are ‘equal’ to marriage and (b) fighting for gay marriage is a waste of time and effort because historically marriage is between a man and a woman and that’s not going to change.

and please, don’t fucking say the above things and then tell me how supportive you are. because you’re not, okay? you’ve fallen at the last hurdle. and by that i mean that when push came to shove and you had to challenge your own beliefs in order to support me, you didn’t. you took the easy option.

fuck that. i don’t need that kind of support.

if you say to someone, yes i believe you should have the same rights as this person over here, but we’re not going to let you call it the same thing – here’s a newsflash. THAT’S NOT EQUAL RIGHTS.

that’s lip service. that’s patronising. that’s marginalisation. that’s DISCRIMINATION.

and that historical argument? please. let’s at least call it what it is. it’s adhering to rules set down by the old white men a couple of thousand years ago when they pulled the Bible out of their bigoted asses and decided it was the word of God. you can tell me as often as you like that it’s not a religious reason. but it is.

and even if your reasoning has nothing to do with religion, i call bullshit on it anyway.

guess what? women never voted, right up until the day they did. black didn’t marry white, right up until the day they did. Jew didn’t marry Gentile, right up until the day they did.

and woman won’t marry woman, right up until the day we do.

it’s time you died out, anti-gay marriage people. take your antiquated, bullshit bigotry that you can’t even see for what it is, and curl up in a corner. your time is done.

i’m done talking to you about it, because it’s pointless. you’re never going to see your way through to real equality, because you don’t think what you believe in is inequality. there’s no arguing with that.

so. i’m going to stay positive, no matter what bullshit arguments you throw at me.

because the only constant about history is change. and the only truth about this issue that needs remembering is that i am a human being, and as such i am entitled to the same human rights as you, anti-gay marriage person. and the only reality for you to remember is that your way is dying.

film: ‘casanova’

what a load of old tosh. hey, i like a good light-hearted rom-com period piece as much as the next person. but when that ‘period piece’ includes casanova, in 1753, wearing sunglasses, i draw the line.

also, when the lead characters are making their escape via horse-drawn carriage and the best line in the film is ‘that’s the last time i travel coach’ … really? … i’m sorry but that’s just crap.

it’s one thing to give a period piece a modern edge, a la marie antoinette. it’s another thing to just be fuckin’ lazy cos it’s all you know.

bleugh. i’m happy to have this film in my collection, because it’s heath ledger, y’know? and there won’t be any more. other than that, ugh.

in a word: SLOPPY.